My joking about combining a queen excluder with crowding the bees for comb honey production was not a critique of Ross Rounds at all.

It was a joke/observation on how many people screw up by not reading or following the simple instructions, in nearly every beekeeping book, and the many Richard Taylor books (The Comb Honey Book, The New Comb Honey Book, Beneath the Planet of Comb Honey, Revenge of the Comb Honey...)

> I was disappointed to hear that if Allen had to do it 
> again he would not use Ross Rounds, but would 
> instead produce cut comb.

I sure wouldn't - Ross Rounds are an easy "no mess/no waste" table-top harvest.  With a clean table, and a sink to wash one's hands, one's "honey house" is complete.  No extractor drive belts screaming at midnight, no heavy lifting, just a quiet time doing light work. I still have 2 supers of Ross Rounds, to keep my Dad supplied and for Christmas gifts to those who like comb honey.  Doing cut comb by comparison is a horrible mess, and the combs neither transport nor store well.  Ross Rounds are "bullet-proof" for the beekeeper, and "idiot-proof" for the consumer.  A beekeeper who is careful about the propolis and who spreads some newspaper on the counters can harvest on his kitchen countertops without risk of murder or divorce.

> Some would say that the ability to consistently 
> produce comb honey is a marker for identifying 
> beekeepers who are truly expert at the trade of
>  beekeeping or managing honey bees.  

I only made comb honey because of significant demand and good prices.   My farm was near the Elks National Home, an assisted living facility for hundreds of older Elks club members.  They were all on meds, so none of them could drink, nor smoke, nor eat outside of a "healthy diet".  They wanted old-skool comb honey, and it was the one indulgence that they were allowed.  I was thus their "crack dealer".  I would deliver bags of rounds, each bag labeled with the name of the customer, and the nurses would store the honey in the deep freeze, and pull out a round when it was requested by the owner.  Guys starting calling as early as May asking me when the "new comb honey" would be ready.  I sold out every year, even the "partials" where the bees did not quite finish the round.  I imagine that the value of those rounds increased as the year progressed, but I sold my crop when it was ready, and did not engage in arbitrage.

I was far from the largest operation, nor the fastest at anything, but my ROI was very impressive.  Comb honey and fresh-frozen pollen were part of that, and my comb supers (Ross Rounds) and pollen traps ("Sundance") have been 100% Lloyd's products.

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