Hi Guys,

The concept of using bees as qualitative environmental samplers has been
around for a decade or so. All that buzzing charges them up and they inspect
just about everything so are quite good at bringing back a sample to the
hive. And the wax/propolis acts as a chemical sink accumulating the stuff.
Which can lead to wax/propolis contamination from the environment alone.
If industrial polution can be detected in dust clouds from China, it is
probably in my hives that haven't ever been treated.

I replaced all the combs in some of my hives when I converted them to small
cell size. The small cell comb allowed my bees to coexist with the mites,and
the small cell hives overwintered stronger with no loss. These hives were
also better producers than my other hives and the queens appeared to fair
better.

Initially, I attributed many of these characteristics to the cell size. But
when I re-established some large cell sized hives on new comb, I saw many of
the same characteristics, except for the bees ability to coexist with the
mites. Could it be that the clean wax is a major factor in bee health?

A commercial beekeeper(King?) in North Dakota has come to the same
conclusion and published his observations in the ABJ within the last couple
of years.

Regards
Dennis
Thinking that some organic concepts might benefit everyone

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