Hi All at Bee-L

I think we have listened patiently and open minded-ly to the various claims put forth regarding small cell organic sustainable beekeeping. Now is the time to ask the ultimate question: what proof is there that the success is not solely due to the strains of bees? Would these strains of bees persist regardless of management technique? Because if they did, that would be the most valuable aspect, not the arcane management techniques proposed. A bee that would persist without special treatments, whether chemical or holistic or whatever, would be worth far more than all the talk. Unfortunately, it appears that the bees being used are african bees, based upon all observations. 

> Africanized and European honey bees are similar in size but Africanized honey bees are slightly smaller with average worker cell diameters of 4.8-4.9 mm versus 5.2-5.3 mm for European bees (RINDERER 1982 J. Apic. Res., 21, 98-103).

PLB

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