Peter Borst wrote:
>> Dennis Murrell ran some exceptional trial of bees on small cells and
>> found that bee size was not uniform but varied by season. Also, cell
>> size varied.
>> So big bees exist in a small cell colony.
>>     
>
> * Some problems with these measurements are method and accuracy. I wonder if
> the average beekeeper is capable of producing work as excellent and unbiased
> as someone like Friedrich Ruttner, for example.  He writes:
>   
Actually, for an 'average" beekeeper Dennis has done exceptional work. 
But then, many of those we now credit with laying the foundation for 
modern beekeeping were "average" beekeepers. I do consider his 
conclusions unbiased. His conclusions are in line with much of what you 
cite.

My post was in support of what you said, but appreciate the additional 
info. One point I stressed, which is that he found a range of cell 
sizes, is, I think, a fundamental problem with any cell size discussion. 
I notice how the discussion has moved to bee size, not cell size. The 
reason is obvious, that bees differ in size by race as well as location, 
so one size no longer fits all. Now it is "small bee" but Dennis showed 
that bees in a "natural" colony differ in size by season and even during 
a specific season. That is found throughout nature, so I would not 
expect our bees to be any different. It is just we like order so give an 
average or mean as if it were an absolute.

Which puts us long winter beekeepers in a quandary. I have 5.0 and 
sightly large foundation and have had it for years, but still have 
Varroa. It is interesting that the colony on the smallest cell size was 
the weakest and least productive of any of my other colonies even after 
re-queening. It died this spring so does that make small bees suspect in 
Maine? If I was a propagandist, the answer would be yes, but I have run 
many colonies on 5.0 with very good results, especially with Tracheal 
mites.

I am trying some 4.9, which one colony has accepted and another 
rejected. So I figure next year I will let them make their own size. My 
guess is that I will not have Varroa tolerant bees any more than I have 
today, but we shall see.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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