Hi Allen and Everyone,

Allen writes:
>What puzzles me is that the above seems -- unless I misunderstand -- to
>suggest that a natural broodnest does pretty much what the small cell is
>claimed to do, regardless of the bees chosen.

>If this is so, then why the disppearance of feral colonies everywhere?

I'm don't know much about feral bees. There haven't ever been many feral
hives here. But others in areas where feral hives exist have disputed the
ferals demise. Many, without checking, have assumed it to be true. But, like
Dr. Seeley found when he checked the Arnot Forest, feral populations are
flourishing.I suspect that the influx of swarms from domestic hives into the
feral population is greatly reduced when compared to the pre-mite days.

One curious observation I have seen, when comparing natural comb from
different shaped top bar hives, is the effect of the comb height on the
amount of small cell comb drawn. The bees drawout less small cell sized comb
in a shallower top bar hive than they do in a deeper one. The effects of the
tapered comb on cell size get truncated before much small cell comb is
drawn. I had hoped that the bees would organize the broodnest differently,
but they didn't. See:

http://wind.prohosting.com/tbhguy/bee/compa.htm

It appears that some cavity sizes and shapes are more optimal for small cell
comb construction and survival than others. In the pre-mite days cavity
shape and the amount of small cell comb probably wasn't so critical. Many
colonies probably would have survived, until queen failure, without any
small cell comb, just like bees in our standard equipment did.

The bees resistance to mite vectored viruses is also a factor. When I was
counting mites, some types of bees were very susceptible to the viruses. A
susceptible hive could collapse in just one season under the same mite load
that would kill a less susceptible colony in three years.

Maybe these are factors in the reduced number of feral hives to almost
nothing in some areas as has been reported.

Some Thoughts
Dennis

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::