Preamble:
I am finding the discussions on pesticide poisoning exhausting to follow. It is important to the industry and society in general if you believe worst case scenarios that sell news media, ( can't say newspapers as they are going like the buggy whip), but I am past absorbing meaningful information.
Pesticides bad for bee keepers - good for farmers, as long as adequate pollinators around.
No pesticides good for bee keepers - bad for farmers, as long as excessive pests around.
New pesticides should be better then old pesticides, but for who, farmers or bee keepers or both. Ideally both but we live in a capitalist society, even in Canada, so things are not always ideal for everyone. Try to optimize not idealize.

Change of topic:
I spend 6 months of the year in a bee winter. October to March. Now is the time to plan for winter. I am in need of new brood comb because;
1) I have a high percentage of old comb and some experienced bee keepers recommend replacing 1/3 to a 1/4 of the frames each year.
2) 3 of my 8 hives have a bad case of chalk brood that they can't seem to shake. New comb should help.
3) I grew by 25% (6-8 hives) from splits.

So why would new comb reduce over wintering success?
My bees will go into winter with adequate feed for my zone. Sugar syrup and natural pollen. They will have a large population as I will combine weak hives. They will have time to build a population of healthy winter bees as I will remove supers 1st September and treat for Varro. They will have adequate queens as I will requeen any that are 3 years old. 

It is my understanding that 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year hives have different reproductive swarming tendencies and this is, I assume, a genetic trait? 1st and 2nd year hives are less likely to swarm as they must build up.  A feral first year hive may need to start with no comb. Does the tendency to swarm differ if the hive is established on old comb? Does the previous use of the comb for brood affect swarming.

Does used brood comb give off pheromones that provides cohesiveness to a winter cluster? Does used comb have a greater mass that significantly improves heat retention and distribution? 

Is the observation about poor over-wintering on new comb related to when the bees drew the comb? Are bees that draw comb late in summer or early fall worn out and not able to build up adequate winter bees? Does wax production require protein which is then not available for winter bee development? Is it the condition of the bees due to the timing of the new comb rather then the new comb? 

Thoughts anyone?

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html