Hello John & All,.

>Given the time and risk of downsizing through 5.1mm to get to 4.9mm, is
there a reason you chose   not to include a number of test colonies on 4.9mm
Supercall?

I don't care for fully drawn plastic. My reason is basically I consider
fully drawn problematic long term for a number of reasons. Second I believe
(as does Tom Seeley) that taking a brood nest of bees and placing  nine
sheets of plastic every inch and a half is not the way nature intended  and
bad enough. Fully drawn is way too much plastic for me. Tom has some
interesting experiments he has ran concerning plastic foundation & frames.

  Beeswax is what the bees like. Tom has shown the bees can heat the cluster
better when all comb is wax rather than divided by the plastic in nine
places. Not as big an issue in warm areas.
With plastic foundation you can cut the beeswax back to the plastic and let
the bees draw again which is almost like recycling comb.

The purpose of my testing John is to observe some of the things others have
said they have observed. The method I have chosen ( in December BEE-L
archives) according to Dennis Murrel & also believed will work by Joe Waggle
to get the 4.9mm comb drawn I need is outlined.

If hives already on 4.9mm. were available close by I could simply run tests.
Although I will document the entire process real testing will be done only
when I get bees regressed on 4.9mm. However Dee says  for my area 5.1mm is
the natural size but will not get the results she sees.

I thought about trying the Mann Lake comb causing the buzz on another list
but think I need to go 4.9 to get the shorter post capping time. I am
interested in the varroa control. Period.

I will be working with 175 crimp wired 4.9mm foundation frames ( ready right
now) to start.

I have several ways I plan to test including shook on the 4.9mm foundation.
I don't expect these to get draw correctly but need to try. Unlike Dee
whatever size the bees draw will be kept and used in production hives.
Remelt down? I don't think so! Way too much work. The only way I would cull
is if the bees draw drone comb in brood nest center!

The shook on 4,9mm foundation testing will start middle of April ( packages)
but the getting two frames drawn in the middle of the brood nest of a very
strong hive of bees at start of major honey flow will start in middle of
May.

I assure the list when I am done I WILL know if small cell works to control
varroa mites.

Bob





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