In article <[log in to unmask]>, Allen Dick
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>> I recently borrowed a copy of 'A Manual of Beekeeping' by E.B. Wedmore
>> from my local library and I show below some extracts which I trust are
>> appropriate and of assistance...." On the supposition that the cells
>> must soon become too small, many good tough combs are destroyed
>> unnecessarily each year...."
 
>Destroying older combs that are still in good shape is another of those
>things small-time beekeepers do to make sure that they stay small-time. I
>could make a list of all the unecessary and costly work that people do due
>to simple ignorance and this would be near the top.
 
I am absolutely 100% in agreement with this. We have some brood combs
still in service which are 50 years old, tough as old boots, and could
go on for as long again all else being in their favour.
 
I have had a lot of flack when telling people this, but nonetheless it
is so. There is NO discernable reduction in bee size, NO apparent
increase in diseases, and if you think bees don't like them dump a fresh
swarm in a box with 5 old combs on one side and 5 nice white ones on the
other and after a few days see where they lay first.
 
If we have no discernable cell size reduction after 50 years, and a
conservative estimate of say 200 brood cycles, why on earth should we
destroy excellent combs after only 3 or 4 years. We do cull combs, for
such reasons as Allen states, plus attempting to reduce the amount of
casual drone comb to help cope with varroa (a minor part of our
strategy). We find little practical difference in disease levels between
old and new combs and in the case of chalk brood often find that the
first brood cycle on a new comb is the worst for this problem.
 
I have seen systems where no comb is permitted to run for two full
years, which does give an incredible amount of work and, because of all
the drawing needing to be done, no crop in a poor year.
 
If you are happy chopping out all these nice combs every year then go
ahead. Especially at the hobbiest level it is what you feel you should
be doing that matters a lot more than bottom line. At Allen and I's
(although we are a lot smaller than him) level however, it is feeding
the kids and paying the bills that counts first. The fact we both derive
great pleasure from what we do for a living must of necessity be
secondary.
 
If we chopped every 4 year old brood comb the bill, including labour
which is generally not a consideration to small operators, would exceed
the value (if any) of doing the job. 900+ boxes of combs to chop, clean,
and rewax (and often rewire) EVERY winter. I reckon we are looking at a
bill of around UK#10,000 annually, or about US$17,000. If it is of
doubtful, or even no, benefit, then that is right off your bottom line
and right out of your pocket.
 
For those who do not believe that bees clean out the cells and that all
the cocoons ever placed in the cells remain there in perpetuity I have
two questions.
 
1. Just what is that very fine fibrous brown dust many of my colonies
deposit outside every spring during their first cycle of expansion?
 
2. I have some white Pierco combs. At the end of each summer they are
pretty black, yet at first laying each spring they are white again in
the bottom of the cells (the side walls stay black). Why?
 
My answer (thoughts rather than anything I can prove) to the above is
that bees do not clean out ALL cocoons, but they do like to return cell
size to within certain parameters, at least at the start of the season,
so they do remove some of this stuff.
 
Murray
--
Murray McGregor
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