Allen writes:

> The size that will suit bees when they are first put on any size foundation
>> will be near the same size cell they came from. It's not realistic to think
>> you can change the size of any animal or insect, quickly, without problems.
>> The idea here is to work the bees hard to get them back to a size that was
>> normal for them many years ago.
>
>Where is this size documented?  I really would like to examine the proof that
>European bees used any size outside the current range.  I am begging.

    I'd like to see more evidence myself, preferably relating to the UK.

The above also makes me wonder:  What happens if someone takes 'retrogressed'
or
is it 'regressed' bees and shakes them onto a plain wax starter, lets the
colony
develop, then does the same thing again and again?  Do they stay 'regressed'
or
'retrogressed' or go back to the 5.2 size that most of us observe in natural
colonies.

    This is what I wonder. So far, I've given starter strips Thorne's small
cell foundation (this is Dadant's messed up first attempt - about 5.0mm) to
two colonies. One had a mixture of this with drawn comb at about 5.4mm, and
continued to draw the same size, perhaps predictably. The other was a swarm
from that hive, hived on 5mm strips alone; it has pulled about 5.25mm comb.
I'm not going to force them to go any further this year, but next year I
intend to shake them down onto strips again, and the test will be what size
they draw then.

Regards,

Robert Brenchley

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