On Tuesday 28 September 2004 10:00 pm, Bob Harrison wrote:
> Bob >
> Cost is always a factor with production colonies. Downsizing to small cell
> invovles cost both in labor and replacing comb. When I found varroa was
> still around on 4.9mm cell size I was not as interested.

You are not going to see an elimination of varroa. This is not the purpose.
Small Cell beekeeping is one wholistic front to keeping bees well. Its one of
part of the whole darwin approach. You will continue to see varroa in your
hives, the difference is your hives will not crash because of it. The varroa
population remain maintained instead of overwhelming your bees.

There is only one way to know for sure, its not through reading, its not
through listening to others advocate it, and it is certainly not through the
arguments about it, the only way is to find out for yourself and to keep a
few small cell hives and keep them for more than just a year, it takes a
while to see the continued benefits.


> I see value in the screened bottom board but am not ready to cut holes in
> my skids possibly weakening the skids  for the benifits.
>

I have heard that bottomless hives can be healthier too. But I keep bees
naked, that is to say in shorts and t-shirt and no veil, though I have
started wearing safety goggles recently. I have heard that bottomless
colonies can tend to be more agressive/defensive since the number of guard
bees increases by magnitudes.

> Keith said:
> Well I think hobbyist use these too, I was hoping for a real secret.
>
> Secret for Keith:
>
> Knowing what is going on in your bee hives is the real secret. Guessing
> what is going on will get you in trouble every time.
>

This is true, so you shouldn't guess about small cell either. You will
continue to see varroa, I continue to see varroa and saw them in the late
spring, yet my hives continued to explode in population and each hive
produced an average of 200 Lbs of honey this year. They are still working
hard and still strong in population. I don't have one hive that crashed.

> Keith said:
>  To be honest the queen is a large part of how many
> numbers of bees there are in a colony but is not the limiting factor.
>
> All queens are not equal! Good queens do not cost but pay dividends.

Keith, the queen is one of the most important factors I am sure you will
agree. Room for her to lay is also JUST as important, and having enough
honey,pollen and water are also JUST as important, and also a bee cluster
large enough to nurse the brood. While a hive is developing the queen will
only lay within the cluster, as the cluster grows the brood nest grows, once
the cluster reaches critical survival mass, the limiting factor is honey
binding. The bees regulate the queen by closing her in. The bees know how big
the brood nest should be. If the bees don't know on their own, then they
won't produce. If they don't produce, they squander away all on their own.

>
> Keith said:
> You may want to take the time to go and visit the Lusby's and see their
> results with Labor/Cost with using small cells, but you
> already know some of that history. It might be worth it to you to see them
> again since you are with an open mind.
>
> Dee has offered many times. I have got very little free time. I would love
> to see Dee's bees. In Jacksonville (last January) Allen Dick, Aaron Morris
> and I discussed Allen's days he spent with Dee in great detail. Allen was
> impressed with Dee and her bees which speaks volumes with me!
>

I live in sarasota, if you want to come here and see my bees instead of going
to arizona to visit dee, please feel free. Of course the operation is
successfully and entirely top bar hives.


--
Scot Mc Pherson
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http://linuxfromscratch.org/~scot
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AIM: ScotLFS ICQ: 342949 MSN:[log in to unmask]

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