Hi Dee,

Dee wrote:
>Reply: This I disagree with...
>But to refresh you on the three parts I/we key to for environment (cell
>size), diet, and breeding you can go to:

> http://www.beesource.com/POV/lusby/

>and there you will find a FREE book I wrote years ago with about 22
chapters >or so, now that probably needs updating and final chapters
finsihed/added.

My two cents worth:

I am quite familiar with your text and the three parts upon which small cell
beekeeping rests. Most of the material there describes how to get bees back
to a natural small state from an artificially enlarged state that is
presumed to currently exist. As I see it, this is the very basis for most of
the field management techniques you have described there. You have written
alot about the downsides I've mentioned in previous posts.

Yet, I found that bees naturally and freely draw out small cell size comb at
the proper location in a broodnest. This small cell size is the result of a
constant taper the bees incorporate into broodnest comb. And all different
kinds/sizes of bees will do it regardless of their breed or the size of comb
they were raised on. Bees from your backyard, from mine, from Davids, from
Barrys, all behaved the same regarding comb construction. They all built
small cell sized comb. And it's amazing that they all built just about the
same amount of it.

Bees don't construct one size worker cell either large or small. For photos
of that taper see:

http://wind.prohosting.com/tbhguy/bee/comb.htm

But they build a range of cell sizes that are well within the range of
worker foundation that has been produced in the US. And this is nothing new.
Check out what A.I. Root had to say about natural cell size and foundation size:

http://wind.prohosting.com/tbhguy/bee/abcxyz.htm

What I concluded from his observations can be read at:

http://wind.prohosting.com/tbhguy/bee/musin.htm

And I have found that all different kinds of bees

I think small cell beekeeping works so well because the cell size is a
better approximation to the cell size in the core area of the broodnest.
This is  the area the bees cluster on during the winter and where the first
and last brood of the season are raised. I also think the downside
associated with getting small cell foundation drawn out are caused by the
very poor aproximation it provides for the rest of a natural broodnest with
its larger sized cells.

If bees have been artifically enlarged and only construct one kind of worker
cell, then all that Dee has written, about getting bees back to their
natural size/state, is essential to experience the benefits of small cell.

But if bees naturally construct cells within the small cell size range, then
 much of the field management associated with small cell beekeeping which
negates the effect of enlarged bees is not necessary.

I've had both of these experiences. And prefer the latter. My field
management is not plagued with problems of getting small cell comb drawn,
comb rotations, regressing bees, areas of influence, etc. Or on the other
hand, it isn't plagued by slow spring build, poor overwintering, and no mite
tolerance, etc., either.

The Lusby's were the first to stress the importance of cell size to colony
health and function. To those of us who have tried it, it's no longer a
question of IF bees on small cell size comb can prosper and survive. But I
think beekeepers can avoid much of downside if the HOWS and the WHYS are
considered. Dee and I respectively differ on these.

Regards
Dennis

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