Thanks to all who have participated in the small cell conversation.

I subscribe to Bee-L by digest and so I am a bit delayed in reading
everything.

Here are my take aways:

Small Cell combined with specific management techniques and suitable
stock works for for some in specific climates.

Research to date has focused largely on the effects of small cell and
not on the other management or genetics that probably contribute to
"success."

Creating a study that looks just at the effects of small cell even if
done over a period of years will be missing the effects of management
and genetics.

Creating a study that looks at the entire small cell methodology (as
espoused by Dee and others) will be extremely complex (and expensive)
due to the multitude of different elements to be tested.

Some people report success solely by using small cell foundation,
changing nothing else. There are too many variables in management styles
to view that success as easily transferable to other operations.

People have been talking about small cell for years now, and while there
is no consensus about its value there are strong opinions on all sides,
some based on personal experiences and some based on theories.

So after all this talk, I still don't know what to think except the old
standby slogan, All Beekeeping is local.


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