Hi Guys, The concept of using bees as qualitative environmental samplers has been around for a decade or so. All that buzzing charges them up and they inspect just about everything so are quite good at bringing back a sample to the hive. And the wax/propolis acts as a chemical sink accumulating the stuff. Which can lead to wax/propolis contamination from the environment alone. If industrial polution can be detected in dust clouds from China, it is probably in my hives that haven't ever been treated. I replaced all the combs in some of my hives when I converted them to small cell size. The small cell comb allowed my bees to coexist with the mites,and the small cell hives overwintered stronger with no loss. These hives were also better producers than my other hives and the queens appeared to fair better. Initially, I attributed many of these characteristics to the cell size. But when I re-established some large cell sized hives on new comb, I saw many of the same characteristics, except for the bees ability to coexist with the mites. Could it be that the clean wax is a major factor in bee health? A commercial beekeeper(King?) in North Dakota has come to the same conclusion and published his observations in the ABJ within the last couple of years. Regards Dennis Thinking that some organic concepts might benefit everyone :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::