I use narrow starter strips for comb honey on the grounds that the whole comb will all be from the local nectar and the mid rib as thin as the bees make it. The cutter I have does 5 pieces and what's left can be extracted and the frame returned for the next time, already started. Alternating drawn comb and strips gives a good parallel comb and stacking them one above the other seems to encourage the young bees to work up through the boxes. This year I experimented with Dave Cushman's design of brood starter strips and fishing line "wiring". It will be interesting to measure the cell sizes next time round. This time, since the bees were expanding on to a second box, they drew a lot of drone comb, and removed a significant proportion of the drone brood. This seems quite a promising sign to follow up. -- James Kilty -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---