Jerry Wallace: Yes SC bees also reduce the size of the queen cells and also drone cells when you regress the bees down from larger cell sizes. Then to lock the size in you also need to sift queen so that born in the smaller sized down cells thus changing the aerodynamics of flight and hence mating, helps to make the size sift more permanent. This is done basically because smaller flys faster, meaning while smaller drones can ketch larger queens, it is harder for larger drones to ketch smaller queens in flight. So artificially enlarged LC queens and drones are then at a disadvantage in nature for always being pulled apart FWIW. As for production, it is hard to compare to outside of local region, as for example our desert climate though I get normally more in our area then others, in comparing to other regions of non-desert flora, some might say I do not get a lot. Yet, I am fully commercial and make living that way. I am not migratory either FWIW but keep permanent locations year round also. I also only take the honey above the cap or broodnest, and that honey that is in the broodnest in unlimited broodnest management, I do not change out and feed back sugar syrups either, being organic IMPOV, which if taken and sugars fed back could probably easily double what I yearly do. But then that would not be sustainable beekeeping to me, nor right ediquette for keeping healthy stock. Dee A. Lusby ____________________________________________________________________________________Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games. http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************