> > I just finish reading " Evils of the Double Deep" > Evil, eh? I say ridiculous. Want more ridiculous? Read "Nectar Management" in pov on BeeSource.com > a > full drawn cluster wil have a problem with "the break in functional comb" > and latter a problem when deciding where to place the winter cluster. > Right...bees have a problem deciding?? And a bee space will cause that problem? > > In the double deep, during the white wax flow, the colony stores winter > rations. Now which "white wax flow" would that be? The spring nectar flow from Dandelion? The main flow? The Fall flow? During each there is "white wax" being made. Are my bees storing winter honey from dandelion? Not if there are ample supers on the colony. > They often treat the gap in functional comb between deeps as the > dividing line between stores. Some will fill the upper with capped honey, > and some will fill the lower with pollen. So with a "gap" between hive bodies, one body becomes dis-functional?? > This pushes the brood into the > other box. In both cases the brood nest is competing with winter stores for > space. For sure if your broodnest isn't large enough there will be competition for comb space between brood rearing and storage of winter stores. Hence a food chamber on top of the double deep. > This restricts brood nest expansion in the fall when they need to be > rearing young bees for wintering. > Brood nests expanding in the fall? Juanse, I run several hundred colonies on two deeps and a medium. I winter in northern Vermont. My bees have no problem raising large populations for winter and packing away ample honey for winter....and they have 2 gaps. I weigh every colony in my operation about October 1 with a target weight of about 155 lbs meaning 80 pounds of stores. Many colonies' broodnests at that time are overweight...with well more than 100 pounds of stores. They winter with large clusters and come out of winter with large clusters. > I search bee-l for "functional comb" and "gap between frames" with no > results. > I doubt you will find this anywhere but in Wright's manuscripts...in which he says "all the experts and scientists don't know what they are talking about". Everyone has it all wrong. Only Walt Wright knows. > does this gap really exist for the bees as a "break", or they can > handle it quite acceptable while they build "a ladder" with brace comb? > I don't believe such a gap problem exists. Do your bees have a problem crossing over into the next body up? Do they have a problem crossing over the space between honey supers? I believe he claims there's also a problem when the bottom box has 10 frames and the super has 9. It seems the bees get confused with the jog around an out of line bottom bar. Really?? While a I agree that some bees will center their broodnest in the bottom box and some in the top brood box, it has nothing to do with a bee space between boxes. All colonies are different and proceed differently. It seems to me that this evil langstroth double deep idea is Walt Wright designing a scenario to fit his nectar management, checkerboarding agenda. But then, he keeps bees in Tennessee and I in Vermont. > > > > *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm