There are MANY environmental factors to consider. Its strange how "experienced beekeepers" on this list start to bicker over single environmental factors as THE DIRECT cause of success or failure. IMO... The person that said they succeed solely because of small cell or any other single factor is crediting success in error. The person that said they tried small cell and failed solely because of it, is attributing failure in error. A colony crash or failure is similar to an airplane crash. Baring an asteroid impact, or some other obscure event, colonies do not fail or succeed based on singular reasons. An experienced beekeeper will always identify a number of contributors to any failure or success, and there are many environmental factors to consider. I teach newbees I have mentored that success and failure will be the result of several causes. Please review: "The environmental factor may be inside or outside the hive, or even inside or outside the individual bee. For example, pathogenic microorganisms or irritating foods are inside but not part of the animal and are therefore environmental factors." Everett Franklin Phillips - 1915 Best Wishes, Joe Waggle http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/HistoricalHoneybeeArticles/ *********************************************** 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