Hi Bob & All,
Thanks Bob for reply.
> Bob, What is your hands on experience with small cell beekeeping?
>
> Very small scale. I was the first ( I believe) to name comb which is between
> the size used normally and 4.9mm as *transition comb*.
>
From history I understand that this is just about the time that peirco 5.25 mm plastic comb came about on the scene. 5.25 mm would
be somewhat close in sizing to what would be a transition size and is a good comb to use in regressing and downsizing bees and comb
in a colony. I used drawn peirco comb when I down sized bees from a package bee headed by Russian queens. It worked well. Those
Russian colonies are still doing well so far three seasons.
I just whish that Nick at the same time would have made peirco combs in the 4.9 mm size also.
> Aaron explained my position very clearly. Thanks Aaron as we are on the same
page!
>
But apparently there are more factors that are in play than just the queen that may be in the colony as pointed out by others on the
list and some not proponents of small cell comb, like myself. Even though I may be a proponent I only recommend small cells be tried
and trialed before deciding to switch or not.
> > Commercial beekeepers do
> > things to increase hive population.
>
> What?
>
> many things such as combine hives, add brood, use two queens , feed both
> pollen & honey etc.
>
Well I think hobbyist use these too, I was hoping for a real secret. In reality, besides using two queens, these things to increase
colony population is merely propping up poor genetics in some but not all cases. To be honest the queen is a large part of how many
numbers of bees there are in a colony but is not the limiting factor.
> I have yet to see the results worth the labor/cost with small cell but keep
> an open mind.
>
You may want to take the time to go and visit the Lusby's and see their results with Labor/Cost with using small cells, but you
already know some of that history. It might be worth it to you to see them again since you are with an open mind.
. .. Keith Malone, Chugiak, Alaska USA, http://www.cer.org/,
c(((([ , Apiarian, http://takeoff.to/alaskahoney/,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Norlandbeekeepers/ ,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ApiarianBreedersGuild/
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