Dee said:

> I would say that IMPOV that the universal activity in Small-cell
> hives for cleaning out/chewing out varroa,

Are you saying that your observations tend to support a claim
that this is truly "universal"?  Have you observed this directly
happening, or only evidence "after the fact"? Can you be specific
about what you have seen, in terms of:

a) "saw the cell capped"
b) "saw the bees open it up"
c) "saw a varroa-infested larvae removed from that cell"

for each of some number cells observed over some period of time
in some number of colonies?  How (except with obseration hives
and a large amount of video tape) might one directly observe this?

> and accompanying secondary diseases

Is this an assumption, or something that has been tested with actual
samples of bees sent to labs for verification of a lack of "secondary"
diseases (I'm going to guess viruses)?

> is directly related to increased "Division of Labor" due to the increased
> numbers of workerbrood produced in a more compact broodnest area.

But wouldn't this require a small-cell queen to somehow lay eggs
significantly faster than any other queen?

While I agree that a higher colony population will result in more
workers available for each possible task, I'm not sure what higher
brood density has to do with anything.

Clearly, the limiting factor in the number of brood cells would be
the speed with which the queen lays eggs.  One could provide far more
brood comb than required to insure that the queen is never limited by
the amount of open available comb, but the queen still will only lay
some maximum number of cells per day, as she can only lay
"so fast, no faster".

> Enlarged bees on enlarged combs have fewer bees per a given area.

But "area" is an easy-to-change variable.  How would a minor increase
in density of bees per square inch (or brood cells per square inch) be
better than expanding all my brood nests from 3 mediums to 4 mediums
or (just to get silly) 3 mediums to 5 mediums?

>Since small cell bees means more bees,

How?  I must disagree, as "MANY more bees" per colony would result from
setting up a 2-queen hive than could possibly result from any incremental
increase in the egg-laying speed of any one queen.  If one thinks about it,
a 2-queen hive will out produce a single-queen hive every time, even if each
of the 2 queens are "lousy" queens.  Let's assume that we have two queens,
and they both lay at only a fraction of the rate of our "standard" queen:

           70% + 70% = 140%
           60% + 60% = 120%

So, if number of workers had anything to do with it, ANY 2-queen hive would
demonstrate the same "hygienic" behavior attributed to small-cell colonies.

> ...what is Hygenic behavior...
> A learned trait?
> an inherited trait?

Let's not go there...  Lysenko is safely and comfortably dead,
let's not resurrect him. :)


                jim (The longer a liberator stays, the
                     more he looks like an occupier.)

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::