Hi Joe and Everyone,

I might have missed something here, but will respond.

>I don't think this can be attributed to clean comb
alone. How can one be sure that the accompanying brood
break does not factor in?

There wasn't any break in the brood cycle. A deep box of clean, large cell
comb was inserted above the broodnest.

>Or the elimination of mite infested drone brood?

No frames with brood in them were eliminated.

>Or reorganization of broodnest?

No broodnest reorganization occurred.

>Or weeding off of varroa and other disease by
artificial swarming?

No shakedown were used.

>Or the elimination of contaminated comb?

No contaiminated comb. Both the large and small cell combs had never been
treated with anything before the test.

>Could also be the open broodnest effect,,, aiding the colonies ability to
out brood mites and disease,,, Bro. Adam does state that "an
open broodnest is essential,,,"

I run all my vertical hives in three deeps. And I use a checker board
approach which keeps broodnest interference to a minimum. Both the large
cell and small cell hives were run exactly the same way. The only thing that
differed was the cell size. They weren't even requeened which resulted in
some problems and a termination of the experiment three years into the test.

Different beekeepers using other management techniques and equipment might
get different results.

Regards
Dennis

-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and  other info ---