>Real winter means.....
>temperatures below 40 for up to 5 months, and periods of up to 2 months with
>
>
>
How would Casper Wyoming weather stack up for you? On some of the other
lists, I have started a first and last snow date contest. And I won it
every year! :>)

>Number one, if it is the small cells that are doing it then changing the
>combs would be sufficient to reduce varroa in anybody's hives. In other
>words, I would buy little cells, put them in, and varroa not a problem.
>
>Nobody is saying this, though....
>
Well, maybe almost nobody. But that almost nobody is most certainly me.
I have put all kinds of commercially availible stock on small cell comb.
And they were all varroa tolerant. Some of the kinds tested included,
Strachan NWC; Glenn Russian(several different lines), Carniolan and
Smart; Weaver Harbo, All American, Russian, Buckfast; Miska Italian and
Carniolan; USDA Russian; Lusbees; Minnesota Hygienic Italian, Koehnen
Italian(at the time Ohio Queen Breeder stock)

I have removed some of that same stock, including the same queen, from
small cell comb and placed them on clean, large cell sized comb. And all
of those that were removed needed varroa mite treatment, at the end of
the first season, to survive. You can read the results for yourself at:
http://bwrangler.atspace.com/bee/sunr.htm

>
>that the future is in bee breeding. If we can breed a better bee then the
>type of equipment, management technique, or locale would be less of an issue.
>
>
Running off to beehalla. Finding the magic bee. And breeding it to
perfection has been the heigth of adventurious dreams  for many bee
breeders. It is a very romantic notion. My thoughts paralleled this
thinking. And before I actually tried small cell for myself, I thought
the success that both Leonard Hines and Erickson, and Ed and Dee Lusby
had achieved was the result of an influx of favorable genes from Africa
via the AHB.

But when I tried small cell on my bees, in my location, the results were
absolutely shocking. I ran a poll on beesource to see just what kind of
experience other beekeepers have had with small cell. With the exception
of a couple of cases, all who have tried it are sticking with it. With
those who have tried it, the question is not if cell size is effective,
but why and how it's effective.

And beekeepers are developing their own methods and management to make
their notions of small cell beekeeping work better. Some, like Dee L,
have a very strong commercial organic bent. Others, like Joe W and
Michael B, are working with feral bees.
Although I started with small cell from a very traditional, large scale,
commercial prospective, I  now, just putter with my top bar hives and a
few small cell hives.

>ps. The fact that little cell foundation is available now indicates one
>thing only: somebody thinks they can make money off it. I am not making
>money off of bees at all any more, raise them only for fun. Of course, it
>isn't much fun to have them die off in the fall, even BEFORE the rough New
>England winter.
>
So, then what do you have to loose? Just the cost of a little foundation
and some fun time? Rather than thinking of all the reasons that small
cell might not work, why not put it to the test, with your bees, in your
location. Design and give it a fair test. Watch your bees for yourself.
And then report what you see. Maybe you will be one of those few who
don't find any value for small cell. On the other hand, you might find
yourself one of the others who have experienced a different outcome. And
along the way, you might see something that will help others understand
this process better.

Regards
Dennis

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