Hi Todd and Everyone,

>Are there any known strains/races which are naturally smaller and =
produce smaller cell sizes?

The african races tend to be smaller and produce a smaller cell size. But
honeybees bees produce a range of cell sizes. Their broodnest is
organized and cell size is a very important component of the structure.

I have placed small cell hive bees in a top bar hive and they initially
drew out large cell sized comb. Six weeks later the bees that were raised
in the large cell comb starting drawing out small cell size comb in the
bottom portions of the broodnest during a major honey flow. Larger cell
sizes were drawn at the top and exterior portions of the broodnest.

I have measured the percentages of the different sized cells and the
details can be found toward the bottom of

www.geocities.com/usbwrangler/obs2.htm

My conclusions regarding cell size have not made me very popular with
some of the small cell folks. But my observations indicate that a special
small cell bee is not needed. These bees were New World Carniolans from
Strachan. Carniolans have been historically classified as a larger bee. I
have used just about every type of bee from every major supplier in the
US and they have performed equally well on small cell comb.

The bees that were in my top bar hive experiment are now in a large cell
hive. Next spring I will place them back in a top bar hive and watch what
happens. I also plan on placing another race of small cell bees in a top
bar hive.

Regards
Dennis

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