Hello Carol and Everyone,

Carol asked:
> I get the impression that you cannot simply pop 10 frames of 4.9
foundation into a hive body, and expect >that the bees will draw it out
into 4.9 cells. Is this correct? What will they do to 4.9 foundation?

That's true. It appears that the bees will construct 4.9 comb in the
center of the broodness. At some point they begin to draw larger cells
with eventually drone and larger honey storage cells away from the
broodnest. The factors that control the change in size are not
understood. When the bees decide they have enough they will rework the
small cell foundation and draw what they like.

It's almost impossible to get good small cell comb drawn during a honey
flow which has been the traditional time to draw the larger cell
foundation. I speculate the bees work to maximize wax resources and
storage space when the nectare is flowing in.

Small cell foundation is produced by shaking the bees onto foundation in
the spring. This forces the bees into an emergency situation and they
construct brood comb first. Brood cycles are lost and it's very hard on
the bees as essentially you are starting over with a package.

Another method is to reduce the hive to just the frames of brood and
insert small cell foundation in the center. The bees percieve a shortage
of brood comb and will build small cell.The large cell frames are rotated
out and more small cell foundation is inserted in the center. This
process is not as disruptive as the shake down but it less likely to
succeed as well.

Lots of detailed information and discussion exists on the web. Some
resources are:

www.besource.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BiologicalBeekeeping

Contact me privately with any questions if you prefer.

Best Wishes
Dennis