>  It does seem to me, however, after being installed
> on
> full drawn small cell comb, raising brood throughout
> a
> whole summer, and overwintering that they would have
> been regressed by now. Am I wrong? Is it a lot more
> complicated than that?

I hate to give you a new word, ;>) but there is the
'stabilization' process which is a vital part of
regression.  As Mike mentioned, queens need to be
regressed also which is the stabilization factor.

And my personal theory is that regressed queens must
mate in an area where they have high probability of
matings with other small cell drones from either small
cell colonies or smaller ferals.  Or you will result
in have poor mated queens caused by assortative mating
preferences.

My opinion is that,,, People that are regressing need
to get out of their heads the thinking that
'the size cell is the benefit'.  IT IS NOT!
It is the things the small sized cells allow such as
assortative breeding in the stabilization process that
the benefits are realized.

This citation below seems to support size related
mating preferences in honeybee drones.  My personal
theory is that if you are in an area that lacks
smaller drones you may have a tough time succeeding
with small cell, unless you can regress several
colonies at a time. or have ferals to supply smaller
drones for matings.  I have abundant feral populations
here which may have helped me succeed.

http://balder.prohosting.com/~starrier/SizeRelatedMatingPreferences.html








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