Hi Allen and Everyone, Allen writes: >What puzzles me is that the above seems -- unless I misunderstand -- to >suggest that a natural broodnest does pretty much what the small cell is >claimed to do, regardless of the bees chosen. >If this is so, then why the disppearance of feral colonies everywhere? I'm don't know much about feral bees. There haven't ever been many feral hives here. But others in areas where feral hives exist have disputed the ferals demise. Many, without checking, have assumed it to be true. But, like Dr. Seeley found when he checked the Arnot Forest, feral populations are flourishing.I suspect that the influx of swarms from domestic hives into the feral population is greatly reduced when compared to the pre-mite days. One curious observation I have seen, when comparing natural comb from different shaped top bar hives, is the effect of the comb height on the amount of small cell comb drawn. The bees drawout less small cell sized comb in a shallower top bar hive than they do in a deeper one. The effects of the tapered comb on cell size get truncated before much small cell comb is drawn. I had hoped that the bees would organize the broodnest differently, but they didn't. See: http://wind.prohosting.com/tbhguy/bee/compa.htm It appears that some cavity sizes and shapes are more optimal for small cell comb construction and survival than others. In the pre-mite days cavity shape and the amount of small cell comb probably wasn't so critical. Many colonies probably would have survived, until queen failure, without any small cell comb, just like bees in our standard equipment did. The bees resistance to mite vectored viruses is also a factor. When I was counting mites, some types of bees were very susceptible to the viruses. A susceptible hive could collapse in just one season under the same mite load that would kill a less susceptible colony in three years. Maybe these are factors in the reduced number of feral hives to almost nothing in some areas as has been reported. Some Thoughts Dennis :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::