Dave Cushman writes: Dee used the word acclimatised, which would be suitable, but I'm afraid I do not agree with 'acclimatisation' being related to a smaller bodily size. Reply: While the bees of the northern latitudes would be slightly bigger then what we might keep for the bulk of bees naturally raised, in the overall core of the broodnest there would still be breakout for variability for the bees to work with for problems of small, medium, and large size for the area acclimitized to. But in considering that there is only about a 2% size difference in the bee per each degree of latitude change which isn't much, and looking at how many latitude changes that would take to increase from south to north, and knowing that even in UK old archives show a size of about 5 cells within 1 inch (which technically means slightly smaller) then in looking at today's enlarged combs one might see a problem of for even our more northern climates of having bees today on average about .3mm oversize. But basically you follow the bees needs and what they draw, and things over a period of years straighten out with uniform body conformity in all worker familys of the hives, besides other characteristics. I totally agree with what you say concerning the honey, for bees in the natural would have to use it, and why put all that work into getting something that they cannot use. But to get bees acclimitized to ones own area first comes survivalability, and then building of numbers for variability, and then when enough numbers are built up and still following the bees and their needs and work habits, comes the chance to select the best for the overall honey production we seek while letting the poorest performers just go that cannot hold during even average years of working. Here is where sphere of infuence in build numbers comes into play, but then this you would be aware of along with acclimitizing. Best Regards, Dee A. Lusby Small Cell Commercial Beekeeper Moyza, Arizona http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organicbeekeepers/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Want to start your own business? Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/r-index -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---