new member // theory

[loli_scarecrow]

Hey guys,
I've been helping my dad in the bee yard since I was 6, so I've been bee keeping with my dad for about ten years
We have a fair sized shop in our back yard and sell honey for allergies
We're strong believers in honey as a medicine, and have doing well with our business of 15 years
we are avid promoters of organic bee keeping.
unfortunately we

Comments

[wetkneefarm]

This is my first year beekeeping, so I can't say that I know a lot. I've read the same things you have about small foundation being good to avoid mites. We went a step further and have had great luck with foundationless frames (like this one on our blog http://waldeneffect.org/blog/Foundationless_Frame_Results/. It's not the same as just not putting any foundation in.)

Unfortunately, I don't know yet if the foundationless frames will hold back the mites. All I know is that the bees will build on them. :-)

[loli_scarecrow]

ahh we do that too to raise comb honey
it can be tricky
idk if that helps with mites either.. could be something to look into

[thanx_n_advance]

Thanks for the link! I had a printed source for foundationless frames at some point but I can't find it now and I've been considering giving this method a try.

[whatisbiscuits]

Are there any negative consequences to having smaller bees, for instance might they find it harder to keep the temperature up in colder weather? How many days do these smaller bees develop in? Sorry if these are silly questions but I'm curious as I've never heard of using small cell foundation, it sounds like an interesting idea though.

The local beekeepers I know are big on getting rid of drone cells to help control the mites.

[loli_scarecrow]

Nope, bees originally were smaller, so they're fine in the winter
its just commercial bee keepers wanted to larger bees to bring in more honey, and it became a trend.
A regular takes 21 days to develop, small cell takes only 19 days.
It takes a while for the bees to get used to it, but I think its well worth it.

How is it working for them? I haven't heard of that!

[whatisbiscuits]

The reason it works is because drones take longer to develop (24 days, I think), so the varroa mites prefer drone cells and are more likely to be in them. Of course they leave some drones to live.

I'll talk to the beekeepers round here and see what they think about the smaller bee idea, interesting. I'd always assumed bees just came in one size and that was it!

[incendiary_ave]

Agreeing with whatisbiscuits. Drones are usually raised to the outside of the brood box for the slightly lower temperature. They are larger and take longer to fully develop. All of these factors (and possibly more that we are unaware of) appear to be attractive to mites.

Since my bees will make comb in the sizes they want, I don't think switching to small cell foundation will do much. Not to mention the girls have drawn comb on all of their frames, so we're giving them back frames of drawn comb to reduce their workload.

[klangs]

have you tried using drone comb??

some mites (can't remember which) are specifically attracted to drone comb.
my dad has one specific (lime green) frame in each hive, where the combs are slightly larger. the queen uses her front legs to measure the width of the cell so she knows to lay drones on that frame. my dad then goes through once the frame has been filled and scrapes the comb. its only one frame so it doesn't affect the hive too drastically to lose too many would-be drones. and his mite population is way more under control.

[klangs]

haha didn't realise someone above had suggested it.