From: "deelusbybeekeeper" <deelusbybeekeeper@excelonline.com>
Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2001 08:00:48 -0700
To: <BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: Size of honey and drone combs

Hi to all on Biological Beekeeping

Clay wrote:

> I would be interested to
> know the difference in pollen consumption between colonies on 4.9 vs.
> 5.2(mine)? Would colonies on 4.9 gather more pollen as there are many more
> mouths to feed. yet also many more bees are raise to collect the pollen.
> Mostly I would like to know about the consumption rate of pollen(and its
> relation to brood rearing?) between traditional cell size vs. modern size?

Reply:

Yes Clay, it was written back prior to WWII that colonies of bees gathered
large amounts of pollen. So much so, that Cut Comb foundation called *706*
and *7/11* sold by Dadant and Walter T. Kelly respectively, was developed
especiallly to keep pollen out of Cut Comb honey.
The key to the foundation working at the time was the fact, that the
foundation was sized mid-way between natural workerbrood comb and natural
drone comb sizing, thus making bees reluctant to put pollen into the cells.
Of course today, we have much larger foundations on the market than the
traditional cut comb foundations. But that is its history for creation.

To read more about this see back issues of ABJ, 1962, Pages 172-173 for
*More About 706 Cell Size Foundation for Cut Comb Honey*. Interestingly to
note, about this time chalk brood was discovered in the USA for the first
time following its issuance on the market.

You will find that when you put in 4.9mm foundation many basic things will
change. Concerning pollen, you will find that your bees will bring in colors
from floral sources you have never seen before, but was available all the
time. We went from patches of pollen brought in to whole sheets of pollen
stored in some hives with the whole bottom super practically filled with
nothing else. It has caused us to like honey (when placing it to the sides
for room in the center for the queen to lay) make room for the queen to lay
by placing pollen frames to the sides in the bottom super with just one
outside frame of honey on each end.Thus leaving the next two pollen. In the
second super we leave 50/50 honey and pollen frames on the outside. In the
third super we leave all honey on the outside three frames. We also now give
whole frames of pollen to colonies just starting to bring them up fast.You
will find your bees having over 1,000 more bees per brood frame for each 21
day cycle will have greter division of labor for gathering stores. It's like
an extra package of bees produced every cycle for production. More pollen
equates to more brood and also healthier bees and muscle tone for flight
advantage, etc.

To read more look for stuff written by Farrar concerning pollen and how bees
use it. Other than than I am afraid you will find research lacking for the
questions you have asked. The work very much needs to be done, as all
research work after WWII on honeybees concentrated on what was done on an
artificial system of beekeeping only, and not a natural one. So most all
research on natural gathering, etc is lacking for modern usage and
comparison. A real field day for those wanting to work!

Chow

Dee