From: Lucinda Sewell <lucindajohn@sewellhome.freeserve.co.uk>
Date: Sun Dec 17, 2000 6:17pm
Subject: Re: girls on small cells, regressing bees

Thanks Dee,

Some clarification:
> John, why are you watering down the honey instead of just liquifying it?

To save the bees from foraging for water even, Spring here can be very
changable days, or hours even. I figure if I feed honey as liquid as spring
syrup they'll benefit.

> John, Why are you caging the queen? This would seem unnecessry. Cannot you
> use queen excluders to act as queen includers until sufficient brood and
> combs are drawn?

Bad phrasing, sorry. I do mean cage the queen into the hive, not prevent her
laying. Queen includer I think.

> John, why three day inspections? That would tend to disrupt the bees too
> much from intended work.

I'm scared of her running out of space, and swarming off. But you lead me to
a question I've been meaning to ask for ages...how much disruption is an
inspection? Some books say inspect every chance you get. Some beekeepers
only look when they put supers on and remove honey. On good days the bees I
examine seem content to carry on their business no matter what I do. Other
days....well you know about those days!

> John, for temperate zone go for the smallest blackest hives with workers you
> have for raising queens.Then since drones are a direct compliment of the
> queen, take these from the darkest queen colonies you have. With luck you
> will have good small black workers with a good small black queen and can use
> same both ways.

Thanks. I have one queen that was dark as a virgin, and small. I haven't
seen her since mating, but she pulled her colony together for winter when I
was considering combining them. All my other queens are yellowy/golden or
syrup colour at darkest. Some dark workers 'tho. Is colour directly related
to size then (on a natural system).

Thanks Dee
John Sewell