From: Barry Birkey <barry@birkey.com>
Date: Sun Dec 17, 2000 9:30pm
Subject: Re: girls on small cells, regressing bees

Hi John -

> Re 'regressing bees' I've chosen the smallest drawn comb I can find. I'm

Do you know what these measure out to be?

> going to make five 5 frame nucs in early Spring, one drawn comb flanked by
> full sheets of 4.9

Are these sheets you have made or store bought? Might get a bit pricey if
you have to be buying all the foundation. I think I can guarantee you won't
be able to do it in one sweep like this. They may do _pretty good_ but in
the end you will still cull out these combs for near perfect ones. Are you
not using starter strips because you are concerned about not having enough
time in the season to do 2 shakedowns, or 1 split and 1 shakedown?

> foundation. I'll feed honey watered down to stimulate brood rearing, and
> hence the need for cells. I'll feed Pollen or protein
> too, any ideas? I'll keep good ventilation, but insulate or perhaps
> artificially warm
> those colonies.

Is it that critical to start your process so early when there isn't adequate
nectar and pollen that you will have to resort to supplementing? Since you
are going to be working with nucs, it seems that you wouldn't need to start
so early. Of course I don't know your weather pattern or the length of time
your bees have from start to finish for the year. I was amazed at how fast
the bees worked frames with just a starter strip in them. I didn't get as
early a start as I could have if I had planned it as you are. I simply
waited for a couple of early swarms to get going, not that I would recommend
this approach for you.

> The remaining brood on the buggy comb I'll combine with the
> colonies I am not downsizing this year.

A word of caution. Just remember that the remaining brood you'll have will
be numbered with varroa so you could actually be dramatically increasing the
mite load to whatever hive you gives these frames to. I chose not to hold
onto the brood combs, but instead, melted down the _clean_ wax for future
foundation.

Regards,

Barry