From: "deelusbybeekeeper" <deelusbybeekeeper@excelonline.com>
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 07:45:34 -0700
To: <BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: bee bobs

Hi to all on Biological Beekeeping

Joel writes:

I seem to remember someone here saying something to the effect that bees prefer certain width and depth ratios in the configuration of brood comb. If they do, then what appears to be their opinion of the optimal ratio?

Reply:

Joel, Dave has given some imput on this already. to add to. For every degree of latitude change figure about a 2% size difference in the size of the
workerbee with corresponding difference in size of cell width built for
thorax, from which then all sizes and body parts of the bees change.
Further, for every foot of altitude change relative to latitude there is a
corresponding change in the size of the workerbee also. So brood combs get
bigger and smaller as both altitude and latitude change depending upon the
direction you are going either north or south or high to low.

In conjunction with this, Mullenhoff over 115 years ago wrote and determined
that the drone cell has a volume double that of a worker cell concerning the
cubic content of a worker cell. Later Baudaux of Belgium wrote that there is
a constant ratio between worker, d rone, and queen cells with all dependent
upon the size of the worker brood cell built that never changes in ratio,
though one might change the size of the worker cell artificially, or it
changes by latitude or altitiude naturally.

Dee