DADANT
is now manufacturing and selling a 4.9 mm cell size foundation.
Since 1997, the Lusby's
have successfully maintained their honeybee colonies the traditional
way, without the use of drugs, essential oils, or chemical treatments.
Through their experience, they believe to be successful at keeping
bees the "non-chemical" way, three elements make up
the solution; matching comb size to the natural environment is
1/3, diet is 1/3, and breeding is 1/3.
If you read through historical
documents that the Lusby's have compiled from countless hours
of research through periodicals, journals, scientific papers
and books, it is clear that a deliberate change took place back
in the early 1900's to go to the outer bounds of possibilty in
creating a bigger honeybee. A point can be made that a sudden
increase in bee diseases and pests also happened at the same
time.
Seeing that our country was founded upon and originally used
4.83mm cell sizing, the Lusby's have found that there is naturally
an optimal cell size for ones own geographic area, of which they
have complied these sizes on a world
map for reference.
It is the opinion of some beekeepers that an extreme emphasis
over the years on breeding a bigger and 'better' bee has lead
to a problematic honeybee.
If you are interested in reading more about how one uses the
4.9 foundation in their hives, please refer to the following
pages:
http://www.beesource.com/eob/4dot9/index.htm
http://beesource.com/ubb/Forum13/HTML/000008.html
The Biological
Beekeeping List provides current discussion on beekeeping
without the use of chemicals and drugs and discussion on how
others are converting their bees to the 4.9 mm foundation. |
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| Here are some sample measurements
of the new 4.9 mm foundation. |
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ORDERING INFO:
100% Beeswax foundation
for deep (9-1/8") frames.
Foundation size: 8-1/2" x 16-3/4"
Quanity per carton: 10 sheets
Price per carton: $10.95
There are several ways to order the
foundation.
On the Internet:
Order online through
Dadant's secure server at: http://www.dadant.com/catalog/
Click on 'Healthy Bees' then 'Pest Controls'
Second item on page two, item #F46010
Order via email by sending order request to: dadant@dadant.com
Order by phone at: 1-800-637-7468
Contact your local Dadant branch supplier at:
http://www.dadant.com/branch/index.html |
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