Scoreboard: Small Cell 1, Mites 0

[leafcutter]

I did a 24 hour mite count today and got the following:

Regular cell/medium strength hive: 40
Regular cell/medium strength hive: 50
small cell/weak hive: 2
small cell/strong hive: 9

All 4 hives were packages/splits/swarms from this April, mostly begun on foundation only.

My experiment is over; I'm convinced enough to want to switch completely to small cell. Till then, I'll break out the powdered sugar to help get those two hives through till the eucalyptus starts blooming in late December.

[2rubes]

That's wonderful. We just had our meeting last night and one of our members has his 3 hives on small cell. He just checked his bottom boards and ....not one mite. 2 of his hives, he put on small cell foundation, the bees drew that out beautifully. One one hive, he put in empty frames and the bees drew out comb all over the place. He's going to leave it.
Just curious, are you using SC foundation? or starter strips?

Janet

[Ron Young]

I have a question about sc as well. I had asked this question once before in a topic on sc, and I think it got lost in all the responses, and I never saw an answer. If you regress a colony to small cell, does it have to be a total regression to take in the honey supers as well?

[Dave W]

NCBeginner . . .

"I think" just the brood nest area has to be SC and just 2 or 3 frames of the nest area is said to make a big difference.

In a true wild hive, honey is often stored in cells LARGER than drone.

[Michael Bush]

>I have a question about sc as well. I had asked this question once before in a topic on sc, and I think it got lost in all the responses, and I never saw an answer. If you regress a colony to small cell, does it have to be a total regression to take in the honey supers as well?

The only real issue from the point of view of mites is the core of the brood nest. That needs to be 4.9mm or smaller. But interchanability of combs is a very convenient thing for the beekeeper. I'd use it everywhere.

[leafcutter]

Janet - I used foundation instead of strips. At first they were a little wobbly when drawing it out, but a few generations in they have gotten the hang of it. I'm looking forward to next season starting out with some drawn comb.

NCbeginner - Some other folks already answered better than I could have about whether the supers need to regress too. I may blow out my back in the process, but I am planning to use my existing regular cell deep frames for 'supers' next year as I transition my other two hives to small cell brood.

I agree with MB's point about interchangeability. It will be nice to be fully switched over.

[Ron Young]

Sounds good. I did not have any small cell when we extracted the hive from the old house on the 22nd of August, so they are on regular foundation. I may try and regress them in a few years, providing I get them through the winter, and become somewhat successful at maintaining them.