Starting a New Hive with Small Cell Bees...

[Charles Fry]

If I order small-cell bees and queens (I was thinking of packages from Buckeye Bee) and I start the hives with just starter strips of foundation in the frames - not full sheets - will the bees "remain" in small-cell mode and create brood comb with a naturally small cell size?

I have read a lot about regression, small-cell foundation, etc. etc. ... but why not just start with genetics inclined to small cell and let them do their own thing? As Mr. Bush says - "Everything works if you let it" - so why not just "let it?" What am I missing here?

[amymcg]

From what MB has written, this the size cell they will naturally build, and so by giving them starter strips, they will build what they need, with smallest worker cells in the 4.9 range give or take. . .

I'm planning on doing this myself. I'm debating starter strips or small cell foundation. .

[Michael Bush]

>If I order small-cell bees and queens (I was thinking of packages from Buckeye Bee)

Do a search and you'll find there were delivery problems last year. I think he got a lot more orders than expected and bad weather and couldn't make delivery. I'm not saying you shouldn't order from him, but you might want to hedge your bets and order from couple of places to make sure, at worst, you get SOME bees, and at best you get an extra package more than you intended.

> and I start the hives with just starter strips of foundation in the frames - not full sheets - will the bees "remain" in small-cell mode and create brood comb with a naturally small cell size?

They will do fine on starter strips. You can even put triangular comb guides on and they will be less susceptable to sagging (as all foundation, including starter strip, is).

>I have read a lot about regression, small-cell foundation, etc. etc. ... but why not just start with genetics inclined to small cell and let them do their own thing?

The bees already have the genetics to build small cells. Just let them.

>What am I missing here?

I think you got it.

[yooper2]

I tried small cell bees from Buckeye and they did a very poor job of drawing small cell foundation.

[Fusion_power]

Thats a pretty good sign that something was not right. Either the bees had not been raised on small cell or they were a mix of bees from small and large cell colonies. Its also possible something was not right with the foundation.

I have a bag of comb saved from a swarm out of a small cell colony. The smallest range is 4.7 and the largest is 4.9.