Weird question RE: pollen traps

[Nicole]

Since regressed bees are smaller, are standard commercially available pollen traps less effective on them? Seems they'd be able to shimmy through the holes easier. :scratch:

[stangardener]

how much smaller are regressed bees? 10%? 10% less pollen? but then more cells per comb equals more bees to bring in more pollen.
i have foundationless bees and pollen traps and the traps work. but remember i have no desire to strip all the pollen from the bees. to pull a bit less than the manufacturers stated 50% would be fine with me.

[daknoodle]

I think with the size of the screen you still shouldn't have a problem. The bees arn't THAT small. :)

[Nicole]

I think with the size of the screen you still shouldn't have a problem. The bees arn't THAT small. :)

I didn't think so. I was just thinking about pollen traps today and my midget (hmm maybe "Little Bees" is more PC :lookout:) small cell bees that are on the way and was wondering. :lpf:

[Michael Bush]

I think they work better. You can leave them on with less worry about starving the hive and the bees get worn less going through the hardware cloth.

The difference in volume of small cell vs. large cell is about 150% (in other words the large cell are half again as large). The difference in diameter, however, is only about 110% (in other words the large cell bees are 10% "fatter")

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnaturalcell.htm#differencebetween