>>>Don't think we said or implied that CB corrected the problems associated with winter losses. We did say 'care in the fall.' - not described. We considered opening a thread in Aug/Sept describing that care, but I do not enjoy the flac that a deviation to standard management always brings. So, we do not open many threads.
Flac? You mean disagreement? Walt, if you tell others their beekeeping management is all wrong, you must expect some amount of questioning and challenge.
>>The following short-form lists some of the improvements added to the full season management based on observation, in the order they were added:
Langstroth hive design affects comb usage in more than one way.
1. The bees don't "like" the break in functional comb between boxes. This results in reluctance to "jump the gap" in mutiple different circumstances.
Says you. In 40 years I have seen no evidence of this. What's your proof that the bees don't "like" the bee space between brood boxes and/or supers.
>>2. Something about brood-rearing in a deep that distorts cluster shape - flat on the bottom and rounded at the top. You only see a round cluster when it's quite small.
Distorts cluster shape?? Really?? And what possible problem would come from your flat bottomed clusters. Hey, just yesterday I was looking at clusters from the bottom up on a dozen multiple story hives...2 deeps and a medium. They were about 8" from the bottom board, and nothing flat about them.
>>3. The flat bottomed broodnest in conjunction with the gap of 1 above inhibits storing of the pollen reserve below, which is natural in the wild brood nest.
I too find pollen in the bottom box. Even in my multiple deep box colonies.
>>4. The bees much prefer to rear brood in a deep over a shallow.
But not in a deep over a deep? So my colonies in 2 deeps, 2 deeps and a medium, 3 deeps, 3 deeps and 2 mediums, 4 mediums, 6 mediums, 2 deep and 3 mediums...that have 9, 10, 12, and 14 frames of brood at the start of dandelion, prefer your setup. Really. Could have fooled me Walt.
>>Merging these observations, we elected to change wintering configuration to a deep and the rest all shallows. During the config. change, we were also testing the bottom "pollen box." We got lucky and the results proved to be better than we had any reason to expect. Took 2 years. When complete, the changes produced reliable wintering.
Glad your bees winter 100%, and your swarming is 0%. I'm not that good. I only had an 8% loss last winter, and surely I had some swarming.
>>This stuff is not a secret. It's available to all for free in POV. If you enjoy winter dead-outs and the joys of splitting/nucing, by all means ignore a way that produces more honey and takes less effort. No skin off my buns.
Personally, I do enjoy making nucs and raising queens and all that bee business. Enjoy making honey, too. Tons, and tons, and tons of it...with deep boxes and medium boxes with that bee space between them all. Sure glad my bees can jump Walt, or they'd be forever resigned to living in the bottom box.
Walt, I'm sorry for the long winded disagreement, but if you're going to tell me I'm wrong, I'm not going to sit here and listen to your dogma. If you want to include some science i your claims, then we can at least have an intelligent debate. And by the way...who's WE?