BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > NATURAL & ORGANIC BEEKEEPING METHODS
Why not try small cell?
VolunteerK9:
For a little light reading:
http://www.ent.uga.edu/bees/personnel/documents/Berry1109.pdf
I've got SC hives, but they had to be treated for mites with all the rest for the past two years.
D Semple:
I believe the biggest part of success is having a plan and executing that plan.
If you are a beginning beekeeper, you better follow somebodies else plan and not pick and choose the parts you do and don't like till you know what you are doing and can decide for yourself.
If you choose to be treatment free, by all means follow their plan exactly.
To many spoons in the pot ruins the soup regards
Don
Kathyp:
i agree with above. my two biggest problems with small cell and "natural", is that 1. small cell foundation tends to be more expensive. certainly more than my foundationless costs...which is far more natural. (+ i'm cheap!) and 2. the natural thing tends to be a religion with some people.
it's right up there with the natural childbirth craze...which didn't last long for a reason :evil:
no harm in trying a thing, but do it with open eyes. if you go small cell and think you are not going to have a mite problem, you will probably be disappointed. if you do it and you are willing to deal with mites, you'll probably be ok.
deknow:
--- Quote from: BjornBee on October 19, 2012, 08:00:59 am ---You are gold to those that promote small cell.
--- End quote ---
gold? how does that work? most of us that "promote small cell" are simply sharing what is working for us. I'm not sure why that is a problem, or how we are supposed to profit from that...where does the gold come from?
--- Quote ---Had bees not even one year, and you are a believer in small cell. Great job!
--- End quote ---
Generally, people have opinions about things before they try them...are new beekeepers required to have have no opinion about beekeeping? The poster is hardly claiming expertise and experience...I'm not sure why it's worth jumping down someone's throat for sharing.
--- Quote ---...Even the hardest of die-hard small cell supporters say that regression and getting to the correct genetics, is a several year process.
--- End quote ---
...it would be hard to read our book and Michael's book (as the poster claims to have done) and not realize that. It's also worth noting that the poster used cheap pf-100 series frames to start his packages on and to regress at the same time. What did it cost? (not much more than any cheap plastic frame or wooden frame with foundation). What is the downside? (perhaps harder to spin honey out of smaller cells....anything else?).
The poster isn't any more enthusiastic than any first year beekeeper who is excited about the things they are doing...should we chastise every new beekeeper who talks about how excited they are and tell them they don't know enough yet to share their excitement about being a beekeeper? Why not?
--- Quote ---Of course no need for that promotion any more when the new smallcell crowd claims smallcell success with less than a year of beekeeping experience.
--- End quote ---
...guess you must be looking for an argument, seeing as the poster didn't claim success. The poster claimed that the bees built out the PF frames and foundationless frames well.
--- Quote ---Your bees were probably treated prior to getting them. And it is common to have first year hives with little or no mite problems. It hardly can be translated into claiming smallcell success.
--- End quote ---
....and it hasn't been.
deknow
deknow:
sorry...duplicate post...operator error
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