-->Not much force involved. Just a slightly skinnier end bar. They are pretty interchangable. It's not like you can't mix them up with your other frames if you only want ten frames in a box. I just mark them so I know what to expect.
Thats what I mean. I can't mix them up, they become their own thing. If it becomes a failed attemp, I am stuck with something I will not use. I know its not that expensive, but I would much rather stay standard.
I know all bees have mites. And, I'm not getting down on small cell at all. All I am saying is, I'm not convinced, and I use common sense. I almost lost all of my hives by going against common sense, and it will not happen again. I have too much invested so far, to say," Well I lost 50% of my hives last year, but I'm still chemical free." That makes no sense at all to me. I guess I am in the middle. I use the least amount of chemicals as possible, but enough not to lose money. The idea is to become profitable.
I know you are raising your own queens from feral stock. That is probably more of the answer to the mite problem than anything else. I am raising queens, from combination breeding, and added feral set of genetics into the mix this year. I took her from a house, between the studs, and the bees were very dark, gentle, and built to my surprise, very little drone comb. I hope this is one of those blueprinted codes, that I can capitalize on.