the basics of our work
Dee Lusby, arizona
Okay, by now many probably know that we think
that smaller bees are better, but WHY and HOW? Well, since a series of questions
were asked, I guess I better start trying to give our rational for believing
why we do.
First of all, let me state, to win a war you do not do it by piece milltactics
for you will lose. You win by using everything at your disposal, ina conscientiously
applied program of surrounding and engulfment from allsides. We are indeed
in a war with our industry and whether we win or loseas an industry going
forward, will take many of us working together andhelping each other out.
This includes sharing information and not holdingback as i.e. trade secrets,
for what is it to succeed, if you are the onlyones left and all your friends
are gone.
We believe that environmental surroundings and being in harmony by way ofcell
size is 1/3 of the problem, because prior to artificial enlargement ofcombs,
there was no problem, and that by the way, has esculated ever sincewith parasitic
mite problems and secondary diseases, and yes, breedingproblems.
We believe that diet is about 1/3 of the problem, with artificial dietcausing
inadequate nutrition. Poor nutrition is a serious stress factor ofany organism,
that can lead to disease and parasite attacks, as well as yes,breeding problems.
We believe that breeding is also 1/3 of the problem, that is not in tunewith
natural surroundings. Breeding wrongly goes hand in hand with inducingdietary
stress and environmental stress.
You cannot do one of the above alone, without compromising the other twoalso,
therefore all changes have to be done in an overall combined program,that
includes combating the problem from all angles.Is this not what Natureis doing
to us now? Fighting us from all angles? I think so!
Many have asked/written over the years:................ 'By reducing
the cell size makes the bees less susceptible to the ravages of Varroa, other
pathogens and disease? WHY? This implies some major change to the bees chemical
makeup as Varroa's trigger is chemical or pheromone based, and sizing does
this? Correct?'
With most of todays artificially enlarged foundations on the market, closerto
natural drone cell size, than natural workerbee size, there has beencreated
a pseudo-effect, in that parasitic mites now persieve workerbees asanother
food source. This is not so in Nature.
In Nature, reproduction of mites on A. cerana is limited mainly by theusually
very small number of drone cells produced by them; and also by veryfew female
mites developing on worker larvae. They do so only at theperiphery of the
brood-nest where larvae are coolest and so have a period ofdevelopment long
enough for some mites on them to reach maturity.
It is known that A. cerana and apis mellifera cannot breed back and forthand
make viable offspring. But, they are still so close in everything else,that
we can study and learn and mimic, to regain control of our honeybees.
Concerning the pseudo-effect of our workerbees being perceived as drones,i.e.
just another food source. The capacity of a drone cell for food isdouble that
of a workercell,even though the drone cell is only in ratio 20%larger. The
capacity of a drone cell also carries with it more juvenilegrowth hormone
III, which when the varroa feeds on the blood of the dronelarvae, induces
egg laying in the mite. In A. cerana there is insufficientjuvenile growth
hormone III available to induce egg laying of mites inworker brood cells.
Now the size of A. cerana has a natural range bylatitude, as does apis mellifera,
and coincidentialy they are primarily thesame. By placing our apis mellifera
colonies then back onto comb cell sizingpre-1900 size, back into the upper
range of natural at 4.9, we canapproximate the sizing of A. cerana in Korea,
Japan and the upper west coast of SEA for natural control relative to A. cerana.
At the same time then, we reduce the food inticement, and also the triggering
for mite reproduction.
Other things happen when we reduce the size of the worker brood cell backinto
natural biological parameters. You also change the density of the cellson
the broodframe, and compacting density raises the temperature, which also
helps to place the development more to the periphery of the broodnest for
mites.This we have seen happening in our colonies now and so have others visiting
and seeing also.
Also, we recommend culling of dronecombs to no more than 10% of anyoneframe
within the broodnest, to trigger broodnest cleaning by our apismellifera workerbees.
This continuously culling (a field management change)has trigger our workerbees
to chewout varroa from our colonies broodnestsfor both worker and drone brood.
It has also resulted in stimulative raisingof drones throughout the active
season when our bees are raising brood,which we believe helps for better mating
of our queens.
By also compacting the broodnest we gain more workerbees for each turn ofbrood
for more division of labor, which means more workers for expandedjobs, such
as above chewing out of brood.
Since the size of the bee is regulated by the size of the cell and the sizeof
the cell regulates the size of the thorax of the workerbee, we also gaincontrol
of trachael mites by reducing the opening of the first thoracicspiracle where
the mites gain inner entry into the lungs of our bees.
By reducing the reproduction of varroa (both types verified by the USDATucson
Lab as being in our area) and trachael mites, both known in our areain our
bees, we then cause a reduction in secondary diseases, by reductionof open
wounds caused by mites chewing upon the exoskelton of our bees and penetrating
to drink blood, then vectoring in viral, bacteria, and fungalinfections.
By compacting the density of our broodnest, we gain higher temperature thattriggers
faster broodnest turnover, that then acts in conjunction with thenormal post-capping
stage of worker larvae being shortened by up to 24 hours during nectar flows,
during the active season, and thus lessing varroareproduction within our colonies
even further.
By reducing the size of the cell to back within the natural range spectrumwe
fit more naturally the natural flora of plants not hybridized by man,which
is the majority in Nature and thus increase the diet, making it morebalanced
for overall colony health. This can be seen in a greater range ofpollen colors
brought into and deposited within our colonies. It also makesfor more range
in the collection of nectar also for increased healthbenefits.
By reducing the size of the cell back to within the natural range our beescan
breed back and forth with feral bees and gain greater variability forexpanded
characteristics for selection, and where one has great selection,you can breed
more for what one wants.
By putting all this together into a package then, we gain control for betterdiet
for our bees, better disease control for our bees, by not having theirbodies
chewed upon, either externally or internally to vector in associatedproblems
of viral, fungal or bacterial in nature, we gain reductedreproduction of parasites
by natural restriction of their diet upon ourbees, and the result is we don't
have to use various chemical treatments.
I probably have missed someting here, I hope not in thinking about it. Ihope
it helps answer your question as to why we do it.