north staffordshire beekeepers association

Dave Magnier's Experiments with Free Drawn Comb

During last winter I spent many hours researching beekeeping, reading books (NSBKA library) and surfing the web, preparing myself to become a beekeeper. I had hoped that I would find the correct way to keep bees, but no, now after my first year I realize there are many ways for us to MANipulate our colonies for our advantage.

One area that did appear standard was foundation. It can be purchased on its own or as part of hive kits; it is precut to the right size and is imprinted with cell shapes ready for the bees to build their cells. These starter cells determine the size of the final cells; therefore foundation determines the final cell size bees use for their brood. Foundation has been used for over 100 years and during that time various cell sizes have been tried; bees were encouraged to adopt larger cells because larger bees mean stronger more productive bees.

Even though most retailers don't mention it these days foundation cell size is normally 5.4mm. But there are a growing number of beekeepers who consider this too large, and their studies suggest bees raised in smaller cells would be better at fighting off disease and varroa. Some of these beekeepers have regressed their bees onto natural cell size (the bees build their own comb) or small cell foundation (4.9mm) and report much improved varroa resistance.

Always keen to adopt the natural way especially if that way might mean a reduction in the use of strong chemicals in the colony, I have opted for natural comb hives. I keep my bees in nationals with standard frames; I put a small piece of wax along the top of each frame and let the bees do the rest.

It will be a long time before I will be able to say if it has been a success but as with so many other areas of beekeeping you have to make your own decision up from all you’ve heard and read.

Searching the net for natural cell or small cell will bring up many sites, and David Cushman has a great site with many more useful references

Aren't bees Brill, Dave Magnier