Small Cells and Worker vs. Drone cell

[TooBee...]

Hi all,

first of sorry if this has been dealt with elsewhere, a LOT has been written on here about small cells, etc. ...... it would take me quite some time to go through it all to get the members collective knowledge, so here goes with my question.

I've read that if small cells are provided to bees, (albeit in the context of narrow spacing), they have a greater tendency to produce worker cells instead of drone cells. This is NOT saying they will produce no drones, it's just saying they will produce less.

Is there anyone on here that has used, or seen used, small cells and have observed less drones than you would expect?

***
My interest in this topic was rekindled after reading this pdf (and others)
http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Comb-Management-WBKA-WAG.pdf
in it they talk about spacing at the beginning of the year or after a swarm starts comb building, being 32mm and only later in the year enlarging - which would be better for honey storage and drone production.
***

 

[Finman]

.
I have never heard about those theories. Normal cell size works well.

Fact is that foundation machines and very expencive and the sellers has no afford to offer many kind of foundation sizes for diffetent innovations.

How much the colony makes drone cells. That is eternal debate. At least so much as you give enough free space to build drone cells.

But to keep smaller cells that colony makes less drones, that makes no sense. Never heard.

Many on this forum wants to fill the sky with their super drones, even if village is full of mongrel colonies.
.

 

[bingevader]

Is there anyone on here that has used, or seen used, small cells and have observed less drones than you would expect?

To what end? Is this a further means of varroa control or to maximise the number of workers, or what?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The small cell 'theory' has been proven time and time again to be pure fantasy. About time it was shot and buried.

 

[Tony19]

Hi all,

first of sorry if this has been dealt with elsewhere, a LOT has been written on here about small cells, etc. ...... it would take me quite some time to go through it all to get the members collective knowledge, so here goes with my question.

I've read that if small cells are provided to bees, (albeit in the context of narrow spacing), they have a greater tendency to produce worker cells instead of drone cells. This is NOT saying they will produce no drones, it's just saying they will produce less.

Is there anyone on here that has used, or seen used, small cells and have observed less drones than you would expect?

***
My interest in this topic was rekindled after reading this pdf (and others)
http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Comb-Management-WBKA-WAG.pdf
in it they talk about spacing at the beginning of the year or after a swarm starts comb building, being 32mm and only later in the year enlarging - which would be better for honey storage and drone production.
***

Why? This just looks like complication for complications sake.

 

[TooBee...]

To what end? ....

More out of interest, than anything else, knowledge for knowledge sake.

But one way in which it could be answered, if you do NOT place Foundation in your frames and allow your bees to draw their own wax, do they produce more drone cells than if you gave them Foundation sheets embossed with worker sized cells?

 

[Beefriendly]

More out of interest, than anything else, knowledge for knowledge sake.

But one way in which it could be answered, if you do NOT place Foundation in your frames and allow your bees to draw their own wax, do they produce more drone cells than if you gave them Foundation sheets embossed with worker sized cells?

It depends on the time of year you allow them to draw cells. Early spring/Autumn you won't find many drone cells being drawn. Late spring summer, they will draw drone cells on normal foundation and also in supers....which they are reluctant to fill with honey.
Wild bee nests IIRC have about 20% drone cells...I could be wrong on this figure, so don't quote me on it.

 

[Finman]

.it is on average 25% .

 

[oliver90owner]

My interest in this topic was rekindled after reading this pdf (and others)
http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploa...t-WBKA-WAG.pdf
in it they talk about spacing at the beginning of the year or after a swarm starts comb building, being 32mm and only later in the year enlarging - which would be better for honey storage and drone production.
***

Frame spacing has nothing to do with a 0.something change in cell size.

 

[bingevader]

More out of interest, than anything else, knowledge for knowledge sake.

But one way in which it could be answered, if you do NOT place Foundation in your frames and allow your bees to draw their own wax, do they produce more drone cells than if you gave them Foundation sheets embossed with worker sized cells?

We use foundation only in the supers now for ease of extraction.
As Beefriendly says, the size of the cell will depend on the time of year.
The bees will also alter the cell useage and size if necessary.
I've already seen drones being evicted presumably to make room for more storage!

 

[Finman]

.
I do not make difference with super frames and brood frames. I use langstroths and mediums. I use what I have at that moment.