I have replied to your comments on the next blog post. Thanks for your inspiration!

In response to the interesting questions you pose – . . .

1. The main problem we have today is Varroa – and that problem has been caused by the import of a deadly parasite whose original home was in India – thousands of miles away.
The mite has evolved to be a ‘non-fatal’ parasite in the far East – but European bees have never been exposed to this parasite in the last 10,000 years. There has been no time for natural selection to evolve a response to varroa – which is why it kills our colonies.

2. I cannot see how keeping bees in a Warre Hive will make the slightest difference to any variety of Apis Mellifera – since the parasite will kill bees no matter what kind of comb or hive we use. Here in the UK almost all wild/ feral colonies have died in the last 5 years – and presumably wild colonies were making ‘natural comb’. One chap who has been promoting Warre hives in the UK lost all his colonies last season.

3. Cell-size: once again – I can’t see how cell-size will affect varroa mites. The great apiarist E.B. Wedmore reported that he had used the same brood comb for 21 years and there was no loss of cell diameter even after 21 years of brood rearing in those cells. The bees simply removed silk cocoons from inside the cells if diameter began to shrink. He claimed to know of one beekeeper whose brood combs were 30 years old and accurate measurement showed no loss of cell size. The point being that bees will construct natural cells to a natural size – but nobody has yet explained why forcing bees to breed in smaller cells will stop parasitazation by varroa?

Best wishes from the UK.