# adding boxes of smallcell



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>would it be best to over super with additional smallcell foundation or under super. (or even possible to under super?)

I haven't tried under supering. Over supering will sometimes end up not being as small as if it were in the brood nest, at least if they seem to be intent on building honey storage cells. If they are expanding the brood nest upward it works. Maybe under supering would be more likely to be perceived as building brood comb. I've have the best luck feeding it into the center of the brood nest.

>What would be the best way based on findings of top, middle and bottom comb size building based on the bees natural way of doing it?

Based on what I've seen in top bar hives the smaller seems to be more toward the bottom and the center. So based on that under supering would seem the better of the two choices of under or over. But, as I said, I haven't tried it. I've just fed them into the middle of the brood nest or put them over.


----------



## naturebee (Dec 25, 2004)

Dee recommends sit the hivebody of foundation on top and pyramiding the bees up (pulling 2 frames of eggs and very young larvae to the center).
Or, feed in-between capped brood.

How Im going to add a second deep is to configure the frames using the waggle frame positioning method. This method creates a 32mm comb spacing that is needed to encourage the smallest cells to be drawn. After the cells are drawn, the hive is reconfigured back to standard frame positioning. Note, the photo shows the hive body upside down for this arrangement. This spacing is needed because with larger spacing, they want to settle in at just above 4.9. A narrower comb space like the Scuts which have comb spacing of 32mm and cell size of about 4.8mm would be more natural, as comb space is related to cell size.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?B240129BA


----------



## KyBee (Mar 1, 2005)

Where are you guys going for the details and such on management with small cell? 
I understand the regression concept, but not the details of how to handle it, or the nuances of management of the brood chamber, etc. 

I'm starting this spring with small cell. My first bees arrive next Saturday.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

http://www.beesource.com/pov/lusby/index.htm
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Organicbeekeepers


----------



## KyBee (Mar 1, 2005)

Thanks again Michael for the links on Small Cell.


----------

