Small Cell Beekeeping Research

My name is Solomon Parker.

I am somewhat controversial in the beekeeping world because I choose to keep bees without using treatments to help them survive.  And I talk about it.

One of the things we treatment-free beekeepers use in our practices is called small cell foundation.  More than a hundred years ago, a decision was made to enlarge bees by enlarging the foundation we provide them upon which to build their comb.  Common cell sizes today range from 5.2mm to 5.6mm.  Small cell is 4.9mm and represents an average size that historical research shows bees were naturally before the modern era.

Furthermore, many of us find small cell foundation to be vital in tipping the balance in favor of the bees over the mites.

But there is a problem.

Scientific research has not shown that small cell comb is better at reducing the number of mites over modern sized comb.

But there's another problem.

The available studies show numerous, and I believe fatal, flaws:
1. The researchers didn't seem to have received any advice from actual small cell beekeepers.
2. The researchers often had trouble achieving small cell comb at all, sometimes having to resort to plastic comb, which totally destroys any credible comparison with wax comb.
3. The studies were all very short.  In real life, the measure of a hive is not how many mites it has, but how long it is viable and how much honey it produces.
4.  These studies' main metric was mite counts.  However, mite count is not the measure of a hive, but sustainability and survivability.  My small cell theory does not claim reduced mite counts, but rather pushing mite predation onto drones, allowing the hive to survive a greater mite infestation.
5. The studies were done with treated stock.  Small cell beekeepers don't generally treat.

In order to eliminate these and other problems from my study, I will incorporate the following concepts:
1. I am already a small cell beekeeper and have been one for over 14 years.  I am well familiar with the differences in methods.
2. My operation has hundreds of fully drawn small cell combs already which can be used for the study.  And I believe it will be easier to upsize small bees than we know it is (hard) to downsize large bees.  I may also contract other treatment-free beekeepers to provide drawn large cell comb in interests of time.
3. My study will take place over several years in order to ferret out the results that are most important, longevity and honey production of small cell bees versus large cell bees.
4.  While I will be keeping track of mite counts, they will not be the conclusion of the evidence.  Mite counts alone may well confirm existing studies.  But survival and sustainability among the population is the metric I believe is one which reveals utility.
5. I am already working with treatment-free small cell bees that do not require treatment for long term survival.  Therefore I feel that my study will be a better analog for at-large beekeeping practice.

The money will be used to expand from my large hobbyist operation up to something like a small sideliner operation in order to provide a sufficient sample size for this study.  This will include but will not be limited to buying beekeeping hives and equipment, procuring apiary locations, and supplies for mite tests.  I will also produce scientific papers as is warranted for peer review and possible publication.

For the users of small cell methods, this study could possibly provide scientific justification for what we have known for years, that hives on small cell foundation seem to suffer less from mite related collapses than their large cell counterparts, that is if this result is what the evidence shows.  Or, it may confirm what the existing studies already say.  Sadly, confirmatory studies are not very sexy and therefore many times we are working with bad conclusions created by poorly done studies.  Many small cell beekeepers really want to know whether small cell has scientific backing because the available studies don't seem to have done the job satisfactorily.

Thank you for your time and support.
Solomon