Moving to Small or Natural Cell - How long does it take?

[Adam Foster Collins]

If you're starting with nucs or bees that have been raised on larger cell foundation, how long does it generally take until you could say that they are "fully regressed"?

I understand that there are ways to make it faster, but what's the range? If it requires removing "transitional" comb, or comb which is only partially regressed, I'm thinking it's got to take 2 or three seasons to get there.

What's your experience?

Adam

[caticind]

Really depends on whether you choose to regress by degrees or all at once, and if by degrees how often you pull comb - which in turn depends on how many months of the year the bees are drawing lots of comb.  If you pull slowly it can take as long as you like...

I often see 3 seasons cited as the regression time by degrees.  But I have not myself regressed by degrees, only by dumping packages onto small-cell plastic and waiting to give foundationless until the package generation has been replaced by bees hatched from small-cell.

[Michael Bush]

>If you're starting with nucs or bees that have been raised on larger cell foundation, how long does it generally take until you could say that they are "fully regressed"?

I guess it depends on your definition. To me "fully regressed" is when the bees building comb are from 4.9mm or smaller or as small as they will ever build on their own.

On wax dipped PermaComb, three weeks (it is already drawn and perfectly accepted and a generation of small bees will emerge in three weeks).
On PF120s, four weeks (they draw it perfect, but it takes a week to draw some and three weeks for those bees to emerge).
On HSC, seven weeks (it takes three weeks to get it accepted).
On 4.9mm foundation, from four weeks (some draw it perfect) to 2 years depending on how well those bees draw it and how often you rotate the comb.
On foundationless, I'd say the same four weeks to 2 years with the peak shifted to the right, meaning on the average it takes longer or more turnovers of comb.