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Author Topic: Housel Positioning-re:foundation  (Read 18738 times)

Offline latebee

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Housel Positioning-re:foundation
« Reply #20 on: January 27, 2006, 07:45:15 pm »
Almost forgot about this post. It was an attempt to see if there were any great advantages(or disadvantages) to be had in Housel positioning of foundation. My conclusions and comparisons were based on two colonies-really not a very scientific approach. The colony that was Housel positioned grew faster and had many more bees than the regular one with randomly placed foundation. BY seasons end though, I would have to say that the honey production in the regular colony was somewhat higher.It had roughly 2 1/2 frames more of honey. During my last inspection this past fall(05) they appeared to be similar in strength with about the same amount of stores. I guess there will be  no breaking news from my little experiment.
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Offline Michael Bush

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Housel Positioning-re:foundation
« Reply #21 on: January 27, 2006, 09:07:25 pm »
I think you'll notice the most difference when using plastic foundation.
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Offline Mici

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Re: Housel Positioning-re:foundation
« Reply #22 on: April 07, 2007, 11:21:13 am »
hihih, "this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days."
ah, what ta hell, why should i open a new topic :-P

well, i've read this housel positioning stuff and decided to "tag along" to try it out. well today i re-arranged my 5 hives and was astonished by what i found!
mostly the frames were randomly put, but to my surprise some were very close..like 4 in a row were facing center with the Y inverted. and this, this is what surprisem me, the 4 that were allinged correctly were FULLY lain, and that is from the right wall of the hive, the last frame was fully lain :shock:, while the 5 frame was inverted and that's where the nest ended, like someone cut out the brood. reall, 4 fully lain, and the rest of the hive empty, but with space for brood!

i'd suggest it to anyone, though i still wait to see the results in next two weeks or so, huh

Offline Understudy

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Re: Housel Positioning-re:foundation
« Reply #23 on: April 07, 2007, 11:41:42 am »
http://www.northdevonbees.org/member_pages/news_arch0506.htm

The third story down is on the housel method with pictures and references.

From what I have seen of feral colonies. The Y shapes are almost never straight up and down or side to side. They seem to arch and if they have repaired a piece of comb because a section broke off or was damaged you can tell where the seam line is.

I am not sure how much I am willing to buy into Housels observations.

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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Housel Positioning-re:foundation
« Reply #24 on: April 07, 2007, 06:16:30 pm »
>How can I see this by looking into drawn comb?  Is it the same except harder to see?

Here's a center or primary comb:
http://www.bushfarms.com/images/TypicalPrimaryComb.JPG

Here's a nontypical center or primary comb:
http://www.bushfarms.com/images/ConfusedPrimaryComb.JPG
http://www.bushfarms.com/images/ConfusedPrimaryCombCloseup.JPG

Other than the typical primary comb, I have seen no pattern otherwise and I've observed a lot of self drawn combs and tried to find a pattern.

On the other hand I've seen comb they wouldn't draw until I flipped it around the "right" way according the the housel theory.  But sometimes they will draw it even with it not the "right" way.  I will say this.  If they don't want t draw one right or they keep drawing parallel or fins on the foundation, try switching it and see what they do.
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
-------------------
"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin