Bob:
 Very little is known about mating due to the 75 feet level
the queen mates.Also the distance from the hive effects
research. 

Reply:
Well Bob, right now I would take my hypothesis with SC
regressed bees seeing what you wrote about little known on
the subject and how it effects research. How would they
ever really know that all the bees in the South Western
States were ever really effected?


Bob continues:
...any one race of drone is  better at mating than another
but what our researchers tell us about AHB drones.

Reply:
Again, Bob could you fill me in on how they could know this
as fact, if you have already stated very little is known
about mating parameters, due to heights and distances
researchers have to deal with, in making determinations
concerning our honeybees.

Bob continues:
pseudo queens & AHB laying workers could be a bigger factor
than AHB drone mating

Reply:
Speaking of this again Bob, I have stated several times
that archives state that this condition is in many
races/strains looked at. Also Trevor just posted some
excellent information on Anarchistic Bees on another
thread. Could you somehow relate the two to me as to how
you seem to say one thing; and yet what Trevor wrote
relates more to old archives and just bees in general for
what I consider some great traits we need back as an
industry.


Bob Continues: 
They seem to lack the little black "capensis 
like" bees for one thing. I looked at many jars of samples
and no little black bees.


Reply:
Well Bob, again to me small black bees, are bees of
temperate zones and first to transition into concerning
racial change from coming out of the tropics; while the
more yellower ones are bees of the tropical zones and
larger yellower ones last to transition out before
changing/transitioning into temperate areas. 

But if you were to look on a latitudinal map I think you
could see this more, as Arizona is above the 30th parallel
and much of Florida is below it and the transition zone is
about the last 3-5 degrees above the 30th if I remember
correctly. So we would have the smaller blacks similar to
mediterranean area, and Florida would have more yellower
being with latitudes below the 30th parallel more. 

This might have bearing on the swarming you are talking
about, as tropical bees are said to swarm more....but like
I have said for a few years now, could also be due to bad
positioning of internal foundation/combs leading to more
swarming.

Nice Talking with you Bob again as always.

Respectfully submitted,

Dee A. Lusby
Small Cell Commercial Beekeeper
Moyza, Arizona
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organicbeekeepers/



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