Its not clear to me that the roll of the dice as to whether a particular colony had just enough food stores to get through the winter is a trait that can be passed on to the next generation. In my mind the beekeeper plays an equal role in yard selection and timing of pulling honey crop and other management techniques. I don't see the value in letting colonies die under the idea that you are passing some important trait along. Unmanaged colonies in a wild nest are selected by nature for survival but toss man into the picture and now you've added several variables. *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html