Chris >The crash in 1987 was much greater than we have experienced more recently, >but that was before the internet had been invented so nobody noticed. The >World didn't come to an end! I recorded 33 hives going into winter 1987, but did not record the number the following spring. However, 47 went into the winter of 1988 - so we recovered if there was a crash. 1997 was my worst ever 41/71 survived - 42% losses. That was the first year that we detected varroa - but we seemed to bounce back, producing an average 155lbs from those 41. Best wishes Peter *********************************************** 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 Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm