> Bob, and others, I am keeping Italians but I am anxious to try > Caucasians next year. I understand that they are naturally inclined > to spread the brood laterally. <etc.> Something I read somewhere, long long ago: Bees tend to build their hive to correspond to the angle of inclination of the lines of magnetic force -- more vertical nearer the poles, and horizontal at the equator. Hence the Kenyan hive is an equatorial hive design and may not be suited to the extremes of north or south. True? Not true, Who knows? Discuss? Regards Allen W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper VE6CFK RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 Internet:[log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask] Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>