Tom & Carol Elliott  wrote.
 
>We are at @latitude 61 degrees north, but with a marine influence.  We can
not count
>of flying days between October 1st and April 1st.  We may get some but bees
flying
>are normally lost to disorientation (caused presumably by snow cover
combined with a
>sun VERY low on the horizon.  Temperatures normally range from about 20 degrees
>Farenheit (about -6 Celsius) to -10 F (about -20 C).  One big factor is the
length of
>darkness we 'enjoy' during the winter months.  If you live at the same
latitude you
>know what I mean.
 
I would suggest the first move might be to find a strain of Northern bees.
To bring in bees from California to over winter would be like transplanting
oranges from Florida and expecting them to flourish. Before some one
comments, I'm not knocking the Southern breeders.  But it stands to reason,
find a Northern bee, then find out how us Northerners winter our bees.
        The most northerly breeder that I know off would be
                        Rick Neilson
                        R R # 1
                        Stratton, Ontario
                        P0W 1N0
                        1- 807-487-2387
He lives up in the Thunder Bay area I believe.
 Is there any one breeding bees further north than that?
        We don't 'suffer' the dark, but our temp are about the same. Last
winter we had snow cover from the first week in Nov till the middle of Feb.
Not one day above freezing in all that time. Our breeder yard suffered zero
losses, so over wintering is not a real major problem!!
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