> There are beekeepers working hard to develop good local stock

The evidence suggests that many Canadian beekeepers aren't concerned about "local stock." One of my friends from the Canadian north summed up the philosophy of many: any one year old queen is better than any two year or older one. And that goes for wintering, too. If the queen dies in midwinter, the colony dies too. A large percentage of winter die off can be attributed to this factor, which should be less with a queen who is less than one year old. I think the idea that bees from the south are less hardy is a myth.

P

             ***********************************************
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