>Tom Seeley gave two very interesting presentations, one on how scout bees hunt for new homes (House Hunting by Scout Bees), and one on the possible return of feral bees, either because bees are learning to better tolerate mites, or mites are becoming less nefarious to bees. Unfortunately his data samples are limited, and the observations have not spanned many years, but he has hopes that honey bees are becomming better able to coexist in a mite infested environment. Back in the 1980's in upstate New York my uncle found a bee tree in the woods behind the farm I grew up on. He located the queen and hived some of the bees. The next year he split the colony by the quick and dirty method of allowing the bees to make their own queen. The third year, I was back in upstate New York, and he showed me how to split the hives that way. He wasn't concerned about finding the queen, just as long as both hives had eggs and brood. The single feral colony soon became eight hives. Then the mites struck, killing them all. My uncle had died and my father was getting on in years and just left the equipment where it was. About 5 or 6 years ago, I was back in New York in October and saw bees coming from one of the old abandoned hives. I treated them with Apistan that year because at the time it seemed everyone with bees was doing that. Since that time they have not been treated.The hive is still alive. Last spring, I found the queen and marked her. The bees have been actively flying a few times since I've been back to New York this spring. >Actually, at the seminar last weekend, we had yet a third SABA represented! Dick Allen flew in from the Southern Alaska Beekeepers Association! Maybe next year the Southern Adirondack Beekeepers Association could give a door prize to the person from the farthest away SABA that comes to the seminar.... Regards, Dick Allen :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::