> Bob wrote: > "Fill a box with bees and the bees will fill the box with honey" Well, we agree on that! But filling a box with bees do not necessarily mean filling the box with brood. The best of our A.m.m. will produce large numbers of long-lived bees from a small brood nest - and they overwinter on very little stores, so there is a huge cost saving on winter feed - certainly a significicant factor here in the UK. Italians here will need perhaps 60lbs of stores to get through a winter, whereas most of my colonies had around 12lbs of fondant last autumn (and would have survived on half that). A.m.m. work at temperatures where Italians are still in their winter cluster. The Italians also seem to be much more susceptible to disease (except perhaps chalk brood), more inclined to swarm and require a larger brood space (usually double brood). Given these differences in workload, equipment requirements, cost of feeding, disease resistance and overwintering ability, for me it is no contest. We also have the issue of temper: Italians are fine until they produce new queens that mate with local black drones - then you have problems; I had to deal with one such colony this week and, despite moving the brood box 30 yards away, I could hardly see through the veil, such was the onslaught - needless to say, that very yellow queen is no more! But, as you say, all beekeeping is local... Best wishes Peter Edwards [log in to unmask] www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/ -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---