>I live a very short drive from the legendary Arnot Forest. Even Seeley acknowledges that the success of wild colonies may have nothing to do with genetics and everything to do with isolation and finding a niche.

 

In this context I am reminded of his 'Progress Report on Three Years of TF Beekeeping' published in the August 2020 ABJ, parametrically testing wild-caught swarms in and around his home apiary, Kirk Webster stock and Oliverez stock.

 

A few highlights:

 

Using wild-caught swarms, Dr. Seeley has averaged 28% Winter losses over the three-year period of evaluation.

He suggests that a sugar-shake count of over 15 mites / 300 bees in September is the metric he plans on using to determine when to euthanize a colony.

His side-by-side comparison of three bee stocks over the last year is very interesting and is outlined in the table below. A few other details:

 

The ‘wild’ group had two (2) queenless colonies in October. He chalked this up to likely being the result of old queens.

The one (1) ‘wild’ colony that did not survive is the colony with a count of 22.

The only Olivarez colony that survived is the colony with a count of 4.

 




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