Anthony Morgan writes:

>I am often amazed at the size of colonies referred to by american
>beekeepers, ours by comparison are very small. We seldom need more than
>one brood chamber and rarely use more than one honey super. Why there is
>this difference I cannot say (climate + a local strain of bee?).

    So am I, and not only this, but American friends can't understand why I
use such 'weak' colonies. I assume that the reason is climatic; imported
American bees don't have a good track record in the UK, with most of the few
people to have tried them reporting that they produced loads of bees and no
honey. Given the climatic range in North America, this seems surprising; can
anyone pin the reason down a bit closer?

Regards,

Robert Brenchley,
Birmingham, UK.

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