>>Practically speaking, the wild
> honey bees have become extinct in the United States due to
> infestation of the Varroa mite.

Dee, this is the case in most of the US but do you see feral colonies in
Arizona surviving on 'natural cell size' and increasing in number ?  I am
sure your colonies issue swarms occasionally, so, by extrapolation, there
should be a growing number of feral colonies that are 49-ers.  And, if they
can handle a wide climatic range, they should eventually spread throughout
the US.

Waldemar
Long Island, NY


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