> So, brood area and foraging patterns are not reliable measures of
> efficiency to my mind. There have to be other measures, and if the
> house is depending on it, to echo Trevors statement, it is honey in
> the tank that matters. Whatever the activity of these bees was about,
> it certainly was not efficiency in an economic sense.

Amen to that.

As I said here before, years back, I had a strain of bees that were raised
locally and were wonderful in every respect, except the one that counts.  We
carried them a few years and declared them "welfare bees".  (And I was not
referring to my welfare).

From there, we went to a commercial Italian strain, and started making money
again.

allen

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