>The winter stores have to be fed to the bees, which is time consuming and
costly.

True but what is the cost of a winter deadout? For the last month and for
the next month I am checking, testing, combining and certainly feeding if
needed to prepare hives for winter.

Startling fact:
Hives going to winter in California need more winter stores than those
wintering in Missouri!

>It is not the number of bees in a colony that gains the maximum crop, but
the number of bee foraging journeys.

Interesting hypothesis and one my friend Allen Dick agrees with.
Interesting!

I go with the old masters on the point.

quote Lloyd Seachrist (USDA top gun) and  author of the book "Honey Getting"

"Fill a box with bees and the bees will fill the box with honey"

I keep hives with high populations of bees. A hobby beekeeper I had sold his
first two hives  called to tell me a storm had blown over a couple of my
hives. He said he had never seen a hive so strong. Said he was only able to
get one set back up before he quit.

Its no wonder my friend Keith says he does not need smoke. Leave alone hives
normally has around 30,000 bee populations. Try working a two queen hive
with an honest 100,000 population without a smoker? My production hives run
60,000 plus in two deep and without supers will not fit in both boxes when
supers are pulled. I have learned a method to maintain the 60,000 population
even when a flow is not on which is what I do if I need  super strong hives
later on. Also got methods to lose old bees and reduce the hive polulation
fast if needed.

Without beekeeper manuipulations (feeding & open brood nest) hives do not
reach max populations.

My years of Florida beekeeping has shown bees need tricked into build up for
a major flow! Otherwise the bees keep a small cluster and ONLY build up
during a flow raising useless bees which will become foragers AFTER (in most
cases) the honey flow is OVER!

Research of (Farrar)has shown that one large hive will out produce the same
number of bees in two hives . The reasoning is mostly to do with care of
brood is easier with the large hive and more bees are free to forage than in
the two smaller hives. The evaporation of honey is easier with the large
hive. Farrar made other less important points but the above two were most
important.

>A tough bee that can work longer hours per day and still live for more
working days than an Italian bee can gather a crop just as large, but with
many fewer bees in the box.

The above is not what the research has shown in the U.S.. I have never heard
of a bee refered to as *tough*.

Prolific trumps living longer in my book!

The Italian bee is known among commercial beekeepers the world over as their
number one choice and the world's top producer of a honey crop. To argue
otherwise is foolish in my opinion. I have got and keep NWC and carniolans.
Not even a close second!

Bees are bees and they are inclined to hoard honey! I make the most of the
hoarding behavior (if I want the honey).

On A.mm:

Some of my my first hives in Florida were A.mm.. Although Dave might say
these were not the *pure A.mm* the old timers said they were. I had hives of
so called A.mm in Kansas and also in Missouri.

 Kept mostly as a novelty as they had many undesirable traits.
Tracheal mites took the last few hives in the middle 80's. All were poor
honey producers! Prone to sting and the hardest bees to work on a cloudy
day. Also I never kept A.mm hives in shade! These are only my observations
and others could  vary!

In the late 50's through the 80's queens were sold in the U.S. as A.mm.

From my year on the Irish beekeeping list I realize saying unflattering
things about their beloved A.mm is not popular but those are my
observations!

Even our beloved Brother Adams views on A.mm was frowned upon in the Irish
list! Brother Adam  thought that A.mm in its pure state needed improvement.
I concur!

When was the last time you tried a bee other than A.mm Dave?

Bob

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