(2) keeping many more colonies than can support themselves on the natural
forage available.

How does one judge the carrying capacity of an apiary.  Of course there is
no one answer for any given location, it will vary by region and even by a
few miles in the same area.

But once I have chosen a spot, how do I determine the carrying capacity for
that particular location?  What are the barometers?  My gut is to assess
the available forage and take a swag at how many hives that yard can
support.  My ROT is 3 dozen hives, based more on numbers that make a good
afternoon's work to justify the visit rather than region's ability to
support the numbers.  My location is historically supportive of 100+ hives
per yard.  That was then,  this is now.  Houses spread like loosestrife!
But I have never noticed sign of congestion stress at the colony level.

Is there a better way than SWAG to assess carrying capacity?

Aaron Morris - thinking Scientific Wild Ass Guess!

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html