Sounds like the 20 or so hives next door to my property.  Every now &
then I'll walk over to his hives & have a look at what they're doing and
the bees are nasty as ever.  They try to sting me from 20 feet away.
I'm assuming they're mean because of the constant robbing from the
yellow-jackets living in the lower sections of some of his hives (I see
them coming & going in great numbers) and from the mice (dead ones
everywhere).
 
Mite-resistant?  Perhaps, because they've survived (mostly) up to now.
But I feel sorry for these bees on every glance.  Weeds grow up from all
directions, blocking their path to land (which I've pulled on occasion).
There's large holes from the winter & sun blowing out the sides of the
hives.  I'm sure this bekeeper has some success with the mites by
natural selection, but mites aren't everything....what about AFB or
other diseases?   He's not doing the bees nor us any favor by neglecting
his hives.
 
Matthew in Castle Rock, CO
 
 
David Gaida wrote:
 
> The gentleman whose hive was weed covered and had never been opened
> since
> installation in the spring --  He bought his bees from a beekeeper who
>
> keeps his bees in gums.  The gums are about 3 feet high.  He never
> removes
> the bees from the gums, just adds supers to the top for honey.  Recall
> that
> the bees were mean and very healthy.