--- queenbee <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

..I was
> just curious to see if 
> the genetics were different and thanks for your
> reply.  

Hi Trevor! 

As I mentioned, virtually the same.  My intention in collecting ferals 
since 1995 was to bring the bees to my back yard apiary and assess the 
best stock, cull the bad, and also to be intentionally lax on swarm 
prevention so swarms may escape to the surrounding woodlands.  My priority 
was two prong in propagating the best feral stock in my yard, while also 
bolstering the feral population in my immediate area, which seemed to be 
lagging behind in recovery compared to pockets of ferals in advanced 
recovery stages within a about a 25 mile radius of me.  This action needed 
because I felt I could not make any good progress with breeding until the 
feral population has recovered sufficiently in my area. 

Progress has been slow until about 3 years ago when I noticed a very nice 
sudden up-tick in brood viability in spring matings, especally during 2006 
in my queens as well as increasing heavy testing and robbing of colonies 
from scouts flying off towards the woodlands.  So it appears, the feral 
population has recovered abundantly enough for good progress to finally be 
made on the breeding front,,,and seem to be quite a competitive bunch.   

Some may say that in collecting ferals, the bees will not be productive.  
Well, in cold climates, I suspect that the natural selection for survival 
traits are in fact, many of the same traits needed for a colony to be 
productive.  For example, Seeley stated;  “Worker population effects a 
colonies fitness because a larger colony is able to collect more nectar 
and store more honey during the active foraging season, thereby increasing 
the food reserves that are necessary for it to survive the winter.”  So 
there you have a natural selection for populous colonies that collect 
abundant stores.  Tarpy and Page stated;  “There are significant 
correlations of brood viability to winter survival.”   This perhaps would 
select for traits of high polyandry in queens.  I could be all wrong, but 
in any event, I’m having fun again keeping bees, and things are finally 
looking very nice on the queen performance front.

Best Wishes
Joe

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