Peter Borst <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

,,,In my opinion, using feral colonies is
>resorting to the lowest common denominator and is not a form of bee 
breeding
>at all. 

It certainly is interesting that the major focus of bee breeding nowadays 
is breeding back in the survival traits that for many years were ignored 
in breeding operations.  There is more to breeding bees than selecting for 
a narrow focus of traits pertaining to the beekeepers needs.  My strategy 
is to bring the bee back into balance and allowing the bees to obtain 
traits for their own needs by permitting the feral population to provide 
some of the necessary survival characteristics that honeybees need to 
survive.  But there are a few that seem to believe good breeding can only 
be achieved by those wearing a lab coat.

Joe -  (thinking, how did the poor beekeeper ever survive the more than 
4,000 years of breeding and keeping bees without a lab coat)

Joe 

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