PLB wrote: I have been thinking a lot for the past few years about 

colony lifespan, and how

it reflects the health and/orn. vigor of the honey bee colony. I am 

looking for

hard data on how long individual colonies last, without interventio By

intervention, that would mean requeening, adding brood, etc.



In 1993, I think, I had a call from a big house, Chantmarle,  about 5 

miles  N of me. The head gardener told me that a swarm had come from 

the colony in the chimney and, by banging on a sheet of iron, he had 

persuaded them to come down in a tree in the kitchen garden.  I took 

them and hived them close to home.  The following year they swarmed 

again and occupied the nearby Church tower and there they stayed until 

about 3 years ago when they were destroyed by a churchwarden. Bee 

scientist, John Atkinson, told me that he knew of the colony in the 

Chantmarle chimney for years before he left the area in 1948.



A little over a mile N of me, in the Church at Chilfrome, there has 

been a colony occupying the roof for at least a decade. The wardens of 

that Church like them as they keep the 'little people' at bay!



A disabled friend in an isolated bungalow about 5 miles west of me has 

had bees above her kitchen ceiling continuously for well over 25 years. 

  A couple of weeks ago I added more duct tape to her ceiling as bees 

were getting through one of the cracks.  Black threads of wax moth 

cocoons dangle through the cracks on several places which indicates how 

comb renewal takes place.  About a decade ago, with the help of a 

friend, I renewed the soffit board at the front of the roof.  We  

drilled 3 holes, 10 feet apart, for the bees.  Mostly, in summer, all 

three holes are in active use but occasionally one will be 

comparatively quiet.  I have been invited to keep my own bees on her 

land but have resisted the temptation as I don't want to contaminate 

the gene pool or introduce mites.  I have placed a bait hive there but 

the bees ignore it.  One I took a swarm that came from the roof and 

hived it in my bait hive but the bees didn't like it and evacuated.



So, without intervention, individual colonies can last for decades.  

The common factor is that there aren't any beekeepers' colonies nearby!



Chris











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