My record cards, which can be seen on the late Dave Cushman's website: 

Beekeeping and Bee Breeding, (which has to be the best beekeepers'web 

site available) extend back to the beginning of the millennium and 

include generations on the female line so, if I had the time and the 

inclination, I would be able to work out family trees.  Normally (when 

is anything ever 'normal'? ) I keep between 1 and 3 hives on a site, 

usually related. It is rare indeed that I lose a colony to disease 

although twice, in about 1995 and about 2005 I lost colonies to 

symptoms described by the people who's hives suffered CCD.



Rarely I lose a colony to starvation and if so it is usually 'isolation 

starvation' with stores inches away from the dead cluster.  So,if 

'management' interference is kept to a minimum, colony longevity down 

the generations is not a problem.



Chris

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