>
> >I am looking for hard data on how long individual colonies last, without
> intervention. By intervention, that would mean requeening, adding brood,
> etc.


As you know, hard data is tough, since swarms can move in.  One would need
to check prior to swarming season each year to confirm no bee flight.

My anecdotal memory is that back before varroa, it would regularly be many
years (that is, if you define a colony as continual habitation of a
cavity).  It would not truly be the same colony, since the original queen
would have long since swarmed, so would be a descendant of the original
colony.
-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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