I am Nigerian but  I deal with temperate and tropical bees.

Do you deal with bees temperate climates and in snowy, freezing conditions 
which last for many months and where bees may be confined by cold for 
months?

> This is one of the reasons I choose  not to participate in these bee 
> forums.

This does not follow, and is obviously questionable, since that is exactly 
what you seem to be doing, albeit in a peculiar, indirect  way.

> Thinking is very limited.

Have you looked through the archives or the guidelines -- or have any idea 
of who reads and contributes to this list?  Or what we have discussed?

Facts impose the only limits on this list.  Fantasy, though, and BS gets a 
rough ride.

> And  attitudes patronising.

It seems that some people tend to be patronised a lot more than others. 
Strangely, though,  I have seldom if ever experienced it myself.  When I do, 
though, I take a good look at myself to make sure it is not justified.

The people who tend to get patronised here on BEE-L --  if they are lucky 
and not just called out -- are those who do not do their homework and show 
up here to tell us things which are demonstrably false and/or irrelevant and 
puff themselves up.

> Most problems in Europe are  caused by beeks thinking  they know it all, 
> experimenting willy nilly and getting it wrong in the short  and long 
> term.... It was beeks messing about with the size of comb to increase 
> honey storage and queen breeding experiments which have  produced the 
> larger less hardy hybrid you find in most UK apiaries.

Just to get back on topic, without agreeing to that doggerel (which reveals 
more than you might imagine) let me point out that the bees in question are 
NOT in the UK, or Europe.

We are discussing a problem in Maine, a state  located in the extreme 
northern regions of the United States of America at roughly 45 degrees of 
latitude.  For perspective, the entire continental USA (southern extreme at 
Key West is ~24.5 degrees N (I was there the other day)) is far north of the 
most northerly part of Nigeria (~14 degrees N), and Maine is as far north as 
one can go in the continental US. (I keep bees up here in the Great White 
North at 52 degrees N and my buddies range up to 57N)

Temperatures in Maine in late fall and winter can fall down as low as minus 
thirty Celsius or more and several feet of snow are normal.

The bees did not abscond.  Bees simply do not abscond after October in the 
north.  It is too cold and there is nowhere to go, except to join another 
occupied hive. (I suspect that is where some of the bees go),

From the facts presented, it is apparent that they simply dwindled, leaving 
one by one.  I know of no reports of bees leaving en masse in late fall. 
That is very obvious to anyone who has experience in the type of bees  and 
the region being discussed, but mysterious to those who have not seen it 
often.  We are curious as to the reasons, verifying the details, and 
speculating on the causes.

After all, this list is titled, "Informed discussion".

Chris, are you funning us? 

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