> By feeding your bees you are interfering with Darwinian selection.
 > You get what you select for, so if you select for (ie do not allow
 > Darwin to eliminate from the gene pool) bees that need feeding
 > then that's what you will end up with.

I'm glad that some people get it.

Of course such bees consume more because they are selected to produce
more and develop large populations on demand for expected flows or
pollination tasks.

The assumption is that beekeepers who buy and keep those bees will pay
for those desired qualities by supporting the bees if the bees
over-extend their resources due to a miscalculation by the manager, or
due to bad luck.

You can't have it both ways.  Thrifty bees take care of themselves
better, but prolific bees take care of the beekeeper better -- assuming
the beekeeper is, in fact, a beekeeper and not the dreaded beeHAVER and
can exploit these qualities.  It seems that the majority of beekeeper,
numerically, don't understand their bees and are mismanaging and
misapplying them.  Those who do understand bees are living well an
retiring comfortably.

The entire history of animal domestication and crop breeding has
intentionally developed animals and crops that are dependant on inputs
and management by capable farmers.

Some may decry this fact, but the superior returns on investment from
capable management of selected stock more than compensate for the added
burdens on the farmer.

Otherwise everyone would be running scrub stock and living high on the
hog with less work and less investment.

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