> What is lacking in the posts I have seen is the effect of crossing races. 
> It is common when mixing different races to have offspring that have 
> characteristics totally different from either parents. Until this issue is 
> addressed

Yes.  That was partially the thinking behind my comments.  Another point is 
that exotic crosses may be very unstable or even non-viable, and that the 
first crosses may look nothing ike the second.  Although I have nothing 
against Juanse's approach of bringing in everything and seeing what 
happens -- many of us do that -- it seems clear that any kind of analysis 
that assumes that what is seen in this generation in any specific hive has a 
close relation to the next assigs excessive 'precision' to data obtained 
from a random and somewhat chaotic event.

> BTW I am becoming more and more convinced that if you have a good 
> concentration of hives in a location and put the nucs there, you will get 
> drones mostly from the adjacent hives rather than those a mile or so 
> away..even though I have read the queen mates a little over a mile away 
> from the colony generally.

I'm glad someone else thinks that, too.  I've seen it. I think that what 
happens depends a lot on the climate, the terrain, the concentration of 
hives in the area, and the strain of bee as well as the time of year and the 
weather  It may even depend on the observer :).

Moreover, as I recall, one of Brits here on BEE-L has reported seeing mating 
taking place on the outside of a hive.

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