Carlos
 
There is no one answer to your question about how long a bee colony
lives?
 
In theory, under ideal conditions, a feral colony lives forever,
superseding the queen whenever she begins to fail. In practice, the
length of time is highly variable depending on such factors as
geography, specific location, disease, mites, availability of food,
natural and unnatural enemies, and more. Kept colonies have all the same
problems with the added disadvantage to them of the beekeeper's
ministrations.
 
Feral colonies are often said to live in one spot for many, many years
without interruption. This probably happens, especially under conditions
approaching ideal. However, I believe that many apparently long-lived
colonies are actually not so long-lived. They die for whatever reason
and before anyone notices their absence, they are replaced by a swarm.
Most feral colonies are not under constant observation so our
conclusions about them tend to be based on scanty information.
 
Of course, everything is changing these days with the presence of the
mites. Any truly long-lived feral colony is to be treasured.
 
Dick Bonney
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