Like many of you, I get calls from people refered to me by police, fire,
and other deparments who have had swarms settle on their land. I get them
fairly regularly, even now in November I just got one. I have noticed that
often the swarms have bees with deformed wings, not bad enough that they
can't fly, like some, but still like bees I see in my hives when the mites
are building up before my (third year now) annual treatment with Check-
mite.
I wonder how many of these feral hives that people assume are resistant to
mites are the result of natural selection for the trait of absconding. It
was something I hated in South Africa, and it's got me wondering if we
really should be breeding from some of these swarms.

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