I appreciate the information and recommendations from everyone on my strong hive. I was called out to remove a swarm of bees from some conveyor belt supports in a rock quarry 2-3 summers ago and got enough bees to cover 2 deep frames. The majority of the swarm was crushed in the equipment which continued to operate the entire time I was there. The mother of the queen in my strong hive came with that swarm. They are small black bees, as are most of mine. I never planned to not treat them for mites, it just happened. I ordered enough meds for the hives I had and then picked up some more swarms. That swarm built up so fast that I decided to take a chance on it. The next year the same thing happened, only this time the hive was much bigger than my other ones and so it was an easy decision to let them go without meds. I moved the mother to a weak hive in the fall and let the original hive raise a new queen. The hive the mother was moved to did well until midwinter when some kids knocked over 4 of my hives, including that one. I was out of town and when I came back, Arkansas had had temps in the high teens to low 20's for 6 days and the hive had died. They had still been fairly small going into winter. I can live with the aggression but there are people around that I do not want to get hurt (a lot of trespassers on 4 wheelers primarily). However, the idea of having strong hives is obviously nice. Are my other hives small for Arkansas this time of year? 12-15 deep frames of bees with 8-10 frames of brood 5-7 days ago? Anyone know? Thanks, James :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::