Hi Peter > That is what I have been saying all along. The existence of localized or > naturalized bees has never been proved to my satisfaction. There are so many > migratory bee operations you can't avoid the influx of their bees and their > pests. OK, the situation is messy, but the local conditions still exist in the local environment, it would only take a few years to re-build a population that was partly moulded by those conditions. Judicial raising of queens with a known track record in the area would further bolster the background. I did not say that it would be easy or that it could be done 'at the drop of a hat', you have to 'want to' improve your bees and put in whatever effort is required to get there. There are no answers 'off the shelf'. While you are casting about for the magic bullets, the years are slipping by during which you could have made real progress. Regards & Best 73s, Dave Cushman, G8MZY http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman or http://www.dave-cushman.net Short FallBack M/c, Build 6.02/3.1 (stable) ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************