I have no scientific evidence other than what I personally see and think. I am one of 150 beekeepers in my county. I am getting lots of swarm calls. LOTS. I am not in the south but just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. I have documented 5 bee trees, and at least 18 swarms that have not come from domestic colonies (no marked queens no registered colonies nearby). I disagree with the article that wild or feral colonies (defined as unkept bees with European origin) are on the decline, at least in our region. They appear to be doing quite well. I'll argue that with more hobbyists coming into the fold we will see even more feral/wild colonies as these new folks learn to control swarming. I've been documenting what I see here: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=117886624143477054096.00044e0f2a3594950f7cf&ll=39.163476,-84.790335&spn=0.040062,0.061798&z=14 There might be one other beekeeper that is helping add data, but most is what I collected. My theory here is this: European Honey Bees are non-native but quickly portions of the US as migration moved out from initial colonies both as a result of human and bee movement. Our wild and feral population are descendants of these and subsequent waves of apiary expansion in the 1800s, especially with the advent of modern beekeeping. Lots of home with bees meant lots of swarms through sheer statistical numbers. You cannot keep them all from swarming. If the swarm made it a season it would then swarm, maybe even several times. Fast forward over a century and we are looking at something similar. Migration of humans has stopped, but the lack of beekeepers means less swarming in certain regions. Add to that the hits the feral population took each time a disease, pest, or virus ran across the nation and you see a noticeable decline, but the more colonies that are distributed across the US now means we will see a increase in feral colonies down the line, many from other types of survivor stock that are robust. I think we are, in fact, seeing a upswing in feral colonies. Is anyone else getting a similar vibe? Richard Stewart Carriage House Farm North Bend, Ohio An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855 (513) 967-1106 http://www.carriagehousefarmllc.com [log in to unmask] *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html