>>>of the 6 colonies in our new community apiary, 100% of them experienced late swarming and unsustainable winter populations. Long, hot autumn followed by brutal winter and spring = very low survival come April. >>> Hello, What breed of bees were they? I'm also wondering how it was determined that populations were unsustainable? Also, what symptoms were associated with the colony mortality, during postmortem? Ie. if starvation, -what type of starvation and were stores left over, was cluster intact? Best Wishes, J Waggle *********************************************** 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 Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm