Dee, <Rubbish to me and contrary to Nature's doings.> I don't mean to be disrespectful so I apologize if it comes off that way, but I'm not sure what you mean by contrary to Nature. I practice agriculture, which is always contrary to nature, pretty much by definition. If you're talking about bringing in stock from other locations I can agree to a point. I try to buy stock that is best suited to my area and needs, but for me buying local is kind of pointless since most of the local bees spend the Winter in the South. I could go with ferals, but again with all the hives shipped in I can't imagine it's likely that they are anything but swarmed off commercial bees (not that stops me from collecting them and cutting them out of buildings). If I wanted natural bees I would end up with bees that make enough honey for winter and then swarm. Though I enjoy keeping bees and building wooden ware etc I also am rather partial to excess honey and not going broke. This is a hobby for me, but it'd be nice if it cost a bit less. Mike, I'll be interested to see the same thing, I've got half a dozen Russian nucs on order this year. I'm thinking of setting up a second yard for them, but I really don't like the idea of not being able to walk out back to peek at them constantly. If all goes well I may try to convert everything over while my hive numbers are still small. It will take a while to evaluate though since I won't get them until late Spring and need to see them Winter etc. I've also heard that the hybrids can be hot, which is worrisome, but I wonder how much that depends on what they cross with. Anyone have any experience along those lines? *********************************************** 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