Hi Madeleine/All I enjoyed reading your report. I would be interested to hear from as many british beekeepers what funny symtoms their hives have displayed this past season. The reason I ask is as follows. A number of researchers have over the past few decades kept the Cape Honeybee, apis mellifera capensis in various locations around the UK. This bee is unusual in it's ability to infect other races hives by way of it's workers which are able to lay diploid eggs(ie worker eggs) which can then be raised as either worker or queen of pure capensis descent - ie no dilution through mating. This queen will hence produce capensis like drones, and some of the other eggs layed by her mothertype worker will quite possibly leave the hive and infect other hives. If one had a very warm winter, like much of the north experienced last winter, these infected hives will have survived, as will cape queens. If a hive is infected with cape bees, the other queen (irrespective of race) is superceded withing a short time period by a queen raised from the cape laying workers eggs. So my explanation for the funny symptoms being mentioned could be an increase in the background noise from cape bees which are varroa resistant to a greater degree the northern races, are reasonably cold tolerant, produce reasonable yields, are not very aggressive and swarm quite a bit, emmitting often small swarms. They are also genetically suited to cold wet drizzly weather and are conspicioulsy black to grey in colouration. They also often swarm and don't raise a queen cell for a few weeks as everyone is fighting over who's going to be the mother of the queen. Once one or two lines have emerged as dominant they raise a queen - I have had laying worker colonies goe for up to two months before requeening. I have one nuc now which raised nine queens, produced a few swarms and now has a handful of bees that have gone laying worker and have started to rear a pathetic little queen cell. I will be interested to hear more input on this. Keep well Garth Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries Grahamstown Apis mellifera capensis Eastern Cape Prov. South Africa Time = Honey After careful consideration, I have decided that if I am ever a V.I.P the I. may not stand for important. (rather influential, ignorant, idiotic, intelectual, illadvised etc)