Hello

What is feral in regard to honey bees? A swarm heads for the hills and "goes
native"? Bees aren't domesticated to begin with, so how could they become
wild? They are practically the same now as when they were first kept by
humankind. Why is this so? Because they cannot be domesticated, like cows or
chickens. They do not appear to have this in their makeup, any more than
rattlesnakes or raccoons can be domesticated.

Human selection has found the types that have productivity and manageability
in their makeup, and we have also located types which produce poorly (low
honey yield) and are difficult to manage. Read Brother Adam or any textbook
that describes the different races. Within these races are variations, too,
but nobody ever suceeded in changing the bee into something radically
different than what it is. Therefore, there isn't much difference to revert to.

If a colony is in the wild for a year or two, are they feral now? How is
that *any* different from a colony managed on the *let alone* plan? If a
hive is allowed to self requeen, for generations, then you have the same
exact thing. I know plenty of beekeepers that never requeened, and never
saved a hive a hive when it went downhill (just fold 'em up and put a swarm
in next year). These bees are not feral, just mongrels.

I am not saying mongrels are bad. Everyone has seen the pretty yellow bees
and wondered if it wise to keep bees bred solely for color. In my opinion,
the yellow bees seem to do just as well, so there hasn't been much harm in
it. The mongrels seem to have very little special going for them and they
tend to sting more.

The whole concept of feral when aplied to bees seems utterly nonsensical,
unless you have isolation. By isolation, I mean you would have to have a
population that bred only with itself. It would require at least several
hundred colonies to prevent inbreeding and probably at least a twenty mile
no-bee zone to prevent crossing with domesticated populations. Then it would
require time. How much time? I don't know. Perhaps 100 years would show some
actual difference.

There have been several cases of isolated populations on islands. Those are
the only bees that *could* be called feral.

Isis

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