Hi Mike & all

I'm not 'knocking' US methods, merely pointing out that there are other
approaches or reasons behind the situation as it has developed.

You and your bees are not typical... You are very heavily involved in using
local conditions to 'mould' the bee that you use. Many beekeepers in US
would do much better if they followed your principles, rather than buying
queens produced in remote places.

Your bee would not be able do as much in my locality, as there is very
disjointed nectar 'flow' (trickle).

Similarly my bees in your area may gather more honey than they do in UK
(because of the more continuous nectar), but are unlikely to do well because
they are tuned to conditions that occur here.

> My North American mongrels
> need about 80 pounds to make the winter.

My colonies need about 26 pounds for winter, all of which they gather for
themselves. They may get a pint or so of syrup in February to 'wake them up'
and one year out of five they will need feeding during June for survival,
but that is all the feed they get (apart from those colonies that are
deliberately used for raising drones or queens).



Regards & Best 73s, Dave Cushman, G8MZY
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman or http://www.dave-cushman.net
Short FallBack M/c, Build 6.02/3.1 (stable)

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