>>A wild swarm will go a year or so, and die of varroa.

I think that's a perception that is not accurate.  I refer to Tom Seeley's reports from the woods of upstate NY.  The ferals I've retrieved this year were thriving and swarming - a sign of healthy reproduction in the wild.

I've had managed colonies go up to 3 years without treatments other than screen bottom before being close to collapse.  The last two years were marked with deformed wings.

Waldemar

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