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Date: | Fri, 2 Mar 2007 08:29:55 -0500 |
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Peter Edwards wrote:
> Agree with the first sentence, but beekeepers have selected for a very
> different bee from the one that survived so well. If this is not
> true, tell me why there are so few feral colonies.
We seem, as is usual on this list, to get away from the subject. The
issue is the term domesticated. If you cage a wild beast it is not
domesticated even thought you feed and medicate it.
As far as numbers of feral colonies, there are limited on the number of
bees or whatever that can populate an area and survive. You see this ebb
and flow in nature all the time. So the numbers of feral colonies does
not determine if bees are domesticated.
As far as bees surviving well in the past and not now, I would think
that Varroa, an introduced pest, might have something to do with it.
Again, that has nothing to do with the subject. Prior to the
introduction of Varroa there were plenty of feral colonies.
This issue is really not worth the time we have spent on it. So I would
suggest just taking some of your domesticated bees to your neighbor on
your next visit and let about 500 loose in their home. Your neighbors
will provide the definition.
Bill Truesdell (who remembers the domesticated cow in the home of Borat.
No bees.)
Bath, Maine
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