----- Original Message ----- 
From: "[log in to unmask]" <

> The feral population does not exist in a bell jar.

Here in Australia they appear to do just that.  Work dome by IIRC Dr Ben 
Oldroyd showed that the feral population was self perpetuating.

In Australia at least, this is not all that surprising.  Typically a 
beekeeper moves hives in the late winter/early spring to build conditions on 
agricultural land.  Here bees may indeed swarm, but there are limited places 
by definition.  The beekeeper will then move to timbered country for honey. 
Almost no swarming on the honey flow and should it fail, certainly no 
swarming.  There will hopefully be a few moves to other honey flows before 
moving back to the build country.

Being Australia there are occasionally exceptions to this pattern, but it is 
still true to say that most beekeepers, most years will follow this 
scenario.

In other words there are limited opportunities for managed hives to 
contribute to the large feral population.  The feral population will tend to 
only reach swarming strength after the managed hives, particularly in 
forested areas.

The requirements for feral and managed hives are of course different as 
well.  A feral colony needs a comparatively small cavity, and must live the 
whole year on whatever floral sources are available nearby.  A managed 
colony on the other hand will be taken to where the pollen and nectar are 
(hopefully) abundant during this same twelve months.  The beekeeper will 
also practise some husbandry to help the bees achieve the large populations 
needed to gather the large amounts of nectar needed in a farming venture.

Geoff Manning

*******************************************************
* Search the BEE-L archives at:                       *
* http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?S1=bee-l *
*******************************************************