I just realized that in the past 3 years,
I had not lost a colony to varroa or
winter, and stress related varroa symptoms
have been non existent.  I knew I was on
the road to recovery when I identified
winter starvations occurring in the years
prior, which IMO varroa had not played any 
contributing role.

I remember when I joined my first list in
2001, -the Irish beekeepers list. I gave
a prediction that ferals in my area would
recover in 20 years from the date of the
95-96 crashes that occurred here in the
North East. Well, -I was wrong, it
took 15 years.  Ferals are now abundant
in my area, and most of my colony extractions 
are within 8 miles of home.

I'm planning on increasing in colonies
next season. With colonies remaining
healthy, and varroa a non-issue, the
management time needed is greatly reduced,
and with that, -the ability to maintain
more colonies is finally a possibility.

I'm seriously considering obtaining 
a few Italian queens from a commercial 
source.  My intent is to interject some
genteelness into the gene pool, and  
prolific egg laying abilities. 

My opinion is that the ferals are so 
dominate in my area, that an introduction
of commercial queens would have minimal
to no impact on the feral population.
And it would be good to have some
comparison.

Any thoughts?

Best Wishes,
Joe Waggle

  

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