> The bigger question is whether or not it is possible to replicate the successes of these ferals in the managed setting.  

Exactly. If the survival of honey bees requires housing them in a single box, spacing them one to a square kilometer, allowing them to swarm at least once or even twice a year, that is pretty much a dead end as far as profitable beekeeping is concerned. It might have merit in a conservationist regime, but other than that -- ?

PLB

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