My experience shows  that it is almost impossible to keep bees that stay adapted to the  NW environment. One of the largest problems is that fact that the environment will change from year to year.  Western Washington has seen some vary large shifts in winter and summer weather. I  had some good results with the 180 hives I would put up in the Olympic Mountains in the summer. We would have a good flow in July and August. Bees that were down at sea level had a hard time getting good stores for winter. To say I had locally adapted bees would be a stretch. I did work on good wintering capabilities by leaving 10 hive up at 4500 feet over winter. I did have 3 hives that made it over winter and used them for breeder stock. I had mixed results with open mated queens. I think you can lean on bees that seem to adapt to the local conditions but very hard to get the same results all the time. It has been in step with the weather on any given year. I have been doing it for 48 years and I have seen some wonderful years and some that I had to feed in the fall. Now with mites and other problems it takes a lot of good attention by the beekeeper to keep them alive no matter if they are adapted or not.
The Best
Roy Nettlebeck
Tahuya River Apiaries.       

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