>
> >but wonder if feeding bees has changed durring the 60 year period.


That's a good point Glenn!  Each gallon of 77% syrup fed prior to or after,
adds roughly 8.5 lbs to the net surplus honey crop. That is, to leave
enough honey for the hive to make it through winter.

Justin, you're correct on all your points re the impacts of the introduced
parasites (a number of us kept bees through them all).  I'll fill in the
missing hive numbers on the graph one of these days--they are only missing
because I can't locate my original Excel file, but here's a snip of a graph
that I created and published in an article that I've also lost track of:
As you can see, the hive numbers follow a clear trend.
​



-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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