Hello All,
 Twenty plus years ago I left 10 hives at 4,500 feet in the Olympic Mountains. I wanted to see if any bees had the genetics to survive a winter with 4 feet of snow. My selection was the best 10 hives I had in the 40 at that apiary. I did not pull the honey off of them so the stores would be plenty for winter.
The outcome was 3 that made it thru the winter in very good shape with plenty of bees in the spring . I used the queen stock for two years in my operation. I had 180 hives at the time. 
 One point that counts is that the Pacific NW. temperature does not go down very low in winter. Down to 20 F is about as low as it goes. 
Roy Nettlebeck
Tahuya Wa.  
 

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