I went into the winter with 5 hives, I now have only two.  
However, one hive (15 miles south of Seattle, WA) is Extremely strong for 
March in the northwest.

I am crediting the queen for this excellent wintering ability - Does that 
makes sense?

The queen in question was left behind after a June swarm.  What I am 
thinking is that This would be a good queen & hive to rebuild from rather 
than buying packages again.  These are (were?) Carnies so there will 
definitely be swarm cells soon.

I haven't tried intentionally breeding a queen for many years because I 
figured there wasn't enough drone stock around my hives.  

OH BTW - the two surviving hives were 'fed' a medium super of crystallized 
honey from 2004. Two others got sugar syrup and the last Non-survivor 
starved with plenty of stores left over, I suspect mite 'shrinkage'.

tfl

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