All

Back from travels, weeded through lots of messages.

As per 'feral' - its far simpler than projected - just go to the dictionary:

a) Existing in a wild or untamed ((unmanaged)) state,
b) Having returned to an untamed ((unmanaged)) state from domestication
((managed colonies)) .

Yes, I know, you can argue whether bees are domesticated, but substitute
((managed)) for tamed or domesticated and you've got the definition.

Now, as to the proposal that feral colonies are:  more aggressive, don't
pollinate, don't produce honey

Those don't necessarily hold.  The feral colonies came from managed
colonies, so initially they are genetically the same.  If your colonies are
africanized, then so will be the escapees.  If they are calm Italians, so
will be their progeny.

Again, we can argue how your colonies got to be calm or nasty.  But when
they first escape, there should be no difference with respect to the feral
versus the source colonies in terms of  aggressiveness.  With time, you may
see a difference.

However, there's also no reason why unmanaged genetics should drift to
nasty versus calm temperment other than:
1) a good beekeeper will cull out nasty colonies (in the managed situation)
2) there may be some survival benefit in the wild (unmanaged state) for
being a bit more aggressive towards bears, skunks, etc.

Also, I'm assuming that the feral colonies are NOT exposed to africanized
bees (whether managed or not).  The aggressive behavior comment came from
Australia, where presumably they don't have AHB.

Ok, so let's look at pollination and honey production.  Surely, the feral
colonies pollinate and make honey.  Whether they pollinate the crop that
you want depends on where they are at (its not as easy to move their
colonies around, so the crop has to be within flight range of their home
base).  Similarly, they make honey, but its not easy to harvest (or at
least not as convenient).

Actually, some might argue that its easier to harvest - just chop down the
tree -- no extractors needed.

Feral colonies and Weeds -- same definition problem.  What are weeds other
than plants growing where you don't want them?

Now, as to the chem lab question.  No one instrument is going to do the
job.  At a conservative estimate, startup for a full featured pollen/honey
lab would easily cost 1/4-1/2 million U.S. dollars.

For example, a basic GC/Mass Spec goes for $100k +, and LC/Mass Spec about
$1/4 M.

And that's without the high salary technician who knows how to run these
costly machines.

Jerry

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