Hi All Today I worked through my best hives, (peaceful ones) and noticed the bees were pretty stupid in their asumtions - eg thinking often that I was the beehive because I was wearing a white tee shirt and dark shorts, and trying to find a hive entrance near my pants (potential ouch factor there). Aggressive hives in a nearby apiary do not have this problem, and never make mistakes like that. So that led me to think that maybe I am breeding for short sighted bees and not gentle tempered bees at all. They just don't realise that that big pink arm and face are mixing up their lives because they can't see very far? And maybe the angry bees follow me and attack me unprovoked because they have good sight? Has anybody ever done an work on bees eyesight? (considering that a hive is basically the offspring of about 20 individuals mixied with one individuals genes, if lots of these bees in the ratio need sight enhancers, then maybe one could get a technically short sighted hive??) Just a thought. Keep well Garth --- Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries 15 Park Road Apis melifera capensis Grahamstown 800mm annual precipitation 6139 Eastern Cape South Africa Phone 27-0461-311663 On holiday for a few months Rhodes University Which means: working with bees 15 hours a day! Interests: Fliis and bees Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this post in no way reflect those of Rhodes University.