I like the Donald Rumsfeld bit because in some ways it says everything, you don't know what you don't know and you know even less about what you don't want to know.
From many of the posts at different times on this forum there is "evidence" that has been put forward by a number of forum members of feral bee colonies with continuous occupation spanning many years in the UK, 10 years or more I seem to remember in some instances. It would seem equally likely that there are keepers in the UK not treating and no doubt some old unattended occupied hives.
Certainly that is the case in France and I could take people to possibly hundreds of feral colonies with continuous occupation, (it wouldn't take me long to get the locations of perhaps a thousand or more).
How do I know they are continuously occupied?
One way we can be fairly sure is simply when the owner of a property, tree or what ever that has no understanding of bees says every year they all fly away and then come back because they are still there two days later. Then there are the ones that have been the subject of my own observations and studies including abandoned hives.
The point about these colonies is that they are local bees in the broad sense that are not treated, not manipulated and allowed to swarm.
Then there are all the keepers here including myself that don't mess with our bees too much and don't use any treatments.
Then there is the evidence from INRA in France.
Often anyone putting forward such heretical ideas that honey bees can survive with varroa is "rubbished" either directly or by innuendo, especially if they aren't actually members or participants of any given group and can have their views or methods put down in their absence. Fortunately we now live in an age when self proclaimed priests, priestesses and their theologies can be challenged and exposed for what they are.
So yes, it almost certainly is about methods as much as anything and bees that are adapted to local conditions, therefore if someone wishes to conduct their own studies they have all the information they need to do so.
Of course anyone that is seriously interested could come to France and make some studies of their own.
Chris
