Feral bees

[G3farms]

How long would a swarm of bees have to be on their own to be considered feral??

I bought some empty wooden ware from a farm auction that was selling out 6 or 7 seven years ago. After digging into the brood boxes (which were stored outside in on open shed) we discoverd a swarm had set up house in one, a deep and  shallow. I brought it home and sat it out. Have never been through it, fed them, or added any drugs to them. Year before last I thought they were going to die out (I really think they swarmed heavily) came back strong last year, and caught a 4 to 5 pound swarm off of them this year. They are very gentle and the queen is a terrific layer, caught swarm on 4/29 and they have already filled out 10 frames with brood and some honey.

Now would these bees be feral??? They have not had any human intervention in 6 or 7 years, same as being in the wild.

I will need to rehive these since the wood is about to rot down around them, just hate to disturb them since they seem so resiliant. Pulled the top off of them the other day and what a mess inside, the propolis is extra extra extra thick on every thing. Did not even bother going into the brood box. I just hope that they built comb in the frames, if there are any. Been through that before when I bought 15 box hives, no frames just top bars, nailed in!! That was an experiance.

G3

[Bee Happy]

a cut-out on a beehive...
sounds like a nice bunch of bees though.

[Natalie]

I would be interested in what people have to say but I would think they would be considered feral whether they are in a box or in a tree since there hasn't been any intervention in all those years.
Do you think its been consistently the same colony and not new ones moving in periodically?

[Michael Bush]

They are feral when they leave your hive.  :)  But I wouldn't call them survivors until they've at LEAST made it through the winter and preferably several winters.

[G3farms]

same colony, they are beside the driveway and seen almost daily.

G3