> >  > As far as queens appearing in laying worker hives, this is so rare
> >>  that no one has ever seen it except you and Otto Mackensen (excepting
> >>  Cape Bees, of course).
> >
> >Gloria Degrandi-Hofman has reported observing just that, unless I am
> >mistaken, and did not Erickson do some work with Dee on this some time
back?
>
> It would still be extremely rare

Apparently it is not at all rare in the bees in the Tucson area.  In fact, I
have heard from several sources, that it can be demonstrated at will.

> and can not be invoked as the
> mechanism in any sort of unintentional selection for larger bees over
> the past 100 years.

I think that was meant to be a separate and unrelated topic.

> In a study of about 100 Cape Colonies that were made queenless, 60%
> raised new queens the normal way. Only 20% successfully requeened
> from laying worker brood.

Not sure what the ratio is in Tucson, but it is significant.  Maybe Dee,
Erikson or degrandi-Hofman will offer answers, since I am not comfortable
speaking for any of them.  They all have hands-on experience with this over
some considerable timeframe and could comment better on the frequency of
success.

> Mackensen's work, which hasn't been replicated (that I know of),
> showed what would happen if a hive was forced to raise a queen from
> unfertilized queen eggs, a circumstance which almost never occurs. Of
> these, only a small percentage succeeded. (Hepburn, 1998)

Here again, we are trying to extrapolate with what is observed one group of
bees with another different and perhaps not closely related group.  It is
becoming very apparent that one group of honey bees cannot safely be assumed
to be just like another.

It is also possible that environment and season may figure into the results
one sees.

allen