. It seems to
>me that if genetic disease control (breeding for resistance) is our goal
>then we not only should use mated queens but queens that have been
>properly bred.
>
>        What thoughts are out there regarding genetic vs. chemical disease
>control? Are we barking up the wrong tree?
 
No, I don't believe we are barking up the wrong tree. That's why Ontario
started it's breeding program!! The aim, to genetically select a strain of
bees immune to T-mite, to avoid chemical control. I have said a number of
times, the North American method of throwing chemicals at a problem can only
be a stop gap. We should be paying more attention to selection against disease!!
        I have read with interest all the different methods of requeening,
cells versus mated queens, forced virgins and some I would suggest are
really wild!! Some of us seem to miss one of the golden rules, taught to me
many years ago by my mentor.
  "LIKE REPLACES LIKE" No matter how good you are, no matter what you try,
you cannot force the bees to do what is against mother nature. To requeen,
the hive has to be ready(naturally) to accept that virgin, mated queen or
cell, or to even make their own. You won't under normal cicumstances find a
cell in a hive with eggs, unless the bees have decided to superscede. You
can't replace a laying queen with a virgin. The point I'm trying to make, if
you want success, first prepare the hive to receive whatever it is you want
them to do!!
        Finally, queens produced under emergency will rarely be any good and
in only a short time the bees are changing that queen.To understand, eggs
take 3 days to hatch, the bees then feed a small amount of royal jelly.When
they decide to make workers the royal jelly is changed to worker food, which
prevents the production of ovaries. Now , if an emergency develops and they
are forced to produce a queen from worker fed eggs, the genetic cycle is
interupted, a scrub queen results, because her ovaries are not fully
developed. The queen must be made from an egg that was intended to be a
queen from the start of the cycle. Sometimes depending on circumstances, the
queen might be reasonably acceptable, but they won't go a full cycle,
possibly winter failure, or poor performance. So as Vince suggests, well
bred queens should be the rule.
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