Allen Dick wrote:

> > >6.) Is this expression of thelytoky destructive like that of the cape bee
> in
> > >scutellata in South Africa, or a potential boon to US beekeepers?
>
>
> The real payoff, if it is true, is that I'm told that such bees tolerate
> multiple queens.  Lusbys claim to smoke in virgins successfully and get
> multi-queen hives as a result.
>

I'm not aware that thelytoky and multiple queen toleration are necessarily
linked traits. Multiple queens from ahb swarms have been well known and
described for some time, but the thelytoky link is a new one for me. As far as
multiple queens, Steve Taber told me of an old beekeeper getting into a
discussion at a bee club meeting about this, and showing up at the next meeting
with an observation hive with seven queens on one comb, supposedly on the east
coast in the 1950s-60s. Please educate me on this.
   - John Edwards, Vancouver, WA