"Can you explain why so many beekeepers raising their own or purchasing
queens find they lack fertility?    It is something that should be looked
into but has NOT.?

We have discussed this here at length. Dave Tarpy has studied queen fertility extensively. We suspect miticide use in queen rearing outfits damages queens or more importantly - drones. Miticides definitely reduce the viability of sperm which in turn reduces the time that a queen can lay effectively - which quite likely leads to early supersedure. 

PLB

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