I really must put in my 5 cents worth on these Queen Rearing posts of recent date. I have never read such a load of twaddle in my life. To say that 'rearing is more important than genetics' is a slap in the face for all good breeders including Br Adam, who spent a lifetime doing just that. Selection of the Queen Mother plus good rearing is the only answer. Regretfully there will always be breeders who are solely interested in numbers and the bottom line, but that does not include all of us! If one wants to breed their own queens, good, and I for one will offer any help to anyone who wants to try. But first you must establish what is good. If you are dissatisfied with your stock, then change it! There is no point in breeding from poor stock. All good rearing will do, is produce vigorous queens with good ovaries, which will lay lots of eggs, and maybe last longer in years. It will not improve the basic imperfections of the basic stock. This is why good breeders will spend a small fortune on selected breeder queens. Someone suggested replacing workers in long time queen cages with bees from the top of the hive. Bees in this position will be full grown and older. It is better to replace with young bees newly emerged. If you use old bees from a queen right hive there is a danger of them killing what they consider to be an interloper queen. Which might be the reason why someone reported parts missing from queens which had been banked. In that case they should be banked on their own, not with other workers. **************************************************** * David Eyre 9 Progress Drive, Unit 2, * * The Beeworks, Orillia, Ontario, L3V 6H1. * * [log in to unmask] 705-326-7171 * * http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks * * Agents for: E H Thorne & B J Sherriff UK. * ****************************************************