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Date: | Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:04:05 -0500 |
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> However the common theme through these various forms of hive loss appeared to be poor and/or short lived queens (this seems to conflict with what Peter heard from Dave Tarpy - a talk I missed)
No, this doesn't conflict. Dave said the beekeepers were reporting poor and short lived queens, but his studies seemed to indicate that it was not the queen quality in terms of size, number of ovaries, adequate mating, nosema, or genetic makeup.
This tends to imply that the problem is caused either by putting good queens into problem hives, and then pinning the blame on the queen for the problems they already have. Or -- the queens are poor due to factors for which Dave did not test.
For example, in hive chemicals (miticides or pesticides) either upstream or downstream from the purchase point could cause queen supersedure and poor brood patterns, leading to lowered production. We don't really know all the factors that cause supersedure.
It's like a car that's running poorly, there are just so many things that could cause that. Bad gas, dirty spark plugs, computer fried, even bad driver. My mechanic once told me that for a car to start and run in winter, *everything* has to be perfect. How often is everything perfect in bee hives?
pb
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