In a message dated 96-04-10 13:42:36 EDT, you write:
 
>
>Are there any commercial beekeepers in the U.S. who clip their queens'
wings?
> I don't know of anybody here in California who does it.  Maybe other parts
>of the country do.
>
>
 
We clip all of our breeder queens and mark them approx 200. We also clip and
mark all of the stock that we test. It is to easy to have the bees clean of a
marker but the wings stay clipped. One of the most important things in
evaluating stock is that one you know the age of the Queen and Two that you
know for certain what stock she is. We have seen all to often a supersedure
queen that looked great because she was young or crossed etc. So yes we do
clip and mark about 400 open mated production queens each year.
 
Dean M. Breaux
Hybri-Bees
Dade City Florida