Bonjour a tous !
 
this discussion get me in mind an article from Paul Jungels and Jos Guth
the Luxemberger bee breeders (in french) in "Abeille de France" 1995 p273:
 
 
>> ...the inducing quality development of a queen don't end with the
  laying of the first eggs.  During the next phase she is living a very
  delicate development period. >>
 
  at this time you put her first in a small cage, get it at the post
far of her cluster with only a few bees and introduce in established
colonies where she is and remains at least for a month a stranger the
old bees will kill !
 
Jos Guth described some typical cases :
 
>> I have been able to observe queens maintained a long period in
  Kirchhainer nucs (very small nucs used in Germany) doesn't reach at
  the same fitness (vital power - force vitale in french) then queens
  from the same series but living in normal conditions, with
  possibilities of full development. Same observations the next years !
>>
 
and ...
 
>> We find the same bad effect when the queens are **introduced in
  strong production colonies** immediately after the beginning of the
  laying (and we don't mention the introduction difficulties at this
  stage !) ... >>
 
... He concluded :
 
>> An optimal breeding is conditionned by the quality of the queens
  used as mother and by the conditions of the larvas, the breeding
  colonies and the conditions of emerging of the young queens.
  Moreover, the development is not finished when the queen is laying her
  first eggs.  It's not during her birth year that the queen reach her
  maximum productivity but the next year ! It seems then not reasonable
  to overwork the queens the first year (at least the first 2-3 months)
  One must let her the time to fully develop.
>>
 
I phone to Jos Guth yesterday after the lot of mails about the US queen
problems :
 
>> I'm a queen supplier and I don't like to send my queens by post but
  I always advise the beekeepers to put these queens as soon as possible
  in small colonies with young bees to achieve her development, never in
  a production hive.
 
  Moreover, the tracheal mite is responsible of the lot of problem
  they actually get in the US.  It's time they get some resistant
  strains.  Maybe this will occur sooner without any TM treatment while
  the resistant lines are multiplied.  But do that ?!?
>>
 
Jean-Marie
 
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Jean-Marie Van Dyck          Fax +32 81 72 42 72
B.P. 102                     email : [log in to unmask]
B-5000     NAMUR(Belgium)    Medical school - Biochemistry dept
 
This => C'est ma facon de parler !
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