> From: Bob Harrison <[log in to unmask]>
>
> > Eventually  the bees see their own European queen as defective and ball
> > her. The hive is then queenless and will exist till the hive becomes
over
> > run with non foraging   pseudo queens ( and drones)  which beside not
> > foraging  will not do hive duties such as caring for    brood etc.
> > **Without a real capensis queen the hive dies**.
>
 This is a fascinating discussion.But I keep wondering why,if the cape bees
claim to fame is its ability to raise a queen from a laying worker egg(an
amazing trait),how come all these scut hives in Africa crash without the
cape workers raising a queen.And,if the cape bee came in with Dr.Kerrs
imports,and has been in the gene pool from the beginning,why no reported
problems as the bees migrated up from South America?Certainly the Lus
bees(Dee should copyright that!)arent dieing out from psuedoqueens,and in
fact the queen replacement trait seems to be working .So has anyone heard
of any cases of cape genes causing problems with the scuts during there
migration up from South America?If not,then it would seem that Dees
Bees(another trade name to consider)might just be what she has claimed all
along,a bee that has been selected for the thelytoky trait over many years.
-----Mike