Bob said:

> 40 years ago when a hive swarmed the hive requeened most of the time.
> Recently only about 50% have been requeening. This year every pure Russian
> hive which swarmed requeened. Perhaps the genetics are not as screwed up
on
> the Russian bees?
>


I had four hives this year deliberately queenless, hoping for new mated
queens, but all failed to produce one (NWC's, Italian cross and Russian
mongrels).  All had plenty of queen cells (five minimum).  I recently
discovered another hive that is queenless, and seems to have made no effort
to raise another.  I've only had bees a few years now, but it seems that the
odds should be a lot higher for a successful supersedure/replacement.  So
far, I'm batting zero.


Todd.

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