Allen said:
As we have already agreed, our experiences and observations are local to
each of us and have a bearing on our conclusions.

And my comments are in the same text as may not  apply to Canada & the U.K..

Allen said:
I've never measured, but when doing side-by-side walk-away splits, have
often seen the daughter splits (queenless for 21 days awaiting the new
queen) achieve 90% success in requeening themselves and quickly overtake,
then exceed the mother colony when the new queen gets going.  Hardly the
sign of an inferior queen.

We used to see the above 30-40 years ago in the U.S..

Now what myself and others are seeing is quite different and we are at a
loss as to the reason why.

We are seeing about 50% of hives which swarm are not requeening. 50% is a
general figure gleaned from talking to other beekeepers at national meetings
about the problem and not from actual records. We find these hives quickly
towards the end of a honey flow because honey supers are not being filled.
Queenless and a small population of bees bringing in nectar and filling
frames in the brood nest is the usual situation.

 If close attention is not paid  by the commercial beekeeper  then laying
workers and wax moth damage is the rule.

Years ago the beekeeper *usually* only lost the honey crop from a swarmed
hive but not the hive. Why now?

At times all a beekeeper can do with a queenless hive is put in a frame of
eggs and hope for the best but the cells/queens we raise by using the
grafting/starter/ finnisher  method are as a general rule superior to the
*leave alone * method.

Also with a 50% requeen rate we worry a supercedure queen might not always
be replaced and we have got another queenless hive.

In fact I usually *if not always* shake the bees out and take the boxes as
hive numbers towards the end of the major honey flow are not important only
may mean only another weak hive to feed and medicate etc. going into winter.
A hive which many times will simply be robbed out by the strong hives at the
end of the honey flow.

Queenlessness has in my opinion became a larger problem in the U.S. than at
any time in U.S. beekeeping history. Comments?

I have ruled out a single race or queen breeder bees as the problem because
we use queens from many of the best queen breeders.

I will say that the Russian/NWC hybrid bee I have used the last two years
has a perfect  100% requeen ratio. I am keeping close records on these
hives.

Two possible explanations in my opinion.

1. Sue Colby is selecting the new world carniolan for requeening after
swarming trait.

2. Russian bees  are better at requeening after swarming than the bees we
currently use in the U.S.

Bob

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::