Allen wrote:
 Does this imply that we are skewing things when we just grab a frame of
eggs
to graft?

If so, the implications are staggering.

It is a fascinating fact i agree, and I  am glad Peter brought it up. as i
have never heard anything like this.
Some people believe that supercedure queens are best, so this would play
into possibly reinforcing this.
Bro. Adams had a firm conviction however that supercedure queens never met
his standards for quality queens compared to ones he had grafted...he mostly
attributed this to the fact that a supercedure queen is the offspring of a
failing queen-in other words(if I read him right), the robustness of the
egg-not the eggs genetics- was the driver. That being the case, any positive
effects due to "royal blood" might be masked.
So, I wonder if there would be a major difference in a yard composed of
hives that raised their own queens vs one full of grafted queens.
And what are we doing when we run roughshod over  that "royal family"
selection by our grafting.?
Lots of food for thought here.
Thanks for the post Peter...what enormously fascinating and dazzlingly
complex little critters here. No wonder man is so taken with them.
john Horton

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