Juanse said
>How representative is this 3x7 cell pinch method?

Its pretty good Juanse. A very simple and easy test any beekeeper can do to check the hygienic behaviour status of his hives. I use it to check the queens in the nucs BEFORE I decide to use them. Its made a big difference to AFB incidence in the production apiaries.(It was not uncommon before, now we hardly ever see it, and I know those hives have regueened themselves!)
 We have been selecting for 5 years now, and most have high levels of hygienic behaviour. We only allow queens that achieve 21/21 cleaned cells in less than 24 hours to have access to drone comb, and restrict breeder selection to those queens too.
The debate on brood patterns is fascinating...I will stay out of that one for the time-being!

PeterD

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