>Styrene is becoming a common contaminant in the air inside beehives.   We
>saw more of it than we ever expected in the 90s and early 2000s on the east
>coast of US.  Now that boxes are being made of styrene, I'd expect to see
>more.

Do you have any idea if it mimics a pheromone? 

What made us wonder about this is the fact that we recently observed 
differing success in introducing and raising queens between hives in wood 
and those in newer EPS hives.

The sample is very limited, but the difference seemed striking.

I think it is probably manageable once recognized.  Otherwise, the bees do very 
well in the EPS standard hives.  As for the Tegart-style 5-frame nuc boxes 
made from EPS, beekeepers have been making up nucs using one or two 
frames with brood and a cell quite successfully for many years.

That is why I am trying to guess what is behind the recent observations.  They
could just be a fluke, but it does not look like it.

All insights and speculation is appreciated at this point, and perhaps an 
experiment is in order to verify that this is not a fluke.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm