Jerry reminded us that "most beekeepers are hobbyists" and that "most bees are owned by professionals"....in 2016 a lot of the club newbees bought packages composed of bees off the almonds and queens from ??? Those packages had such high queen failure rates we were galvanized to start pushing all club members to:

-breed their own queens from their best colonies and don't allow the "lesser" colonies to raise their own queens or drones
-push healthy drone production in their best colonies
-consider having a nuc/single or two cooking along to cover losses or offer for sale in midsummer
-and advise new beekeepers with commercial packages to raise up a new, home-grown queen ASAP
-advise new beekeepers to bypass the early spring package sales in favour of local nucs if possible

Package queens have notoriously high fail rates in their first season. Whatever the reason(s), that's tough on new beekeepers, who often fail to recognize the problem until they are hopelessly queenless and in a laying worker situation. This year in my area packages are made up with 2 or 2 1/2 lb. of bees, and the early ones arrive in mid-March when it is still cold and rainy. They require feeding and insulation to thrive.

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