Hi all
Hoping that Groundhog Day is coming to a close, I submit the following published in Bee World in 1950, the year I was born

"At present we have 500 mating nuclei, which enable us to overwinter approximately 400 fertile queens in the mating apiary. Our stock allows us to requeen our colonies every spring with queens which are in the full vigour of their youth. This, in our opinion, is the secret is that makes our colonies develop so successfully, and which also is responsible for the 100% acceptance of the queens at introduction."

comment:
The queens used in spring are raised the prior year, so that anything that might fail early on, is already eliminated. In other words, the queens are tested before they are used to head full colonies. When you buy queens from a breeder, they have not been tested so I agree with Charles estimate that there may be 80-90% good ones. The point being, that if you don't re-queen you may have 50-60% good ones, and if you use Brother Adam's plan you could approach 100% but the final issue is cost. Although Adam always claimed to turn a profit, we have *never seen his tax returns.*

PLB

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