I read with interest your report on queen losses from formic acid, Kerry.
 
Like inferior queens are not as well accepted as superior queens when introduced
into a colony, it makes sense that the bees ball them more readily if a big
disturbance happens to the colony.  How frequent would you estimate such queen
loss problems are when the treatment is aplied properly?  I am curious.
 
Concerning the building of emergency cells in presence of the queen, do you
consider this as an important and frequent problem?  I suppose it could be
attributed to a masking effect of the formic acid on the queen substance?.
Would the addition of a pheromone lure in the colony resolve the roblem?  Would
this situation occur only in presence of an inferior queen providing too little
queen substance to its colony?
 
 
Jean-Pierre Chapleau,
queen breeder
Quebec, Canada