> I have one of my tbh colonies that appears to be hopelessly
> queenless.  I am curious about the incidence with which this might
> occur.
<snip>
> If you wish to offer an opinion or have some data on this issue,
> please email me directly, and I'll summarize the replies should it
> not be desirable to start a thread on this topic.
 
Actually there *is* a thread going on here about this, more or less
-- the one on quality of Queens.  This question  is right in the
middle of the issue, so I'm sending my reply to the list.
 
Don't be afraid to jump in and get something going.  This is a good
question.
 
I would venture that -- in my experience -- on average about 10% to
15% of the hives in a large outfit (in our area)  will, left to
themselves become queenless or develop a queen that is poor, but for
some reason isn't superceded.  Swarming will sometimes leave the
parent colony hopelessly queenless.
 
Over a year about 25% will encounter trouble from which they are
unlikely to recover well  without assistance.   Part of this is due
to the fact that queens that  fail during late fall, winter or
spring cannot be easily replaced by the hive due to lack of drones,
mating weather, etc.
 
> Initial quality of the
> queen would probably be a large factor also.
 
True.  Initial quality often does not show up until late in the
season, when the lack of stamina becomes apparent in drone laying,
disappearance, or a generally weak colony.
 
Of course this is hard to prove at that point, but if a whole batch
of queens from one source goes bad at about the same time...
 
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0
Internet:[log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask]
Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>