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Thu, 6 May 1999 09:03:07 -0400 |
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ACB Dept., Univ of Michigan |
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Garth writes about the gentleness which has become part of the capensis
bee's characteristics, often wondered about the Cape bee, and have these
questions:
1) Laying workers can produce normal queens, and I suppose other workers
as well. Have these workers therefore mated with drones, or are the
fertile eggs haploid? If haploid, what determines if an egg develops
into a queen/worker or a drone?
2) All I have read about this bee suggests that it is a scourge upon the
beekeeping world, and steps must be taken to prevent its spread
elsewhere. What is so bad about it - does it swarm excessively, produce
little honey, too much propolis, get diseases or parasites more readily
than others - or what? (Maybe the queen breeders just don't want to
have self-requeening colonies around.)
Ted Fischer
Dexter, Michigan USA
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