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Subject:
From:
Dave Cushman <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 19 Jun 2005 15:07:39 +0100
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Hi Allen & all

> We are just guessing and presenting the guess as fact,
> even though many experienced and observant beekeepers
> have found emergency queens to be very satisfactory,

Again your observations are different to mine, One of the reasons for my
interest in queen raising, and also breeding of bees (two entirely separate
subjects) is the miserable performance and extreme nastiness of queens
raised in UK by means like the walk away split. There are other reasons in
UK for this not being an ideal strategy, lack of forage continuity, in a
short and long term fashion, as well as a short 'summer' season. We are also
a crowded island and there is not room for aggressive bees, which are not
well tolerated in built up areas by a public that lacks knowledge about
bees. In the case of the region that I live in the degree of mongrelisation
is high as it is possible for both the Italianised hybrids and AMM type bees
to survive, whereas further North the genetics are more stable and further
South there is adequate good weather for Italian types to thrive.

> we *know* (proven fact) that many raised
> and/or purchased queens are much less than
> satisfactory by the time they are raised,
> caught, stored, transported, stored again
> and finally introduced to a strange hive.

I would not suggest that we have a perfect record in this respect, however I
get the impression that the problem is worse on your side of the pond, I
think we may pay a little more attention to quality control and testing, but
in the main much of UK queen raising is on a local basis rather than
reliance on mailing.

I have never been the recipient of any 'run of the mill' queens myself, so I
have no yardstick to judge by, but of the queens (mainly breeding stock)
that I have received I have had very few failures or supersedures, in fact I
have had more stolen than have actually failed, but then the queens involved
have mostly been between one and three years of age and have been introduced
into nucs rather than full sized colonies, probably with a lot more
attention than would occur in large scale re-queening.

> I wonder how many commercial queens raised and shipped
> actually end up heading successful colonies for a year
> or more, and how many are lost along the way, rejected
> by the bees or superseded?

I would say the greater the distance involved, the greater the chance of
failure. I would also suggest that if the distance is long, then the
suitability of such queens is brought into question.

> As a hobbyist, I'd be crazy to pay the going price for
> commercial queens

Purchase of queens is rare in UK, it is not a big industry, but our costs
would be more like 16 lbs honey per queen, rather than your 31 lbs/hive
average. I prefer the situation of bees that supersede and keep their
characteristics from generation to generation. This goes along with long
queen life, mating at a different season and the possibility of multiple
queens laying in the same hive.

> I could raise queens, but that is a whole other job.
> I've done it, and it can pay off, but I don't need
> the work or the scheduling.

In UK we consider that queen raising is part of beekeeping, rather than a
separate issue. I have another reason as well... I enjoy it !


Regards & Best 73s, Dave Cushman, G8MZY
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman or http://www.dave-cushman.net
Fall Back M/c, Build 5.02 (stable)

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