> This has probably been hashed out many times in the past, but due to new
 > pests and chemicals used today, what is the best practice?

Without knowing where you are located and what your goals are, answering in
anything other than very general terms is difficult.

Generally speaking, requeening annually can result in larger colonies and
reduced swarming, assuming the requeening is successful.

One main advantage of requeening is that you know the source of your stock,
and if you are in AHB territory and not out in the Mojave, miles from
civilization,
with locked gates between your bees and passersby, requeening with known
stock is pretty well mandatory.

In practice, though, requeening can result in queenlessness or supersedure
more often that many realize and the cost of the queen and added labour
has to be recovered through larger crops, and the added production may not
cover the cost when the cost of removing, transporting, processing and
selling the additional honey is factored in.

There is no 100% certain way to prevent swarming without weakening
colonies to the point where they are unproductive, and for that matter,
even
mating nucs with mere handsful of bees are know to swam sometimes.

For swarm control, the best practice is to add extra room _before_ the bees
need it and make sure the bees do not get crowded for space due to honey or
lack of supers.  This is especially true in advance of swarming season.
After the
swarming season, bees can be crowded to finish comb without provoking
swarms.

As for the age of beekeepers making recommendations, in my experience,
age has nothing to do with it.  I know many, many beekeepers, and the
decision
whether to requeen or not depends on their other methods, goals, and
experience over time, not their generation.  I don't requeen routinely and
neither do my old buddies.  If anything, the guys who requeen often tend
to be younger and only do so until they get tired of chasing their own tail
and throwing time and money away.

I know many commercial beekeepers who do not replace queens until they
obviously need replacing, or who let the colonies continue without
requeening
as long as they are viable, then just shake out the dinks or pick up the
deadouts.  I don't think they have more swarms than others.

There are special cases, too. Migratory commercials in the US tend to
have to
replace queens often due to the endless bee season and the wear and tear
from moving, but AFAIK, they do it on an as-needed basis and also tend to
make up new colonies routinely in advance to replace their expected
attrition,
then just shake out the non-performers when they find them.

Otherwise, there is no definite rule.  You have to decide for yourself.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm