>In other words, the queens are tested before they are used to head full colonies.


Back in the day, you could by a tested queen, in fact, some suppliers offered four categories. In my September 1919 issue of Gleanings, Nueces County Apiaries was selling untested queens for $1.25; select untested for $1.50; tested for $2.00, and select tested for $2.75. The tagline on their advertisement was "The Succes of Beekeeping Depends on Good Young Queens. BTW, they were shipping queens and package bees as far north as Canada. In that same issue, a number of queen suppliers offered the same categories.  From what I've read, it seems like the practice of replacing queens on a yearly bases goes back some and maybe even over 100 years. 


Bill Hesbach
Cheshire CT 

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