Hello Peter & All,
Thanks Peter for the information! I would like to ad a few comments based on
the years I used those queens.

>The Starline and Midnight hybrids were not designed to be
>self-regenerating; the concept was for beekeepers to continually
requeen with hybrids produced by the program.

I really do not yet understand why beekeepers could not grasp the hybrid
concept but many did not. They thought they could buy one bunch of hybrid
queens and raise ( and in some cases sell as Midnight or Starline ) queens
and they would perform as the real hybrids did. Some actually thought both
were races of bees!

When used as intended both lines worked for me and the extra box of honey
more than paid for the few extra dollars the queen sold for.

I marked all my hybrids and tried to get two years out of the queens but
then culled. Marking was important because the hybrid vigor could be lost
with supercedure.

 Hybrid vigor is real!

Has been documented many times.
For those with access to the book "Queen Rearing and Bee Breeding" by
Laidlaw & Page you can get an explanation of "hybrid Vigor" ( also called
heterosis)on page 162-164.


quote from pg. 162
" It has long been KNOWN that when you cross parents from different INBRED
lines or from DIFFERENT races or STRAINS that the OFFSPRING can have
characteristics that are SUPERIOR to both parents. This phenomenon is called
HYBRID VIGOR.

> colonies headed by hybrid queens had increased brood production, this did
not lead to increased honey production.

I saw increased honey production but honey production depends on many
outside influences. Most queen breeders rate hybrid vigor at about a 30%
increase in productivity. or maybe an extra super of honey. I think the
hybrid vigor was better seen in the Midnight's rather than the Starlines. I
have never been a big fan of the dark races in those days  but I liked the
Midnight's and they in most cases would out produce *production* Italians.
Today I run many hives of NWC which I like. Sue Cobey has done an excellent
job with those bees.

>Dr. Roger Morse also told me that he thought the Starlines were heavy brood
producers but that this didn't seem to translate into more honey production.

I think Dr. Morse might have a point with the Carniolans as many times
production Italians in those days matched the Starlines BUT when you
installed a 100 Starlines they all were prolific and produced big crops of
honey.( at least the ones I used did)

What did Roger say about the Midnight's?

Today in a 100 regular Italian production queens you *might* get half
prolific and heavy honey producers, 30 average, 10 dinks needing the hive
tool, 4-5 drone layers and  5 supercedures in the first few weeks.

 Only warranty is they arrive alive.

Also if dead then the claim needs to be filed on the carrier.


The Starlines ( when raised correctly) were an excellent tool for the profit
minded beekeeper. I got the best Starlines & Midnight's when Dr. Conner ran
the program.

Good queens do not cost but instead pay. Excellent genetics pay.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison





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