Bob Harrison wrote under "Apiguard's efficacy proved by numerous tests"

> I had one hive last year and one hive the year before with 12 frames of
brood and bees on April
> first.
>
>  Every time I see a hive winter so great I wonder what the secret is as
the
> hive next to it ( 4 frames of brood & bees) was treated *exactly* the same
> with the same type queen from the same queen breeder.

This would a typical case of what I also find.  Why?  Let me put forward the
following points.  Where you hit the nail on the head is it is the same type
of queen but it is not the same queen.  This sort of thing happens in Europe
where I believe they call this type of queen a "blender".

Take a look at nature.  You have in the race horse industry horses that are
better than others.  You have humans that run faster than others.  So why
not queen bees that are better than others?

You often find that the traits that make this queen a better queen are not
heritable.  When you breed from her those traits are not passed on.  Maybe
it was a fluke arrangements of the genes.  They tell me that it is the same
with race horses.  A lot of those ones that are exceptional do not pass
those features onto their progeny.

With a bee breeding program, you pick the best but do not confine your
selection to only one queen.  You pick the top two or three.  I remember
Wally Maul, from Germany, telling me many years ago in their breeding
program that in one case the number two choice produced, on average, better
queens that the first choice.

On the other hand, you must expect that there will be duds amongst what you
get and again this happens in nature.  Look at our race horses again.  I am
not in the game but those that are tell me that there are many horses breed
from the best genes available that end up in tins of pet food.  I think from
what I have seen and experienced myself that performance of queens is close
to the typical bell curve.  A few great ones at the top, coming down to
where the majority are in the middle and down again to a few below par
performers at the bottom.

So I think that you are looking for small increments in performance and that
exceptional one that comes along, as Bob described, are just that,
exceptional, and not the norm.  It doesn't, however, stop us wondering at
that occasional outstanding one that comes along every so often.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA

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