> these queen survival rates are appalling... 
> What good is mite resistant stock if 
> you can't keep the queen in the hive 
> even one year? 

For the past few years, Jeff Pettis has been shopping around an as-yet
unpublished theory based on unexpected problems in multiple studies.  In
short, comb contamination build-up from miticides is harming the queens and
causing the frequent supersedures. This does not seem to be an unexpected
trait of any of the mite-resistant lines, because the problem is not
following any specific hybrid, breeder, or queen producer.  It also is
getting in the way of successful studies, as colonies that supersede are
most often taken out of the "valid" dataset in most cases.

As I understand Jeff's pitch, the queens are well-mated, but sperm longevity
in the queens is unusually low, as queens checked just after mating look
good, but queens checked some time later have significant amounts on
non-viable sperm.  I'd expect that answering this question with authority is
going to require some micro-surgical work, to allow a living queen to be
biopsied, returned to the hive undamaged, and biopsied again later.  I know
that insemination is a daily task for many people, but can anyone reverse
the process and sample semen from a spermethica?  

We've had a terrible couple of years keeping queens in colonies here in NYC,
and we notice supersedures, as urban colonies that supersede tend to end up
with an unmated queen, due to the lack of sufficient colony density, to put
drones in the air, or maybe due to too much wind turbulence for decent DCAs.

But I haven't heard a universal outcry, and I'd expect one if it was
happening to everyone, everywhere.

I remember that back in 2009, Dave Tarpy (NC USA) did a compare between
queens of "50 years ago" and "today".  Also, about the same time, Rick Fell
(VA Tech, USA) exposed queens to CheckMite alone, dissected them, and found
significant issues with their spermethica, eggs, the whole reproductive
system.  These 
queens were superseded after 4-6 months.  Sorry, I can't recall more than
the year, I don't have citations.

	

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