I've been picking up a few more calls this year from local beekeepers looking for queens, complaining how their queen just "played out" or "quit laying" or "got too old."  I often ask other questions to help clarify their problems as queen issues are not always rooted in a problem queen.  Most callers just don't know, but colonies are definitely slower this year than years previous.
 
Personally, my queen rearing is behind schedule with the late spring...or at least as the calendar informs my timing.  I think most of us are looking at the calendar and thinking our colonies ought to be at "X" level by this time, and when they aren't, our first blame falls on her majesty.
 
I can't help but divert the discussion and jump on the soap box and encourage more beekeepers to raise locally-adapted queens from their own survivor stock, or support a local beekeeper who will do it for you (which means quit belly-aching when he charges you $10 for a queen that would normally cost $30 through the mail and take a week).  It's a real pinch to need a queen and none can be found.  Sustainable practices are a gift.  Many of the national-level speakers at the conferences are encouraging hobbyists to make their own nucs just for this very purpose.
 
I don't think it's really an issue of queen shortage, but rather an impatience mis-informed by the calendar.  And it seems everyone is behind schedule, even producers at the farmer's market.
 
Grant
Jackson, MO    

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