On Sat, 27 May 1995, Allen Dick wrote:
 
> Where direct release is possible, mated queens have the advantage.
>
> However, We have had a few caged queens that were still found in cages
> weeks later -- in spite of all the candy being eaten out.  Last year we
> bought some offshore queens and the candy was too hard.  In spite of nail
> holes, some took weeks to get released.
 
I know this looks as if I am talking to myself -- I'm replying to my own
post -- however, today when I went through some splits made a month ago, I
came across a queen cage that had all the candy (and the paper) eaten out
a *long* time ago.  All the attendants and everything in the cage were
gone.  The cage was was polished.
 
The queen was in there running around energetically.  There was no
other queen in the colony, and no, there were no eggs in the cells, so
she hadn't just run in there before I found her.
 
Is this queen from especially stupid stock, I wonder.
 
Go figure, huh?
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                        VE6CFK
Rural Route One   Swalwell   Alberta   Canada  T0M 1Y0
Email:   [log in to unmask]    or   [log in to unmask]
Futures, Art & Honey:http://www.cuug.ab.ca:8001/~dicka