Bonjour a` tous ! Hi Bee-lovers !
 
On Thu, 30 Nov 1995  Ian Stuart McLean <[log in to unmask]> wrote :
 
> What you say is probably true but Supercedure is also an inheritable trait.
> Here in the UK the British Isles Bee Breeders Association (BIBBA), who
> have a web site now (Address???) make a feature of breeding queens that
> supercede. They are very useful in reducing colony swarming  , which is a
> problem in the UK.
 
In the french area and mostly in Belgium we know the term
 
** anecbalic **
 
to point out the bee strains with queen supercedure without swarming.
 
This term was create by H. Wallon (MD) in the end '40s- '50s from
the greek :
 a = no  +  necbalein  =  to throw out  => superceding but no swarming
 
Here in Belgium, almost all the beebeekers know and use the anecbalic
term to caracterize some big colonies which years after years are
replacing their queens without any swarming. This supercedure occurs
generally either in early spring or late in the summer but always out
of the swarming time.  It's very important to be attentive and not to
destroy too rapidly the queen cells one is seeing at this time.
Generally, the bees let the old queen in the cluster till the young is
laying eggs : it's not rare to see the 2 queens laying together.
 
In my mind, it's a lethal character for the wild(or feral) bees but
very interesting for the beekeeper who know and use it in their
beekeeping.  This colonies are not easy to multiply and some works
have been published in the '50s, but it seems to me, only in french.
 
Jean-Marie <[log in to unmask]>