From Bill Hesbach:
>So my question is are there two different types of queens, those raised from eggs and those raised from larvae which in some respects are all >intercastes?  Another thought is are we working with the best queens if breeders can only supply an intercaste queen? 

First, this is a very useful discussion (queens and what influences their quality)...thanks all for the info.

Second, most of these questions could be answered via some nice research projects, rendering up a rich list of Master's thesis topics for all those post grads out there...

Meanwhile, to comment on Bill's question: I would not be comfortable classifying all grafted queens as intercaste. There is debate about when "queen feeding" begins. If that feeding begins after grafting age, then grafted queens should be just as full of potential as egg reared queens, saving only the influence of worker bee choice on eggs selected to raise as queens.

While size of queen is not necessarily reflective of her oviariole endowment or employment, the ability to spot them quickly is valuable: valuable when I am short on time and am doing something that demands I find the queen (at the least when finding new queens for marking), valuable to new beekeepers, who struggle to identify queens.

We have raised a number of topics that may explain why large scale queen rearing is not going to produce reliably optimal queens (gene flow in honey bees, worker-led egg choice, feeding, DCA composition, drone quality, temperature fluctuations, worker influence on queen wars, epigenetic triggers, post-mating colony composition and care).

But at the very least, it has seemed to me that in any batch of queens raised from any given queen mother, their quality seems to follow the Bell curve: some are duds, most are ok, some are stellar performers. When you buy an unproofed or lightly-proofed queen, you are more likely to be getting an ok, not stellar, queen.

I'd like to ask a question, because most of my new beekeeper calls reveal that HRH has gone AWOL thanks to PPBM (Piss-Poor-Beekeeping-Management). In most cases, they swarmed, and are either in the process of requeening or have (as an average of 20% do) failed to requeen and have gone laying worker. Which alas, suggests the original, purchased package queen was so good at her job, the hive was in a position to swarm.

So my question for the larger holding beekeepers out there is:
when you buy a lot of queens do you find a big variation in quality? Do you find a lot fail or perform poorly in their first season?

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html