The point is, queen rearing as it is practiced today is a method for mass
production of queens from the same stock, which may or may not be a recipe
for getting the best sorts of colonies. I'm just saying.

PLB
======================================

I think that is exactly the point. I like to distinguish between queen
*rearing* and queen *breeding*. Without thousands of colonies, Brother
Adam's lifespan, and my own private island I think it is difficult enough to
manage the former, and have no illusions about the later. If I were guessing
about why queen *breeding* has so far failed to produce a marked improvement
in stock it is because, fundamentally, it isn't worth doing. Money talks,
beekeepers don't generate it, and so we get incremental change achieved by
amateurs. And I mean that in the nicest possible way!

But we're drifting into a different conversation. What could cause the
variation in egg weight, and could you explain or expand in this bit please?
> "...but in addition to egg size by genetic differences within a colony
assumed to be linked with differences in larvae attractiveness." 

Dave
Otanewainuku, New Zealand.

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