I have just finished pulling off honey and making increase and have some        
observations to make on queens.  I purchased 50 queens this spring and          
the cold wet spring delayed my shipment by 3 weeks.  I suspect that 15          
percent of the queens have ended up being drone layers.  I have thought         
about writing a note to the queen supplier but I suppose they were between      
a rock and a hard place this spring and simply mailed out some duds.            
Still, money is money and queens should be queens.                              
                                                                                
I requeened all 150 of my hives last summer with queens from 6 different        
sources.  I suspect that 60 percent were supeceded before fall, and I           
lavished drugs and miticides and feed on them.  I know that there are           
still feral colonies here because of the black drones I am now seeing in        
those suposedly Italian hives that were requeened less that a year ago.         
I have form some definite opinions on different queen sources, namely at        
least 2 to avoid, and a resolution to buy my queens from as close a             
geographical source as possible.                                                
                                                                                
Bill Lord                                                                       
Louisburg, NC, USA                                                              
                                                                                
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WILLIAM G LORD                                                                  
E-Mail  : wglord@franklin                                                       
Internet: [log in to unmask]                                          
Phone   : 9194963344