Hi Mike,  When I started this topic , I knew it would be hard not to go
out and name some queen breeders.A little added info as regards to
problems with queens.Washington state apiarist and myself had a long talk
on the subject of queens.,, He will be talking on the subject in Portland
Oregon this winter when the western beekeepers have a convention.He has
purchased new queens from a different breeder each of the last 10 years.
He had problems with all of them. I would love to here from someone that
has some positive things to say about the queens that they are getting.
  You must have had one of the few mean bees that come out of breeders.
They are no fun at all.
  I think we can come up with a few good queen breeders.It is the old
QUALITY = winner. Maybe all of them can take a good look at what is going
on in the market place and respond to our needs.Plus money for themselves.
 We have some very highly skilled breeders and I feel that they only need
to be focused. We have no real list of traits that we need in our
queens.Each breeder has his or her list to work from. I hope we can come
up with a good list that can be attained. Brother Adam did a lot of work
and has much insight into the breeding or good bees.We have many great
people to draw from. Its time to get as many people as we can on the same
page. If we don't focus on the queen. How can we really improve
beekeeping? It looks like the USDA has been doing work on the Varroa
problem. We can't point to any one spot and say we have found the
problem. It takes everyone together to really make a difference. Enough
soap box.
 I hope we can get some breeders in the loop with us.
 
 Roy