They have already passed many hours being fed as workers, whereas an egg destined to be a queen is fed as such from the moment it hatches. 

Are you sure?  Obviously if its in a queen cup,  but may are not,  and exactly what is the difference?  A few hour old larva well fed is absolutely swimming in royal jelly (look in a microscope)  it seems to me the very tiny amount it consumes in its first hours are far from an issue.




But seriously, the details I offered were examples of open questions. My point is that queen rearing practices seem to be stuck in the 19th century. 


And 100% excellent points worth discussing.

Not sure I would agree we are stuck though,  don’t see much different process in any other areas,  while cattle seem to have gone full AI  (bulls are dangerous and unreliable) seems to me its still old fashioned breeding.


Charles

             ***********************************************
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