My point on this and other queen/colony longevity issues is certainly not to say that there is no problem, there absolutely is. What I say is that the problems are not universal. Rather than trying to find someone (else)to blame we would do well to see what is different from the cases that have good result and those that do not. We hear plenty about the failures and tend to project them out of proportion and when a person or study has good result or at least does not see the problem we dismiss them as not realistic or exaggerated. What would be very helpful is a well vetted and scientific set of best management practices. That could happen here. What is the difference between queens lasting 2 years and 3 months? What is different between 60% loss and 15% loss. We have beekeepers on this list, large and small, in both camps on both issues. 

Paul Hosticka
Dayton WA

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