Hi All

Steve asks...
> what are the chances the bees will choose the younger
> larvae to make queens, given the
> obvious survival benefit to choosing younger larvae.

The answer here is that in an 'emergency' situation the bees will choose the
oldest larva that they can 'get away with'. This results in the shortest
time without an egg layer, it does not matter to the bees how good a quality
this quickly raised queen is, because once she is laying and fresh bees are
available, the 'scrub' queen can easily be superseded without any further
loss of egg laying. So in fact the younger larvae that we beekeepers would
choose is the poorer survival strategy for the bee colony in an un-managed
situation.

> when by accident or design I have allowed a colony to
> make their own queen, I have
> been pleasantly surprised at the result.

Bees have been making their own queens quite successfully for millions of
years. Queen suppliers do a great deal of planning to work along with the
bees natural instincts, but also produce much larger numbers of queen that
the colonies would do if left to their own devices.

The trouble seems to start when a beekeepers spots a queencell... The first
thing he does is reach for a hive tool and destroy it, when the first thing
to do is to think 'why is this queencell (or cells) here ?'.


Regards & Best 73s, Dave Cushman, G8MZY
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman or http://www.dave-cushman.net
Fall Back M/c, Build 5.02 (stable)

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::