Hi Bob:

 In reply to your assertion about the queen that “she WILL NOT sting you.”

I’ve been waiting for someone to make that assertion! I was stung by a
queen once while trying to mark her. I absolutely, positively,
unequivocally insist that it happened! I mentioned the incident at a local
beekeeping meeting. I wasn’t believed. Some of the beekeepers told me I had
probably been scratched by a nail, etc. etc. etc. At Simon Fraser
University a little over a year ago, I mentioned it to Mark Winston. He
said he believed me and that in the past he, too, had been stung by a
queen. Then he congratulated me for being one of the very few.

Granted, the odds of it happening are probably up there with winning one of
the mega-lotteries or Hillary Clinton becoming the next U.S. President, but
the queen did sting. (By the way the queen did not die and went on to
produce a lot of rather gentle bees.)

Regards,
Dick