> Has anyone seen any studies that have demonstrated a clear benefit from
> allowing them to lay for a longer period prior to caging.
>


> > Queens that have been laying heavily suffer seriously from the
> confinement in a small cage and the journey through the mails.


Thanks for these Pete, but I'm not following Pellet's reasoning for his
claim.  A queen that is at full lay just keeps pumping out eggs even if the
can't find a cell in which to lay them.  I don't see why confinement itself
would lead to her "suffering."  I'm wondering whether Pellet did not
realize that the poor performance subsequent to shipping may have been due
to temperature stress during shipping.  Queen and drone bees are
essentially tropical insects, not venturing outside the warm cluster unless
the temperature reaches about 70F,  Either low or high temperatures during
shipping may cause subsequent premature failure.  Thus, it's difficult for
me to find Pellet's claim to be a scientific answer to my question, since
it is based upon supposition, rather than a controlled study.

Tarpy's conclusion appears to be contrary to the the recommendation that it
is OK to cage queens early, since one can only determine whether a queen is
of "lower-quality" by grading her brood pattern.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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