Hello Frank and All,

Frank wrote:
>  A report recently referenced  on the list also mentioned in passing that
the capensis workers participate  in foraging activity.

Not after they start laying eggs. Another reason of pseudo queen causing
problems is that many of the eggs laid by the pseudo queen turn into drones.
The hive is over run by drones.

> At this point it seems to me that the capensis workers are simply boosting
the population of the colony, but I understand that eventually the colony is
destroyed.

Capensis in beekeepers terms.

Capensis laying workers (pseudo queens)do not forage (or  do hive duties and
depend on the  workers for food) which leads to the  demise of the colony.
If they did forage then the situation might be different. These pseudo
queens are treated like queens by the European
worker bees and even though the European worker bees police  their own
laying workers eggs they leave the capensis laying worker eggs alone and
many researchers believe  actually treat the  pseudoqueens eggs better than
their own queens eggs. Extra Royal jelly.
 Eventually  the bees see their own European queen as defective and ball
her. The hive is then queenless and will exist till the hive becomes over
run with non foraging   pseudo queens ( and drones)  which beside not
foraging  will not do hive duties such as caring for    brood etc.
**Without a real capensis queen the hive dies**.
Capensis workers do not *normally* lay in a queenright capensis colony
because of the  capensis queens strong pheromones.
Many fear the capensis in South Africa will eventually eliminate
scutellata.
 Barry Seargant (SA) posted on BEE-L that when he catches a scut swarm to
use for honey production (Barry catches around 600 per year)
by the end of the season most  scut hives  are ready to crash from capensis
pseudo queens.
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison