> I wonder if the amount of time queenless and the

> length of time for new queens to release might affect the
> amount of supersedure of these new queens?


One thing that I've wondered about after swarming, nucs made with queen
cells, or walkaway splits is that for some period of time (roughly 14 days
in a nuc) there is no brood pheromone being produced.  Emerging workers in
a queenright colony that are not exposed to brood pheromone  develop into
long-lived diutinus bees.

I have not yet found any research with marked bees to see whether this
happens with swarms and splits.  The formation of diutinus bees would have
fitness advantages to the colony, should it need to "hold on" until a queen
got mated and laying.  Anyway, an interesting question...

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

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