Hello Keith and all

> >I do not doubt Dave's observations and only adding mine because
they are
> >different than Dave's observations.
> >
>
> That's because you and Dave are talking about two different things
in all
> respects. Your talking mainly about requeening or putting a new
queen into a
> queen right colony and Dave is speaking of supersedures and swarm
queens.
> Not the same thing at all. workers will kill the queen if a foreign
mated
> queen is just dropped in on them with a laying queen already in the
hive. I
> am wondering why there is so much confusion discussing these
different
> queens and how some of you are mixing these queen definitions up. I
feel for
> the newbees trying to make heads or tails from this.
>
I'm a newbee but it all seems clear to me.  If I explain how I see it
perhaps some oldbees can put me right if I'm wrong.

 Some strains of our (British) native bees AMM are reluctant swarmers
and often replace their queens at the end of the season by
supersedure.  When this happens only one or two queen cells are
produced and they are particularly big and contain well nourished
queen larvae.  They appear in the body of the comb rather than at the
edges.  Experienced AMM keepers can recognise them without difficulty.
When the virgin queen emerges the old queen is not inclined to swarm
off but remains in the hive.  My knowledge runs out here because I
don't know what causes her eventual demise.  She may die of old age or
she might be killed after a period of time which varies up to a couple
of years. Beowulf Cooper, a contemporary of Brother Adam, but unlike
Brother Adam was a qualified entomologist as well as an influential
beekeeper, favoured bees with this trait.
Fewer, if any, beekeepers in the US keep these bees and do not carry
out, or wish to carry out, selection for this trait.  Hence it is
probably much more rare on that side of the pond.  I suspect some
Americans use the term supersedure to describe something completely
different to the British definition.

That's my viewpoint as a British newbee.  If I'm wrong I need to know
because I am investing a lot of time and energy on a system based on
this viewpoint.

Kind regards

Steve Rose, Derbyshire, England

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