< Does the constant selection of newer younger queens lead us away from a > genetic goal of longer lived queens??> > I guess I wonder if it would make a difference at all... in the wild any given hive would presumably have a goal of swarming at least once, which would mean any given nest would requeen annually. Keeping the same queen in the same nest multiple years would seem to be a sign of lower reproductive fitness. I seem to recall reading that new nest establishment was a relatively low fraction so it seems to me there might not be terribly strong selection in favor of long lived queens naturally, since the chance of establishing 2 nests would be a relatively low probability (the original and swarmed hive), a third that much more so. But maybe I'm wrong, guessing there's not a whole lot of data on queen survival in the wild, especially with swarming but maybe someone's got something out there? PLB? Master of journal searches. Jeremy West Michigan *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html