> >On Thu, 30 Nov 1995 Ian Stuart McLean <[log in to unmask]> wrote : > >> What you say is probably true but Supercedure is also an inheritable trait. >> Here in the UK the British Isles Bee Breeders Association (BIBBA), who make a feature of breeding queens that supercede. They are very useful in reducing colony swarming , which is a problem in the UK. >Jean-Marie Van Dyck wrote Fri, 1 Dec 1995 12:16:40> >Here in Belgium, almost all the beebeekers know and use the anecbalic >term to caracterize some big colonies which years after years are >replacing their queens without any swarming. This supercedure occurs While I agree, in my opinion supercedure has a number of disadvantages. It usually means the bees are unhappy with the current Queen, whether it is early or late season is immaterial. Either way the hive is in decline as the current queen is not laying to capacity. When I breed queens and send them to the "dancehall" for mating I want to know which drones she met up with.So to my mind, I want to know the pedigree of my queens. Scrubs of unknown origin cause terrible problems. Apart from changing a weak or failing queen how does supercedure prevent swarming. The usual reasons for swarming are I believe, Congestion, Too much heat, weak or old queen, honeybound, all of which are the keepers problem. Congestion......give more space Too much heat ......ventilate Weak or old .......requeen Honeybound.......more boxes. So where does supercedure fit into this picture?? **************************************************** * David Eyre 9 Progress Drive, Unit 2, * * The Beeworks, Orillia, Ontario, L3V 6H1.* * [log in to unmask] 705-326-7171 * * http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks * ****************************************************