>That is the question. Tis' nobler...etc., etc.... > >I've been catching queens, marking them AND clipping >wings for a few years now. Just wondering if clipping >wings is really an advantageous practice or not. I >know my *old* queens don't leave with the swarms. They >jus' kinda fly in circles. ;^) > >With marked queens, I never use a clipped wing as >identification. I know some people believe that it >somehow damages the queen and the other bees sense >this. But have any studies of this ever really been >accomplished? Is the supersedeure rate greater among >queens that have had their wings clipped? > >Also, from you BRITISH types out there: Can you tell >me what the 'normal procedure' of Buckfast Abbey is? >Do they normally clip wings or not? Does Brother Adam >have an opinion on rather one should or should not clip >wings? > >BusyKnight >Dallas, TX >[log in to unmask] >G.E. - We bring good things to life! >Also a leading producer of Thermonuclear >Bombs. Life, we make it glow in the dark. > Hi BusyKnight; Brother Adam was a bee researcher that was investigating the Italian strain of bees, near the end of his life the Buckfast bee strain was place in a number of location in the World to make available this strain. If you do not clip your wing of a marked queen your neibhour will get a mark queen when it abscombs with a swarm, remember that the old queen and the swarm leaves before the new queen hatches and swarning is a natural occurrence. Thanks from : [log in to unmask] http://www.eastend.com.au/~goble [log in to unmask] ( David Goble ) American Beach Kangaroo Island South Australia