Steve said:  "The hives were quite light, but with very large populations,
much
larger than I am accustomed to seeing in overwintering Carniolans.  The
small cluster in traditional Carniolans means that they use less honey
during winter."

Sue Cobey has said for several years that her customers wanted larger winter
clusters for earlier buildup.  I know that this has been primarily coming
from Calif. customers, who make a substantial part of their income on
pollination of almonds.  Pollination of almonds is in early to mid-February
in most years.

Keep in mind that Strachan is the only operation licensed to do instrumental
insemination for development and maintaince of NWC's.  The others all buy
their tested II queens directly from Sue Cobey.  One might find that
Strachan is selecting for larger winter clusters more than Sue...that is
pure speculation on my part, but Strachan gets an important part of their
income from almond pollination.

For my part, I have not noticed consistently larger winter clusters and hope
I do not.  When I started beekeeping in the mid-1960's the #1 beekeeper
problem was keeping bees from starving to death during the winter.
Following a 'normal' year, that problem has largely disappeared in the
Northeast and I attribute that to the widespread acceptance of NWC's.

Steve, you may want to try queens from a different NWC breeder and see if
you notice a difference.  I get mine from Heitkam and Kona, and I have also
heard good things about Shubert's program.  I understand Kona is sold out
for 2004 (!), and probably everyone else is for April.  Heitkam is
530-865-9562.  Schubert is 530-795-2124.

Lloyd
Lloyd Spear, Owner Ross Rounds, Inc.
Manufacturers of Ross Rounds Comb
Honey Equipment, Sundance Pollen Traps
and Custom Printer of Sundance Labels.

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