I've been raising my own queens the past couple of seasons.  I have one of those little boxes (Nicot, Jentner) and it takes a little "education" to get those to work.  I like the idea of raising my locally adapted queens from selected stock that responds to my management skill and/or incompetence.
   
  But what I find is a troubling inability to keep all these details straight while at the same time holding down a "real" job, trying to schedule the weather to suit my free time, and carrying out all the details of a comb honey production, catching swarms, selling honey at farmer's markets, etc.
   
  Beekeeping, and all of its particular enterprises, is a lot like that fella on the Ed Sullivan show who used to spin plates.  To the audience's fascination, he would add more plates, and just as the first one would wobble, he'd rush over there, give it a spin, then rush to the next one and give it another spin.  The ideal was to keep all these plates spinning.
   
  That's how I feel about beekeeping.  Lots of plates.  It is easier to simply call up a reputable queen breeder/producer and order queens, even if they have what some would call a "factory."  I see the same thing with hog producers and cattlemen.  Instead of trying to juggle and spin all the plates, we have become specialized and focused.  In some cases, some farmers have abdicated their marketing efforts to a broker so they can focus on the production, and even still, they tend to limit the focus on certain aspects of production.
   
  Some days I feel like I'm spread too thin.  Too many plates.  But then it is still my choice, and I choose to be diverse in my beekeeping practices.
   
  Grant
  Jackson, MO
   

       
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