In a message dated 15/11/2008 03:58:55 GMT Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
<<That is why you need independents and not today's factory farm mills.>>
Surely what you need is beekeepers who either raise their own queens, or
at least let the bees raise them on their own. That's how it's done in the
UK, where we have no significant queen breeding industry. We still have to
cope with people incessantly importing queens, as people in the US would have to
cope with neighbours buying in queens. But you've got to start somewhere,
and I never cease to be surprised at the bees' capacity for maintaining a
strain without too much outcrossing. I think mating with drones from the home
apiary is a lot more important than we sometimes assume.
****************************************************
* General Information About BEE-L is available at: *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm *
****************************************************