What is everyone's thought on this?
I suspect that the bees know what is the best egg to produce a queen from;
better than the beekeeper does. When we graft, we take "all" the larvae
from the "best" colony. Some are better larvae than others. Here again, I
believe the bees know what is better than the beekeeper. I wonder if we
should use the swarm cells from less swarmy colonies. The colonies that are
going to swarm anyway. Yes, I know the traditional thought and experience
is using swarm cells will result in higher swarming colonies, but swarming
is the natural way colonies reproduce. There must be a limit to the
swarming or the bees would not survive. When we take all the "best" larvae from
the same or a few colonies, seems to me we are losing some diversity.
Dave M.
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