I have the upmost respect for queen breeders. The investment/resources they
need are large, the time commitment and planning must be stellar, and most
are very proud of their genetics, quality, and reputation. That, however,
is on the overall.

At EAS in 2012, Dr. Connor spoke. He mentioned how he raised a few queens,
and was increasing his production. He was selling queens for $30 each, but
said he was increasing to $35. He felt that was a bargain too (at the time
I was buying my queens locally for $15-18, short notice maybe $20). He then
said every queen comes with his own special guarantee. The Taillight
Guarantee: guaranteed for as long as I can see your taillights as you drive
away. Have a problem after that? Sucks to be you. Buy another. Why? Because
he had a few failures in the past that were a pain to resolve (drone
layers, superseded queens). Most he blamed on the buyer. As for the drone
layers, he said "it happens sometimes." He then suggested everyone present
offer the same guarantees. I was shocked. Not one person said anything. All
the queen breeders (most small time), who worked so hard and cared so much
about their product and their customers, appeared perfectly fine with the
premise of charging twice the going rate for a sub par product, and
stuffing the results to the customer.

So, maybe not all breeders should be treated the same.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html