QUALITY OF HONEY BEE QUEENS THROUGH PHYSICAL CHARACTERS AND COLONY PERFORMANCE  
F. Hatjina, M. Bieńkowska, L. Charistos, R. Chlebo, C. Costa, M. M. Dražić, J. Filipi, A. Gregorc, E. Nehova Ivanova, N. Kezic, J. Kopernicky, P. Kryger, M. Lodesani, V. Lokar, M. Mladenovic, B. Panasiuk, P. Pavlov Petrov, S. Rašić, M. I.  Smodis Skerl, F. Vejsnæs, Jerzy Wilde* *University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland.  

Conclusions and Perspectives 
 
The use of standard, high-quality queens is a prerequisite for any research on colony development and behaviour as well as for economically successful beekeeping. In this work we reviewed several methods for assessing the queen’s quality accompanied by examples from different countries (they do not represent the only methods used in each country). The presented data also represents a validation of each methodology, as it includes original data records of two or three years. Different countries, influenced by beekeeping traditions and socio-economic systems, apply different protocols and standards for assessing the physical and performance characters which could determine the ‘quality’ of a mated queen. Breeding programs exists in many countries, but each one is dealing with the quality or the characters the queen is transferring to her progeny in a different way. The same evaluation methods are applied in a similar or a modified way to meet the requirements of each country’s needs. Insemination procedure is commonly used in some countries while almost completely absent in others.  
 
It has been made obvious that the quality of a queen is neither a single attribute nor even a group of attributes. It is rather the collective result of several groups of attributes such as: a) the physiological and biological ones that have been influenced by the reproduction process (body size and wing length, weight, number of ovarioles, diameter of spermatheca); b) the physiological and biological ones that have been influenced by the fertilisation process (empty oviducts, number of sperm in spermatheca, time of onset of oviposition, genetic variability of sperm); c) the behavioural/performance attributes of the queen which reflect the inherited traits by both, the queen and the drones with which she has mated, but have also been influenced by the environmental conditions (honey production, colony development, aggressiveness, swarming, hygienic behaviour, disease prevalence). Obviously common beekeeping practices can also affect the outcome. Nevertheless, the genetic origin of the queen as well as the genetic origin of the drones is the base line of the whole reproductive process of the reproductive female offspring and the means of expressing the performance characters.

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My comments:
Although the study didn't mention mating nuc size, I believe the cell builder and the air (or instrument) are by far the most important factors.  The environment in which the larvae is raised and the thoroughness of mating I believe make the best queens.  Like Steve Tabor said: "improve the environment, improve the environment, improve the environment".

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