>That is the question.  Tis' nobler...etc., etc....
>
>I've been catching queens, marking them AND clipping
>wings for a few years now.  Just wondering if clipping
>wings is really an advantageous practice or not.  I
>know my *old* queens don't leave with the swarms.  They
>jus' kinda fly in circles.    ;^)
>
>With marked queens, I never use a clipped wing as
>identification. I know some people believe that it
>somehow damages the queen and the other bees sense
>this.  But have any studies of this ever really been
>accomplished?  Is the supersedeure rate greater among
>queens that have had their wings clipped?
>
>Also, from you BRITISH types out there:  Can you tell
>me what the 'normal procedure' of Buckfast Abbey is?
>Do they normally clip wings or not?  Does Brother Adam
>have an opinion on rather one should or should not clip
>wings?
>
>BusyKnight
>Dallas, TX
>[log in to unmask]
>G.E. - We bring good things to life!
>Also a leading producer of Thermonuclear
>Bombs. Life, we make it glow in the dark.
>
Hi BusyKnight;
 
        Brother Adam was a bee researcher that was investigating the Italian
strain of bees, near the end of his life the Buckfast bee strain was place
in a number of location in the World to make available this strain.
 
        If you do not clip your wing of a marked queen your neibhour will
get a mark queen when it abscombs with a swarm, remember that the old queen
and the swarm leaves before the new queen hatches and swarning is a natural
occurrence.
Thanks from :
                        [log in to unmask]
                 http://www.eastend.com.au/~goble
            [log in to unmask] ( David Goble )
           American Beach Kangaroo Island South Australia