On the subject of feral stock,common stock,or pure stock;Unless AI
queens are purchased each year everyone has so called common
stock.Queens which are openly mated and then subsequently superceded
carry only 1/4 of the genetic traits of the original queen mother.
  I frequently collect swarms and hives from buildings,some are dinks
and get promptly requeened,others are super bees storing 10 medium
supers during the spring tallow flow.I raise my own queens by grafting
from my best hives,attempting to maintain a degree of genetic diversity
in each yard to minimize inbreeding.I have 2 hives which have survived
mites for 5 years which will be incorporated into the breeding program
next spring.hopefully they will bee good producers.
   We try to keep swarming to a minimum by splitting populous hives
after removing the honey crop,marking the best producers for breeding
material.Keeping records of hive populations from month to month,total
production for each hive,cleanliness,temperament and reduction of
populations after the flow are all factors considered in the selection
of hives for breeding stock.occasionall we let dinks die (sometimes they
will fool us with small spring populations but really explode when a
flow begins) and then fill the hives when we make splits.
losses average 10% overall including dinks and hives which are requeened
simply due to non productive attributes.As time goes on mite treatment
is delayed until later in the year when brood production is diminished
and then only treated as needed when mites are found in drone comb.
   IMHO I believe within 5 years we will have mite resistant bees by
accelerating the natural selection process.new hives are held in a
nursery yard for 1 year for evaluation before being moved to a regular
outyard.If they meet my standards the are put into production,if not
they get a grafted queen from a known producer and are then placed in an
outyard.
   my point is queens from an unknown source ie.swarms ,breeders,and
feral stock is a crap shoot at best and since grafting is relatively
simple and extremely cost effective,and done from known good stock,why
would any beekeeper buy queens when they can raise their own and be
certain of the quality and survivability in their geographic region?
   our beekeeping assn.has a set of instructional videos on
beekeeping.in the film 10 3lb packages were ordered.of the 10 1 queen
arrived dead.2 were queenless within 6 weeks and 2 did not produce a
crop the first year.in other words 50% were failures and I can beat
those numbers blindfolded with one hand tied behind my back.this was a
bit long winded but then again I don't write very often.rebuttals
welcomed and encouraged
                                                        C. Spacek
                                                        Texas coastal plains
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