At 05:35 PM 10/11/2007, you wrote:
>>I have heard comments about II queens not being as long lived as free flight mated queens in the hives, and other comments dismissing this allegation.
>Sue Cobey gave a good paper at Apimondia 2007 on this subject.  Basically what Sue said was that there was no real difference.

I just got a copy of the paper from Sue and read it over the weekend.  In short there there are many subtle differences, but at the end of the day, if the queens are treated well pre and post insemination, II queens can be equal to and sometimes superior to (likely due to genetics), open mated queens.  It's really a good summary of many of the other studies on the topic and a worthwhile read I think if you are serious about producing good queens with II.

-Tim

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