Attention: Anna Browder

If you have a MARKED queen, any unmarked queen in your colony is an "unknown",
and maybe she mated with every nasty drone in the area.

Obviously, I am a STRONG believer in MARKING YOUR QUEEN.  I don't care how
good
your eyes are, you can not prove that the queen you see in your hive in July
is the
same queen that you saw in April; unless she is MARKED.

I laugh when I hear all those stories about "my bees are pure Italians" which
are
the "best".  When I ask "are your queens MARKED?" and the beekeeper says "no",
then I ask about his virgin queens mating with those nasty old German bees in
the woods just a mile away, or my Carniolans just 2 miles away.  And if I
lived
in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, southern California, or southern Nevada, I
would
worry about my virgin queens mating with "killer bee" drones.  The point to my
reply is MARK YOUR QUEENS if you want to be a responsible beeKEEPER rather
than just another beeHAVER.

George Imirie
Certified EAS Master Beekeeper
Beginning my 72nd ear of beekeeping near Washington, DC

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