I have been reading these threads with interest.  One of those reporting on
supercedure from new nucs may have purchased his nucs from me (he knows who
he is).

This year I purchased 150 NWC queens from my usual high-quality supplier in
California.  He only uses breeders directly from Sue Cobey as mothers for
his NWC queens.  (Most would also use daughters from the Cobey queens as
mothers for queens to be sold.)  I also had a great deal of difficulty with
supercedure...as did my customers!

IMHO, the difficulty was primarily due to terrible April/early May weather
in northern Calif.  Queens could not get out to mate...and when they did,
the matings were not good (insufficient drones?).  I have come to this
conclusion because these weather conditions were what was 'different' in
2003 from recent years.

Nonetheless, we cannot dismiss Todd's speculations concerning the amount of
miteticides in beeswax.  This is a very serious problem, perhaps especially
for drone fertility.  There are procedures that can reduce the chance of
these difficulties but they involve testing of the miticides content, AND
using only capping wax to make foundation.  I wonder if any of the breeders
would even consider such precautions.

Lloyd
Lloyd Spear, Owner Ross Rounds, Inc.
Manufacturers of Ross Rounds Comb
Honey Equipment, Sundance Pollen Traps
and Custom Printer of Sundance Labels.

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