Peter said:

> I believe in locally produced stock with occasional imports of
> very selected lines.

That's fine, but Canadian commercial beekeepers need lots of
queens, and earlier than they can be produced in Canada.

In fact, ANY commercial beekeeper wants queens as early as
possible.

Also, one has to decide if one is in the:

a)  Pollination business
b)  Honey producing business
c)  Queen and Package business

(a) and (b) are often semi-compatible with only minor
compromises in most years, but (c) is rarely compatible
with either (a) or (b).

Sure, you could staff up and gear up to produce your own
queens, but these days, people are so focused on a "core
mission" that fully assembled woodenware, complete with
frames loaded with foundation, are being ordered faster
than the woodenware vendors can make them.  One major
vendor is working on a significant upgrade to their
woodenware capital equipment to better satisfy this
demand.

                jim (Who said "C'est la vie", only to have
                 a friend reply "Ok, 'La Vie'", which
                 many Canadians should find funny.)

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