I had a colony that died out just before Christmas that, although  
queenright, had had no brood since before I first looked at it on 10th April  when I 
thought it was queenless. I found the marked queen on a subsequent  examination 
on 15th April.  They rejected all attempts to requeen,  including running in a 
virgin and there were no laying workers.  So when  they finally died some of 
the workers must have been at least 9 months  old.
 
Chris



   

****************************************************
* General Information About BEE-L is available at: *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm   *
****************************************************