Hi Mike

> This summer I have been trying to introduce SMR stock into my apiaries.

I would suggest that the introduced strain is being recognised as
'different' and that once the newly introduced genes are adequately
expressed in the workers in future then things will return to normal.

There will be differences in reaction between subsets of sisters to the
foreign genes, I think the antics that you describe with the bees raising
their own cells or laying workers show a more extreme difference in genes to
those nucs that merely are raising less than you would expect.

There is another aspect to this and that is the ability of some groups of
sisters to be better at some tasks than others. So depending on the way that
you make up your mating nucs you can end up with some nucs that are better
carers than others.



 Best Regards & 73s, Dave Cushman... G8MZY
Beekeeping & Bee Breeding Website
Email: [log in to unmask] or  [log in to unmask]
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman & http://www.dave-cushman.net

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