> The general question of whether genetic background is more important
> than rearing methods seems to me to be so broad as to be
> unanswerable.  If it is reasonable to say that rearing methods have
> a real effect on a queen's rate of reproduction (measured by
> emerging, healthy worker bees at the right time of year), then
> rearing methods should have a real effect on honey production, given
> queens of similar genetic backgrounds.  Likewise, the queen's
> genetic background should also have a real effect on honey
> production, given queens raised under similar (and adequate)
> methods.  Which one is more important than the other depends on
> which one happens to be the limiting factor in a given situation.
 
Thanks for the intelligent discussion of the topic.
 
Another factor which comes in is the expected productive life of the
queen.  Should she fail after introduction or some time during the
year, production or even colony survival is at risk.
 
Queens that are well raised definitely do last longer by far.  When
we started requeening regularly with our own carefully raised  stock,
 we noticed a big drop in colonies that went drone layer over
winter -- as well as weak colonies in fall.  This of course results
in larger production, and lower expense.
 
The next question:  Seeing as a number of writers have emphasized
genetics as if it cannot be assumed to be reasonably equal between
sources, what are the chances of buying a genetically poor queen
from a commercial queen breeder?
 
My assumption has been that that risk is lower than the risk of
getting a poorly raised queen or one that has been banked too long,
hence my assumption that we can assume good genetics and focus on the
rearing methods and scrupulousness of the breeder.  Maybe the
breeders know something about this that I don't know.
 
One thing I should point out is that several responders assumed local
markets -- particularly USA and Eastern Canada -- and mid-season
queen rearing.  In our case, we were involved in buying offshore
queens that were raised at the very end of the bee season in the
counries in question and had losses approaching 30% in some batches.
 
We assume that in this case the rearing and holding methods were the
limiting factor -- by far.
 
We also find need for queens in early spring and we have had some
first hand experience with the quality problems that arise when
trying to fight nature.
 
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0
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Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>