Hi Roger & all

In a previous post that replied to George, I made the distinction between
'supercedure' and 'emergency'. Which needs  further amplification...

> They are always raised from a failing/old mother and as such cannot be
> expected to have the physical or genetic qualities of a queen in her prime

Degeneration in genetic material due to age is possible, due to mutation by
radiation etc., but will only affect a small number of eggs... The rest will
carry pristene genes. As far as the physical state of an elderly queen goes,
I reckon it is more to do with numbers of eggs such a queen can produce
rather than any physical defects in the eggs themselves.

> The daughters of three year olds are always of a lower qualtiy than the
> two year olds

If this were true then you would expect a similar progressive degredation in
years four, five and six.

How is it then that you can keep a breeder queen with reduced laying space
for five, six or even seven years and she still produces offspring in her
last year that do not exhibit any defects?


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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