>...the miserable performance and extreme nastiness of queens
> raised in UK by means like the walk away split. There are other reasons in
> UK for this not being an ideal strategy, lack of forage continuity, in a
> short and long term fashion, as well as a short 'summer' season.

I guess that once again we find that local effects can result in differing
observations and conclusions, as do the differing goals of beekeepers, even,
sometimes, those in the same region.

> I would say the greater the distance involved, the greater the chance of
> failure. I would also suggest that if the distance is long, then the
> suitability of such queens is brought into question.

This, again depends on the beekeeper's goals, resources, and other factors.
No one solution fits all, and we need to question whether what is fact for
another beekeeper is true in our own situation. For me, emergency queens are
a routine part of my management.

We've not noticed any particular change in temper when we do walk-away
splits, but, then our stock is different from yours.  I would assume,
however, that over years of using the technique we would see a change in the
stock since we would be selecting for bees that do a good job of recovering
from dequeening if we were not bringing in new stock.  Our stock is
primarily from Kona carniolan and Australian italian strains which seem to
deal well with sudden dequeening and raise offspring which is true to type.

>> As a hobbyist, I'd be crazy to pay the going price for
>> commercial queens
>
> Purchase of queens is rare in UK, it is not a big industry, but our costs
> would be more like 16 lbs honey per queen, rather than your 31 lbs/hive
> average.

I used the wholesale bulk price.  I suppose that one could use the retail
price, but I figure the difference between commodity price and the store or
farm-gate price is attributed to the packaging and marketing, not the
production.  I also did not account for the inevitable losses of purchased
queens.

> In UK we consider that queen raising is part of beekeeping, rather than a
> separate issue. I have another reason as well... I enjoy it !

I enjoyed it too, but now have other priorities and have reduced my
beekeeping to a very simple activity that makes few scheduling or labour
demands on me while producing increase and honey at lowest cost per unit.

When we bred and produced our own stock we did see an immediate improvement
in honey production, but then went pollinating, and our needs changed.  We
needed lots of queens and bees early, and our people were fully occupied
without the extra work and stress of queen rearing.  We purchased stock.
After that, I retired, and my priorities again changed.  I now split and use
purchased queens when they are handy, beg cells from my friends who have
extra sometimes, and I do walk-away splits when the other opportunities are
not available.

FWIW, the walk-aways I did last year on Auzzie italian package colonies
yielded over 100 lbs last year, wintered well, and gave three large splits
each this spring... and I expect they will need splitting again before I go
east in a few weeks.  To split, I just lift off a box with brood and set it
aside.  The bees do the rest.  Yup, occasionally one fails to make a queen
and must be recombined, but what doesn't fail occasionally?

allen

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::