On Aug 9th James Satterfield wanted to know why his Italians were "going dark". Jim, Don't forget that even though you grafted your queen from known stock in your apiary, the queen mated with from 10 to 20 drones about a mile or two from your apiary, in a public drone congregation area. The second part of the equation is if you want pure stock you must artificially inseminate the queen rather than allow mating with the travelling salesmen! Jerry Worrell, [log in to unmask] ( new address, BTW, host name changed) Dunkirk,MD