I have just finished pulling off honey and making increase and have some observations to make on queens. I purchased 50 queens this spring and the cold wet spring delayed my shipment by 3 weeks. I suspect that 15 percent of the queens have ended up being drone layers. I have thought about writing a note to the queen supplier but I suppose they were between a rock and a hard place this spring and simply mailed out some duds. Still, money is money and queens should be queens. I requeened all 150 of my hives last summer with queens from 6 different sources. I suspect that 60 percent were supeceded before fall, and I lavished drugs and miticides and feed on them. I know that there are still feral colonies here because of the black drones I am now seeing in those suposedly Italian hives that were requeened less that a year ago. I have form some definite opinions on different queen sources, namely at least 2 to avoid, and a resolution to buy my queens from as close a geographical source as possible. Bill Lord Louisburg, NC, USA -- WILLIAM G LORD E-Mail : wglord@franklin Internet: [log in to unmask] Phone : 9194963344