In a message dated 96-07-05 15:31:34 EDT, you write: << Hi Dean-- If the queens are banked with young bees, and have adequate nutrition available, then I'm assuming that the problem after ten days is the ovaries regressing from disuse. I'm interested in this because Roger Morse asserts that queens can be kept for "many weeks" in a well-maintained bank, and still recover to lay normally. What happens after ten days? Do you find that queens never recover their original laying abilities, or is the problem viability, or something else? >> While I have seen queens that never lay again it was in every case I believe due to the poor condition of the queen bank, old bees, disease or the bees in the bank hurting the queens. I have seen virgin queens banked for 6 months then Inseminated lay. So I have no doubt that you could bank mated queens for that long and still have them lay fine. It has a lot to do with the type of cage you use and the condition of the hive when it comes to banking. All to often when queens are banked some of the queens will be missing body parts. As a rule we donot bank open mated queens. We do however bank alot of virgins and Instrumentally inseminated Queens. I will tell you that 95% of my experince is with I.I. or virgins in banks. I have to check the virgins under a microscope to make sure that they are not missing foot pads, feet, and antennae before I inseminate them.The longer they stay in the bank the more damage. As for mated queens like you have. Queens can become constipated after long periods in cages and can also be malnourished as the nurse bees tend to like some queens more than others. In hives where nosema is a problem the queens can be infected. The main problem with banked queens is that you tend to have more problems introducing them to the new hive. While it is easy to introduce a laying queen to a hive the longer it takes a queen to lay, the greater the chance the bees will kill her or supercede her. You can bank both mated and virgin queens for a very long time if the queen bank is in good shape. I found 13 out of a batch 20 virgins alive this spring above an excluder in a two story hive from last year. They where to be inseminated but got lost? They had been in the hive over six months. I was very surprised to find 5 of them in good shape. I inseminated the five and still have them laying today. My opinion is as follows: I do not like to bank queens. If you have to for I.I. or because you can't get them out into the field ok, it is better than leaving them in their cage with a few attendants. I refuse to bank my open mated queens that I sell as the people who buy them will have high supercedure rates and poor acceptance, and when you pay 11.00 dollars for a queen you deserve to get a fresh queen. While I do not have queens on hand all the time like some, I do not get bad reports about queens not taking to there new hives. As with all things you can manage your introductions of the queens that have been banked to ensure that they will be accepted, but it is time consuming. I also have had people buy queens in the fall and bank them for the spring. They have had mixed results. A five footed queen in febuary for a queenless hive is better than no queen. There is a need and a place for banking I just don't like to do it. I have gotten spoiled raising my own. And when you start you will to. Dean M. Breaux Executive Vice President Hybri- Bees Breeding Better Bees