Originally Posted by
Roger Patterson
Calum,
In theory you may be right, but in practice I have shown otherwise. At one stage 10 years ago, most of the colonies in my area were horrible stroppy "British Standard Mongrels", but by logical selection, heavy culling and producing queens to distribute locally, mainly by me, we now have some very good bees in our area. I accept there are occasionally ones that are a bit difficult to handle, but nothing like what they were only a short time ago.
With a simple plan you can produce good bees, and you don't have to wait very long. As soon as a queen is mated you can tell what the temper of her offspring will be like, even before any of them emerge.
I want to get people to think about improving their bees, not forget about it because they read that it can't be done.
I accept it is easier with more colonies and most beekeepers have <5, but get together. That's what the Local Queen Programme is about.
Roger Patterson.
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