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Bettabees not breeding queens and up for sale
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<blockquote data-quote="John B" data-source="post: 11674" data-attributes="member: 207"><p>I agree with Otto that the strains of bees in New Zealand have never been pure but nevertheless there were some very good strains of bees developed by different beekeepers including myself. These strains were quite consistent and carried many important characteristics such as quietness and high production coupled in many cases with disease and pest resistance. 10 years ago I would get maybe one queen in 100 that didn't meet my colour selection and well over 80% of my hives were good enough to leave to raise their own queens if I was short of cells. Average production showed a steady increase over 50 years.This was all done with open mating. There was a high degree of conformity with all or the majority of hives being full at the same time.</p><p>The reality is that now there are so many beekeepers with so many different strains of bees with their hives spread between everybody else's hives that these beautiful quiet productive strains of bees are no longer in the majority and uniformity and conformity are a thing of the past. I am not seeing an improvement through increased genetic diversity but the complete opposite. There are proponents for hybrid vigour. I am not one of them. I remember a time when when you talked about hybrid vigour you were talking about a snotty nasty hive that needed requeening this and nothing much has changed since then.</p><p>The best queens have never come from Queen breeders. They often have very good queens but they don't have the ability to find the very best productive hives, neither do the corporate's. Only people who work with their own hives on a regular basis are able to identify the very best and breed from them. I used to select the very best producers out of a thousand hives and then whittle them down to a handful after two full production seasons.I would bring them home and once they were settled and I would work them without a smoker on a grotty day which would usually weed out one of two more. Commercial beekeepers can't always work just on fine days. Now with a lot less hives and a lot more neighbours I'm lucky to find anything. I still have some good hives but it's really hard to find a truly excellent one anymore. This loss might have been worthwhile if we had varoa tolerance to show for it but we don't. </p><p>In the past the best strains were shared freely between most beekeepers leading to ongoing improvements.</p><p> Now we all share the same mediocrity.Most of the bees aren't terrible but they could be so much better.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="John B, post: 11674, member: 207"] I agree with Otto that the strains of bees in New Zealand have never been pure but nevertheless there were some very good strains of bees developed by different beekeepers including myself. These strains were quite consistent and carried many important characteristics such as quietness and high production coupled in many cases with disease and pest resistance. 10 years ago I would get maybe one queen in 100 that didn't meet my colour selection and well over 80% of my hives were good enough to leave to raise their own queens if I was short of cells. Average production showed a steady increase over 50 years.This was all done with open mating. There was a high degree of conformity with all or the majority of hives being full at the same time. The reality is that now there are so many beekeepers with so many different strains of bees with their hives spread between everybody else's hives that these beautiful quiet productive strains of bees are no longer in the majority and uniformity and conformity are a thing of the past. I am not seeing an improvement through increased genetic diversity but the complete opposite. There are proponents for hybrid vigour. I am not one of them. I remember a time when when you talked about hybrid vigour you were talking about a snotty nasty hive that needed requeening this and nothing much has changed since then. The best queens have never come from Queen breeders. They often have very good queens but they don't have the ability to find the very best productive hives, neither do the corporate's. Only people who work with their own hives on a regular basis are able to identify the very best and breed from them. I used to select the very best producers out of a thousand hives and then whittle them down to a handful after two full production seasons.I would bring them home and once they were settled and I would work them without a smoker on a grotty day which would usually weed out one of two more. Commercial beekeepers can't always work just on fine days. Now with a lot less hives and a lot more neighbours I'm lucky to find anything. I still have some good hives but it's really hard to find a truly excellent one anymore. This loss might have been worthwhile if we had varoa tolerance to show for it but we don't. In the past the best strains were shared freely between most beekeepers leading to ongoing improvements. Now we all share the same mediocrity.Most of the bees aren't terrible but they could be so much better. [/QUOTE]
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