Anyone recommend a queen rearing book over the others? My 16 year old son wants one because his hive's queen is "awesome". Seriously, she is, considering her hive is one of the 4 survivors from a 15 to 20 hive bee yard that was all but abandoned for 3 years. Her hive is the only one that is thriving, mine faded away and the other two that a friend got did too.
JC
Contemporary Queen Rearing by Harry H. Laidlaw, Jr.
Ditto on Laidlaw.
Scott
It's great that you are interested in queen rearing - I say read anything you can get your hands on, everything had a little different 'twist' or 'idea' that when you pick and choose, customizes your style and skill. Laidlaw has a very good book. But find one that fits your reading style, the concepts will feel more natural if your comfortable with how the book reads.
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On another note, I'd be a little cautious to quickly declare how superior a queen is.
First off, you're comparing against 3 other live colonies, and as many as 16 dead colonies.
That isn't very many live colonies to measure against, and dead bees are no competition.
Lets say in the wild that 1/2 of unmanaged colonies die from one cause or another.
Sixteen in half is 8, and 8 in half is 4.
You're not far off that mark, so survivability isn't really so superior in this case.
She just survived the odds, the kid of odds than any of the other hive could have had.
Supercedure of abandoned and feral hives plays a large part in survivability.
While late swarming is risky because it could result in low fall stores, it also breaks mite cycles at a critical time which in turn also dimishes the spread of many viruses transmitted by mites.
The management of stores is also a huge role.
You can have a colony that is superior in honey production, but if you don't manage supers, it's going to become honey bound, produce inferior amounts of brood, and fail.
Had you managed the super, you might have the best colony of all.
There are many factors that should be considered, but they can only be really measured with good management practices and periodic observation. To say a queen is great just becasue she lives today isn't sufficent enough to declare her great. (just maybe lower mantenance)
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MichaelBush.WMV (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5661519733479148923)
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearing.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearing.htm)
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesafewgoodqueens.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesafewgoodqueens.htm)
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesalleymethod.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesalleymethod.htm)
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesbetterqueens.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesbetterqueens.htm)
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeshopkinsmethod.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beeshopkinsmethod.htm)
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeshopkins1886.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beeshopkins1886.htm)
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmillermethod.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmillermethod.htm)
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearingsimplified.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearingsimplified.htm)
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesdoolittle.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesdoolittle.htm)
The "Awesome" moniker is half a joke around here. My son wants to raise queens mostly because it sounds like a cool thing to do. We will use the queens (if we are successful) to increase our hives or help out a friend. I realize that declaring a hive superior in it's genetics would take time and a number of generations - and then you would have to limit access to drones to keep your line pure. A one of survivorship is just not enough data with too many variables. Even if we came up with a good line HERE it wouldn't mean they would be better everywhere. Not that a good line HERE isn't a good goal for us personally. There are SO many variables with beekeeping that I have decided that it is almost more of an art than science. They are living things and will go their own way at times. (Much to the dismay of my engineer husband, who despairs of my other addiction - horse breeding.)
JC