Is this new data?

[JackM]

http://www.columbian.com/news/2011/dec/28/superbees-creation-has-industry-abuzz/

Is this new or old?   I found it most interesting.

[BjornBee]

This is the next marketing craze for 2012. And they are not the only folks who all of a sudden have "super" bees engineered and designed with claims of being near perfect. I read an article I think out of Michigan (or was it Wisc.) about the line of bees that Conner has perpetuated after losing two years ago all his bees but two hives. And from these sole two hives, his bees are now labled as dang near the best on the planet as the newspaper seemingly claimed.

Beekeepers hooking up with newspaper reporters, and turning it into fantastic sensational stories with claims seem to be in vogue today.

Just remember...it is not the public, the beekeepers, a study, or anybody else for the most part making these claims about "super" bees. It is the beekeepers selling these bees. Just something to consider.

Now if a year from now, we hear about 100 beekeepers who have super bees after buying these bees, then perhaps someone should take notice. But to me at this point, this is another hyped story. Makes for expensive speaker fees I hear. And expensive queens for those buying them.  :-D

Hooking up with naive reporters for marketing purposes is probably as old as beekeeping itself.  :-D

[Vance G]

A poorly written article that creates more smoke than light.  The usual bashing of those terrible commercial beeks who insist on taking only chemical steps to maintain their viability and are so nasty as to refuse to use a better bee!  Yeah right. 

[kingbee]

...
Is this new or old?   I found it most interesting.

In a court of law the truth is the only defense against a charge of fraud.  Therefore,
"[T]he carefully bred queen bee has built a large, productive colony that knows how to cluster against the cold and fill the winter larder with honey."   is an iron clad defense against charges of fraud.  Never mind that bees have been acting in this manner long before we humans lost our tail or first stood on two feet.  So I would say that this breeder of bees is a "careful" bee breeder.  Nuf said?   :roll: