Scutellator

So you're the one I was referring to. We all know who you are now and what you do.

Nah, dude. Just like there is no biggest pest to the bees than the beekeeper, nothing can harm a beekeeper more than another beekeeper ( except maybe another beekeeper, who is also a female). Market economy theory doesn't support superprofits for too long

It is much wisier to control something, wich you can't stop. Australia has the best bio security program in the world, although not perfect by any means. Respectfully agree. Honeybees are much more sensitive to inbreeding. They don't have the same history of thousands of years of inbreeding as the farm animals. Apart from the obvious, they have great many hidden sublethals, wich make the first few generations of inbreeding most difficult. Genetic erosion is another thing. Loss of ability of self defence (against robbers) and housekeeping ability/basic hygene in a population are the

There is nothing that will cause more troubles to the majority of the beekeepers than sudden increase in the average crop per hive produced. I was reading about NZ as well. It all sounded way too good to be true. All buckfasts have bigger honey sac, but a good one (yep, great variation between the vaious bee breeders) is basically pretty much a controlled heterosis. Hence - pedigree. For those, who know how to read it right.

My mother always taught me to never buy cheap stuff. Manufactured in China, a stamp "made in EU" on it and ... european price tag.

In one of my expeditions many years ago, I climbed the highest peak on the highest mountain on an undiscovered yet Island in the Atlantic ocean. And there, in the middle of nowhere -there he was - an old beekeeper, who happened to be a friend with br. Adam. In his apiary I found one such queen and I am still grafting from her. Unfortunately, they won't let me import her in NZ

Thanks for the replies. Bettabees is out of my list. Closed randon mass selection program = no pedigree. Had limited experience with them this season. My personal opinion - I think they had introduced new genetics the tricky way. Need something with calculatable inbreeding and kinship coefficients. Life is much more easier. Colour is of no importance. In fact, I have an eclectic taste. Yep, many AI (or Island maded) queens in Europe on the market, but the best won't be found in the yellow pages. Just because the beeks are the same all over the world

Hi there, new to the forum. I have a question - does anybody knows where to find breeder queens with pedigree in NZ? Thanks Donnie