Here is a post from a blog I sometimes look at:
https://theapiarist.org/spotty-brood-failing-queen/
The author ruthlessly pursues honey and profit, but if you can ignore that
there is plenty to learn from what he says.
What's interesting about this post is
- The discussion of queen quality reflects what I've heard from Gareth:
humans have no idea of the quality of a queen and have arbitrary
preferences;
- BBKA training stresses this brood laying pattern stuff, but it doesn't
match my experience. They say you want a big solid patch of brood, this
indicates a "good" queen. I rarely see such large uniform expanses of brood
and my bees seem happy and healthy. I assume it's something to do with
laying rate.
I'm hoping someone here can shed some light on the obsession with brood
patterns among commercial beeks. Is it really significant?
Paul
