[riverrat]

You have decided to start raising your own queens from your own hives. What are some the qualities you would look for when choosing the hive to graft from and why. Newbees jump in to on this one. Sometimes experienced keeps cant see the forest from the trees.

 

[G3farms]

ones that will over winter in my climate
mite resistance
SHB chasers
temperment and calmness
honey producers
egg layer, good solid pattern (medium layer in early spring and tapering off as the dearth and winter comes on)

those are some of the things i would want, does not have to really be in that order.

 

[Omie]

ones that will over winter in my climate
mite resistance
egg layer, good solid pattern
temperment and calmness

I figure if I get the first three, then honey will likely follow? (unless I do something stoopit to sabotage my own bees) ;D

 

[Bens-Bees]

Umm... I have a bit of a different take on this one...

I don't graft, I just lend eggs as needed for queen replacements if something has happened to the old queen.
I don't select the genetics to breed from, I prefer genetic diversity.
The only thing is... they're all going to be comming from "survivor bees" as I call them that survive without miticide/antibiotic treatments, and that's because I don't treat with that stuff so any hives in my apiaries have already proven they can live without it.

 

[Bsweet]

Survivor hives is where I want my queens from. If they arn't mite/shb resistant,good layers,honey producers and calm then they will not survive. Jim