I only once dealt with what I guessed were imported package bees and queen. A beginner friend on mine had bought them as part of a "start beekeeping" pack from a company that still trades online. The kit was rubbish, the clothing was inadequate, the bees real nightmares and although they had a caged queen present were not very pleasant.
The queen was supplied in a cage and radically different colour from the workers, so presumably from a different source. On release, they killed her. I then turned up and, after some difficulty, got them eventually re-queened with one of mine. They tolerated her a while then killed her. They raised a cell from her eggs and did eventually accept that. Frankly, as a way to start a beginner off it was useless.
So from a woefully inadequate sample of one, the ban on packages will not be keeping me awake at night.
The queen was supplied in a cage and radically different colour from the workers, so presumably from a different source. On release, they killed her. I then turned up and, after some difficulty, got them eventually re-queened with one of mine. They tolerated her a while then killed her. They raised a cell from her eggs and did eventually accept that. Frankly, as a way to start a beginner off it was useless.
So from a woefully inadequate sample of one, the ban on packages will not be keeping me awake at night.