>Can anyone comment on the pros and cons of when to move queen cells to an incubator from a finisher hive?  

I don't know of any work that shows this timing to be significant.  Once cells are sealed, they are sealed.  If in a free-flying hive, they can be at risk of destruction due to stray queens.  If there is other brood, there could be hidden queen cells which could hatch unexpectedly and result in loss.  Personally, I like cell protectors and they have saved my cells more than once.

We see the bees pay a great deal of attention to sealed cells and are always walking around on them, but do not know if there is anything happening of importance.  The recent reports about "heater  bees" makes one wonder, but we just do not know.  

The fact that bees often build swarm cells on the lower periphery of the brood area is interesting in that if there is a cooler spot in the nest, or place where the temperature could be modulated below the normally even and stable brood nest temperatures, this would be it. 

A main reason for moving cells as soon as they are sealed is to free the hive for the next batch of cells.  If there is  no next batch then that need does not exist.  

A good hive is the best incubator that one could want and not dependant non electricity or as subject to human error.

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