Dave Green says "Where, oh where does this idea of cutting cells originate
and persist?
Can we not trust our bees, that have been requeening themselves for many
milennia, without our help, to know when a queen is not up to par?"

Dave is an invaluable asset to Bee-L; I have learned from him and greatly
respect his advice and opinions.  However, I respectively disagree that
there are no circumstances under which cutting of queen cells is appropriate
or successful.

Without exception, every commercial producer of comb honey that I know of
(defined as producing 5,000 or more sections a year) does a weekly
inspection of the bottom of frames and, when queen cells are seen, cuts them
out (or destroys them) to manage swarming.  Many, many hobbyist and
sideliner beekeepers who produce comb honey do the same.

In my personal experience, I find that one cutting does not usually stop the
swarming impulse, and a week later there will be more to cut.  However, in a
very large majority of the cases two cuttings are successful in that there
will be no more swarm cells seen for the remainder of the season.

Of course, to produce comb honey one must create a largely artificial
condition with extreme hive crowding early in the season, and this often
leads to building of queen cells prior to swarming.  Otherwise, I completely
share Dave's views that the bees know when to supercede (or replace) a queen
and we should let them do so.

Lloyd

Lloyd Spear Owner, Ross Rounds(tm).  The finest in comb honey production.
http://www.rossrounds.com