My limited experience with Californian queens is that they are excellent producers, raising huge amounts of brood, producing a good crop, but that they overwinter poorly.  

  

I would suggest the issues lies in what we are looking for.  When we look for large brood producers with rapid buildup,  that is the opposite of what we want for cold winters.  Large clusters eat more need more resources  than small cluster less prolific bees.   My experience is not where the queen was raised,  but the general qualities of that breed.

Charles

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