Gerry Visel wrote:
 
> My question:  Why graft the eggs into new cells?  It seems like an
> awfully delicate operation, with plenty of opportunity to damage the egg.
>  Why not just put the frame she laid them in into the nuc and let them
> draw out queen cells from that, cutting out the area around the cell to
> introduce it?
 
        A properly prepared swarm box can start 90 or more grafted cells/day
for 3 days. If you just give them a frame of brood they will start far
fewer, usually 5-30 or so depending on their condition and breed. Queens
raised by grafting are not inferior to queens raised from the egg or
from undisturbed larvae. The technique is not difficult, there are other
aspects of the proccess that are more critical and more difficult to
manage. See "Queen Rearing" by Rutter for details (Available from Wicwas
Press).