>> >(1) De-queen as many hives as you need to meet your drone needs. > I question how well the small emergency drones produced by such a > technique > would function for mating. I suspect that they would work in a pinch. I am not sure about thinking the drones would be small emergency drones. I have saw drones from most hives however small seem to be normal size (unlike emergency queens made from too old larva ect.) I would question the time factor involved to emerging and then the time to be mature enough to mate. About a month from egg? I enjoyed your article Randy in ABJ which came yesterday ! I also enjoyed the "letters to the editor" concerning the previous months neonic article. Looking forward to next months "Letters to the Editor" In Missouri we have an old saying: "When the hole you are digging is getting too deep " Quit digging! Chuckle. bob *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm