I typically raise only a small number of queens for myself, so my methods
differ slightly from big queen breeders and the methods often listed in
books requiring a starter, finisher, etc.

Normally I place grafted cells in a strong queenless hive and leave them
there for both starting and finishing.  This may be a hive that I found
just recently queenless, or a hive in which I removed the queen, and
usually a couple of frames for a split.  It seems to help acceptance if the
hive was queenless for at least a day. Amount of brood in the hive never
has been a problem because I have only raised about 10 at once.  After 24
hours I check to see how the grafts were accepted.  Sometimes acceptance is
very good, other times marginal, but I think it's mostly due to my lack of
skill and practice grafting.  I have been told that the cells can be
started and finished in a queen right colony by a respectable breeder given
the queen is separated from the cells, but have not tried it yet myself.

I don't isolate the queen before grafting, so the age may vary by half a
day or so.  Thus, the day before they are to emerge I remove all the cells
and place them in hives needing a queen or into 3 frame nuces, leaving
behind one cell to requeen the starter/finisher.

The only failures I've had are due to poor mating weather or a cold day
when the cells had to be moved into nucs, resulting in a few queens dead in
the cell.
I really don't do anything special.  I have found that spritzing the bar
and cell cups with sugar water (and honey-b-healthy) improves acceptance,
but it may be that the small amount in the cell cups simply makes grafting
the larvae without damage easier.  (Just read a study that indicated that
priming cells had a positive affect on acceptance, though double grafting
did not.)   I do not use cell protectors for fear of damaging the cells.  I
have some, but the just seem to small for many of the cells produced, and
many of the cells have lots of extra wax and comb on them making the cell
protectors unusable.

I do reuse plastic cell cups without problems (even though the catalogues
say that acceptance is reduced when cells are reused.)  Just last weekend I
did a small test just to see for myself.  I took grafts from one colony,
half into new cups, half into used (with the wax scraped off to the top of
the plastic cell, and any debris in the cup removed), on the same
bar.  Acceptance was considerably higher with the old cups.  A second trial
earlier this week showed no difference between old and new (all were
accepted.).  So I don't think there is any real difference between old and
new (though there is a lack of my grafting skill at times :)

This certainly is no answer to your problem, but I really didn't see
anything in your description that was wrong, nor have I found the problems
you are having (short of one experience with cold weather).

-Tim

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