>    A friend (not a queen breeder) sold over 50,000 cells last year to
> commercial beekeepers.
   Cells are a buck or two a piece and you get better acceptance.


But, is acceptance the name of the game? Or is it quality? Is it only
having a live queen in your colony that counts, or is it how that queen
performs. From all I've been told by my beekeeping friends who buy cells
from a beekeeper selling many thousands of cells, the quality isn't there.
Colonies that only build up so far, too much chalkbrood, poor wintering. I
hear it over and over again. "I haven't the time to raise my own cells."
Bad decision. You can always raise better queens from your best stock, than
you can buy in from far away. Coupled with over wintering these queens in 4
frame nucs and mini nucs, for spring use, there should be no reason to buy
in stock...except perhaps for a breeding program. Only takes a few years to
work it into your seasonal management. And then you'll wonder how you got
along so long on those bought queens you just had to have...because you
could buy them a couple months earlier than you could raise them.
Mike




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