> Results were inconclusive, data obtained sug-
> gest that catching queen bees from their mating
> nucleus at 17 days of age and holding them in
> a queen bank to an age between 24 and 31 days
> may be a satisfactory and less expensive method
> for aging queen bees prior to introduction into
> established bee colonies

I held about ten Kona queens in a queen bank for over a month and none of 
them turned out to be any good.

The ones from the same Kona batch which were taken from the bank and 
introduced after a few days or weeks were just fine, as far as I could tell.

We discussed banking queens here on BEE-L a long time back and various risks 
were mentioned, including loss of feet, diminished acceptance, etc.

In my opinion, the best queens are hatched in the hive they will be heading, 
and anything else is a compromise.

Sometimes that compromise is necessary, since there are many reasons we may 
wish to ship queens around, however, there are many things that can happen 
to queens when removed from colonies, caged and shipped or stored.

Those who wish to have the least problems should be aware that the more 
operations involved in raising, shipping and introducing queens and the more 
distant the relationship between the queen and her new colony, the more risk 
there is that things will be suboptimal. 

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