1.  I was told a drone laying queen lays in drone cells only.  This makes no sense to me.  

Not true in any case. Often seen: drones interspersed among workers on worker comb. Sign of failing queen

2.  I have been told drone laying queens have always taken mating flights 

Not true. A confined queen will begin to lay eventually, probably after at least four weeks. They can be induced to lay sooner with CO2

3.  Is it a mistake to put a ripe queen cell into a new nuc stocked with a frame that has lots of eggs and open brood?  

Not at all. This is standard practice in fact. Queen breeders use the same nucs over and over. Typically a cell is put in, given a week or so to start laying and then pulled. The new cell is put in within 24 hours.

Of course, what bees do in a baby nuc may not reflect what they do in a full colony. A full size queenless hive is more apt to raise their own queen and destroy an introduced one. 

But again this depends on things like flow condition, weather, etc. Also, this fact has led to the use of cell protectors. 

Actually, introducing newly hatched virgins is more reliable than using queen cells. I introduced about one hundred marked virgin queens using standard introducing cages, with only a couple lost.

PLB

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