Using a "Queen Isolator" as described by Tom Barrett (Dublin, Ireland) would
seem to me to be a handy addition to one's set of choices for tools to use in
making splits and being relatively assured of when the queen is NOT.  It uses
good logic and ought to work almost all of the time.  I would wonder about
how much of the time the queen that is dumped out somewhere else with the
drones might make it back into the hive.  Theoretically, if she is in full
laying form, she will have great difficulty flying to make it back, but bees
often surprise us and do things we think they cannot do.  Still, odds are that
it will work.

The second thought I had was that (and this is probably assumed and implicit in
what Tom was describing) virgin queens have to be able to get out and back into
the hive for mating and returning to lay.  That's why if a hive supersedes with
a pollen collector on the entrance, it can become queenless.  If there is a
queen excluder on the bottom and no top entrance, you'd have the same problem.
Therefore I assume that as soon as you've isolated the frames and bees from
which to make the split that you move them into a normal hive body with no
excluder in place so the new queen can normally mate and return.

Other than that, I don't see why everything Tom has described shouldn't work
fine.  I, on the other hand, personally receive a great sense of accomplishment
when I find a queen, and wouldn't want to deprive myself of that feeling and
pleasure in concluding a successful hunt with its attendant thrill.  That way
I also have a winder range of options open to me.  It's part of the
satisfaction I receive from beekeeping.  As a matter of fact, I got a great
sense of satisfaction the other day from finding a laying worker in one of my
hives and dispatching her.  Her size was not so much different from the other
workers, and her body form was only slightly queen-like, but her behavior was
quite different from the other bees, and their behavior towards her was
different than toward each other.  I was therefore "sure" I had found her.  I
recommend this experience as a very good one to anyone who hasn't had it yet.

Layne Westover
College Station, Texas