I have not had consistent results with mail-order queens.  Some good, some killed upon release, some duds, some superseded, some hot, some gentle.  No clear pattern and no one supplier at fault.
 
This inconsistency, and the cost of my losses and duds, moved me to raise my own queens.  Now I have cells that hatch, some cells don't hatch, some cells are chewed up and the mating nuc raises their own queen, some queens emerge and get lost on their mating flight...
 
I'm beginning to wonder if beekeeping, in general, and requeening, specifically, isn't just a game of attrition under the law of averages to the point that keeping 300 hives will level out at 200 reasonably consistent production units.
 
Kind of like baseball where anyone who connects with 40% of the pitches is considered phenomenal.
 
Grant
Jackson, MO  sometimes batting to the point I ought to be benched or traded

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm