>> > Some folks do this, for weeks even.
>Commercial queen producers banks tens of thousands at a time!

We all bank queens by various methods when and if we have to.  They all work when the conditions are right, but every day spent in a queen bank is a day wasted in the queen's life and the value fo the queen diminishes. 

That loss is not linear or predictable, or even measurable in most cases.

In the short term, there is the risk of death and the risk of damage.  

As time passes, the risk increrases that the queen will not lay wll -- or at all -- even if accepted when installed into a hive later.

Nonetheless, attempting to match production to demand and predict weather is often not possible, and we do what we can.   Banking is necessary on both the production and consumer end at times.

             ***********************************************
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