> - In every instance I checked I found leftover royal jelly-a good sign.

Did I quote this here before?  It is from Michael Bush's site --
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearing.htm

If I didn't I should have.

--- begin quote ---

Emergency queens:

"It has been stated by a number of beekeepers who should know better
(including myself) that the bees are in such a hurry to rear a queen
that they choose larvae too old for best results. later observation
has shown the fallacy of this statement and has convinced me that bees
do the very best that can be done under existing circumstances.

"The inferior queens caused by using the emergency method is because
the bees cannot tear down the tough cells in the old combs lined with
cocoons. The result is that the bees fill the worker cells with bee
milk floating the larvae out the opening of the cells, then they build
a little queen cell pointing downward. The larvae cannot eat the bee
milk back in the bottom of the cells with the result that they are not
well fed. However, if the colony is strong in bees, are well fed and
have new combs, they can rear the best of queens. And please note--
they will never make such a blunder as choosing larvae too old."

--Jay Smith

C.C. Miller's view of emergency queens

"If it were true, as formerly believed, that queenless bees are in
such haste to rear a queen that they will select a larva too old for
the purpose, then it would hardly do to wait even nine days. A queen
is matured in fifteen days from the time the egg is laid, and is fed
throughout her larval lifetime on the same food that is given to a
worker-larva during the first three days of its larval existence. So a
worker-larva more than three days old, or more than six days from the
laying of the egg would be too old for a good queen. If, now, the bees
should select a larva more than three days old, the queen would emerge
in less than nine days. I think no one has ever known this to occur.
Bees do not prefer too old larvae. As a matter of fact bees do not use
such poor judgment as to select larvae too old when larvae
sufficiently young are present, as I have proven by direct experiment
and many observations."

--Fifty Years Among the Bees, C.C. Miller

--- end quote ---

> My skepticism of growing good queens from "walk away splits has lessened
> considerably..

Thanks for the feedback.

I just returned from EAS and had a few chats with Larry Connor, plus
lots of beeyard sessions with Dave Tarpy, Kirk Webster, Jennfer Berry,
Tom Seely and others.    I also picked up Larry's book, "Increase
Essentials", (since splitting like crazy is the extent of my
beekeeping these days -- splitting to prevent honey production, since
I have no extractor).  He has a lot of respect for the wisdom of the
bees and very few concerns about emergency queens.  He does not,
however, recommend them, though, simply due to the time it takes to
get new bees emerged -- 42 days, approx, and the fact that the only
selection taking place is for bees which thrive on being split this
way.

Other methods can get a queen laying soooner resulting in a shorter
period without new bees emerging -- when the methods work out, after
all, walk-away is the unspoken backup plan.

( I am halfway through the book, but recommend it as a good and easy
read that will be a good primer for newbees and a good review for the
advanced beekeeper).

Everyone is differnt.  Personally, I don't really want to be the one
who decides which queen or queens become mother to all my hives and
prefer to let the work it out themselves with minimal guidance from
myself if they get outside my parameters, but I a a hobbyist these
days and keep bees strictly for fun.

Thus, I recommend the walk-away method principally for the lazy
beekeeper (me) or the time or resource-short beekeeper who cannot get
queens or cells or make multiple trips to the yard and who would
otherwise not split and have swarming or crowding as the only
alternative -- or anyone else who recognises its limitations and is OK
with them.

It is also a dead-simple, non-difficult way to spilt hives for the
newbee who might otherwise find the task too daunting.  The only
challenges are choosing the right time and being certain there are
eggs and very young larvae in both top and bottom boxes before
splitting.  Apparently eggs alone are not as good, since the bees may
remove them rather than feeding them?  I've heard murmurs of this.
Anyone know for sure?  I have always put in eggs when encountering a
queenless hive, but never actually observed a.) whether there were
larvae too, and b.) what really happened.

I have, however, run several thousand hives using a mix of this
technique, ripe cells, plus some batches of mated queens when handy.
In thruth, I am sure that a good percentage of all but the most
intensively managed operations is effectively headed by emergency
queens which are raised unknown ti the beekeeper after an
'inspection', rejection of an introduced queen or other such
accidental dequeening event..

 Walk-Away is another tool in the kit, and a good one in the right
hands and that the appropriate time.

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