Aaron Morris wrote:

> I have set up banks in queenright colonies simply by placing the cages above
> a queen excluder.  Noticed no ill effects.  However, Gus Rouse (Kona Queens)
>
> scolded me severely (I exagerate) over the practice.  On his advise I set up
> the
> queenless nuc, which he said is the ONLY correct way to do it.
>
> I have had success both ways.  However, I rarely bank queens for very long
> (over two weeks).  I try to get them into colonies or at lease a nuc ASAP.

I once wintered several (5) queens above a queen excluder in a queen-right
colony.  The queens weren't worth much at the end of the winter- having been
confined for that long, but we had some "left-over" queens and I wanted to see
if it could be done.  I suspect that in that instance, a colony that wasn't
queen-right would have failed miserably.  Guess like everything in beekeeping,
there are pros and cons to each method...
Kathy