>Using Queen cells put in the day of hatch this year we got right at 85% "old queen" replacement.

So it looks like cells rather than virgins is the best way - if you want to go down that route.  I still think that it puts the colony at risk as the virgin may not mate and there will be a break in brood rearing.  Killing the old queen and introducing a mated queen of known provenance remains my preferred option.  Not that I need to replace undesirable queens much these days - after 10 years of selective breeding we rarely get serious problems.

Best wishes

Peter 
52°14'44.44"N, 1°50'35"W

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