JamesCBach wrote:

> EC queens appear to be less successful at heading a prosperous colony and
> often fail after a short time (estimate 50% or more), though there are
> exceptions.  SC queens usually do well (estimate 85-100%).  Perhaps that is
> why I've thought that EC queens are inferior to SC queens.

Question- if EC queens are superseded by SC queens are those SC
queens superior and have we just corrected the problem of
inferior EC queens?
Sounds like a who's on first question, but hope you follow it.
Reason for the question is that if we have a self healing
situation, the major loss is if the EC queen stays on and the
lesser loss is in the reduced efficiency of the hive during
transition to a new SC queen.
Depending on the answer, based on this thread so far it seems
best to have supercedure after an emergency queen.

I don't agree that emergency queens are inferior. I continually
make new queens by the emergency method have been rewarded with
better and better queens. It all gets back to when you make them,
as Allan has said. If the bees make an emergency queen in a major
honey flow or have a supercedure during a dearth- which will
probably be the superior queen?
Bill T
Bath, ME