I have 10 hives that I bought from a retiring beekeeper. They have
outstanding characteristics (honey, bees, queens, wax, toogoodtobetrue
kind of stuff) and have not had a commercial queen for 10 years. These
bees are perfect for our environment.
        I want to continue to use the genetics of this line. Pretend I don't
have any experience. If I want to produce queens this fall, what steps
should I then take to produce my own queens or splits to ensure (as much
as possible) a good queen.
        They are relatively well isolated from feral drones that are not
actually from my stock.

Thom Bradley
Chesapeake, VA