In a message dated 97-01-03 18:07:03 EST, you write:
 
<< Harry Sweet wrote
 
 > I split the doubles and triples in late march, let the
 > queenless hives make a queen on their own or add a frame with
 > fresh eggs or find a queencell in one of the queenright colonies.
 > I expect an active swarm season like last year. I've had no losses
 > to mites in 4 years. I use only apistan in march, july, and november
 >for 4 to 8 weeks.
 
 Regretfully this method will invariably produce poor queens, even runts.
 Queens made under panic conditions (emergency) will be poor and will not
 last long. Then the bees set too and superscede the queen just made. In
 the meantime brooding will suffer and the hive will decline before being
 restored to normal. A better suggestion would be to ensure that queen
 cells made from older larvae are cut out, and only the right aged larvae
 are allowed to develop.
 
 *********************************************************
 The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia,
 Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1
 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171
 Agents for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK
 http://www.muskoka. >>
 
I should say that I prefer to use swarm cells from my strongest
hives. I also have used queen cell cups with grafted eggs. Only
when I've run out of queen cells do I try the emergency fresh
frame of eggs from another hive. So far I've had good luck. Hives
that aren't strong get requeened or added back to another hive.
I've been keeping bees for only 10 years and I like to experiment
a little. Thanks for your suggestions, I'll keep them in mind.
 
Harry Sweet
N. California