I have always assumed that, say,  a 10 day old queen cell in a hive with
queen cells that are younger would hatch out first and most likely tear down
the other cells. I have never observed it to be otherwise.
Since only a small percentage of my nucs that are recieving queen cells have
cells already started i could have overlooked  the impact.

I would like to hear more on this.

I have howevre definitely noticed a tendency to not build new queen cells if
one is already present.


Juanse, Brother Adams wrote the following:
"I have found that a queen which emerges in an incubator is never as good as
one who spends her first few hours in her normal environment.....So also a
queen which has been caged for any length of time is seldom, if ever as good
as one which has never been confined-the the extent of the injury depends on
the age and condition of the queen when she was confined."
From
"Beekeeping at Buckfast Abbey" page 89
by
Brother Adams

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