Hi all

I have looked through more than a dozen articles on "queen banks." The most successful of these are made by confining queens in small compartments with a small square of comb so she can lay, and access to the queen by the bees through a queen excluder. In other words, queen excluder cages with comb. 

Some of these experiments went on for many months, and some were repeated over multiple seasons. They never reported any queen cells being built outside the cages, implying that the transfer of eggs by the bees happens infinitely rarely, if ever, under these circumstances.

The most comprehensive of these studies was reported in Wyborn, M. H. (1991). Mass storage of honey bee queens during the winter (Doctoral dissertation, Theses (Dept. of Biological Sciences), Simon Fraser University). 

Follow-up studies include: Gençer, H. V. (2003). Overwintering of honey bee queens en mass in reservoir colonies in a temperate climate and its effect on queen performance. Journal of apicultural research, 42(4), 61-64.

Peter L Borst
Ithaca, NY
U S A

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