Hello Peter & All,
This is a very old & primative method. Talked about in very old bee books.
In all my years I have only seen the end result one time. The bees were done
as Peter says and then  I went and looked at the bees (out of curosity) with
the beekeeper. About one hive in four was queenright. Most were either
queenless or laying workers. In my opinion everything would have to be
perfect for the system to have much merit today. In todays beekeeping world
each hives well being is important because of the costs of medications and
labor involved. Beekeeping practices on large scale are changing from year
to year now with all the problems. I would not use the method because (in my
opinion) of the real chance of failure. Many hives are simply swarming and
not requeening these days and we really don't understand completely why at
least I don't.   You might experiment with a hive or two but I wouldn't do
hundreds like my friend did.
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Odessa, Missouri