I went into the winter with 5 hives, I now have only two. However, one hive (15 miles south of Seattle, WA) is Extremely strong for March in the northwest. I am crediting the queen for this excellent wintering ability - Does that makes sense? The queen in question was left behind after a June swarm. What I am thinking is that This would be a good queen & hive to rebuild from rather than buying packages again. These are (were?) Carnies so there will definitely be swarm cells soon. I haven't tried intentionally breeding a queen for many years because I figured there wasn't enough drone stock around my hives. OH BTW - the two surviving hives were 'fed' a medium super of crystallized honey from 2004. Two others got sugar syrup and the last Non-survivor starved with plenty of stores left over, I suspect mite 'shrinkage'. tfl -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---