Ok, I've only 35 years with bees, usually running a few hundred, but I've done project in commercial operations with thousands. I'm glad to see this discussion. I've gotten runty, poor queens from grafted queens, and I've seen same from emergency cells off-season (say late summer in MT). But, I've also seen really good queens from splits, just as long as its a time of year that bees have drones, good weather, etc. It never made any sense to me why a colony shouldn't be able to produce good queens if they have a supply of eggs/young larvae, good bee population, and right time of year. Of course, I always look for a frame with eggs. Since eggs aren't fed, tear down and rebuilding of the cell shouldn't be much different than a human transplanting an egg - somehow, I'd bet on the bees doing this right. I do agree with the down time. In MT, we get our nectar flows starting in June, dry up by August. Lose a queen during that time, and the colony tends to drop off in population, just when you need the most bees. I've lots of data showing that this impacts honey production - so - I'm for getting a store bought queen in to the hive, and fast. But, for a large beekeeper, it may be more cost effective to toss in a frame of eggs/larvae and walk away. If its the colony in your back yard, order up the queen. But, I like the queens that bees raise themselves in their own hives - suspect they may have some advantages honed by millions of years of evolution. Jerry P.S. these comments are based more on experience and impressions than any rigorous studies. **************Can love help you live longer? Find out now. (http://personals.aol.com/articles/2009/02/18/longer-lives-through-relationships/?ncid=emlweu slove00000001) *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html