In a message dated 97-01-03 18:07:03 EST, you write: << Harry Sweet wrote > I split the doubles and triples in late march, let the > queenless hives make a queen on their own or add a frame with > fresh eggs or find a queencell in one of the queenright colonies. > I expect an active swarm season like last year. I've had no losses > to mites in 4 years. I use only apistan in march, july, and november >for 4 to 8 weeks. Regretfully this method will invariably produce poor queens, even runts. Queens made under panic conditions (emergency) will be poor and will not last long. Then the bees set too and superscede the queen just made. In the meantime brooding will suffer and the hive will decline before being restored to normal. A better suggestion would be to ensure that queen cells made from older larvae are cut out, and only the right aged larvae are allowed to develop. ********************************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171 Agents for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK http://www.muskoka. >> I should say that I prefer to use swarm cells from my strongest hives. I also have used queen cell cups with grafted eggs. Only when I've run out of queen cells do I try the emergency fresh frame of eggs from another hive. So far I've had good luck. Hives that aren't strong get requeened or added back to another hive. I've been keeping bees for only 10 years and I like to experiment a little. Thanks for your suggestions, I'll keep them in mind. Harry Sweet N. California