Theoretically, you have a good point, Chris, about raising queens locally. I cannot comment about experience in the UK or on the continent (Europe, that is). However, in the USA, I have routinely bought queens from the south (sent from Georgia to Michigan) for twenty years and have always been most pleased with the results. I would like to rear my own queens, but find that my summer is always so tightly filled with other commitments that the precise timing necessary for queen rearing never quite works out for me. It is just easier for me to buy queens, and using commercial queens has never has been a problem. Georgia raised queens winter perfectly in Michigan. Ted Fischer Dexter, Michigan USA