> I use the excluder method. What is Gus's objection to it?

As a breeder and seller of many queens, Gus advises against placing queens
in queenright colonies.  My experience has been "no problem".  Gus has
a thousandfold greater experience to base his recommendation.  If/When
a customer loses a number of queens banked in a queenright colony, they
are inclined to blame the breeder and request replacement of the queens.
I have never had a problem banking in queenright colonies.  Gus has had
MANY requests to replace queens that customers lost in banks set up in
queenright colonies.  He strongly advises against the practice.

I took Gus' word and followed his advice and set up my last two banks in
queenless nucs.  I described the problems with the first queenless bank
yesterday.  The second bank is also causing me problems.  There were
no problems with the queens in the bank, but both times when I was done
with the bank I tried to introduce a single queen (the last in the bank) to
make the queenless bank a queenright nucleus colony.

On my second bank, I checked two days ago and the queen had been
released and way laying.  I checked yesterday, the queen is gone and
there were more than a few but less than a lot of capped emergency
queen cells.

I don't know what to make of this.  I've speculated on the causes of
problems with my first bank (they raised a queen when I wasn't paying
attention), but I'm puzzled by this second bank.  It could possible be
that the queen was a dud in the first place, the bees recognized it and
are offed her.  It's possible I injured the queen during inspection,
although I'd like to think not.  It might be too many manipulations in
too short a time.  All this banking and nucing and splitting is taking
place in the yard where I'm being evicted by my Village government
with a deadline next week.  I'm splitting hives and moving nucs and
rushing things a bit to make the deadline.

But I'm beginning to wonder if there's some sort of taboo about
introducing a queen to a colony that had become used to having many?
Might there be something going on in the process of converting a
queenless bank to a queenright nucleus that makes it a trickier task
that I think it should be?  Based on my sample size I can't make valid
guesstimates.  Anyone been there, done that?

Aaron Morris - thinking queens in the bank are worth 3 in a nuc!

Aaron Morris wrote:  I have set up banks in queenright colonies simply by
placing the cages above

> a queen excluder.  Noticed no ill effects.  However, Gus Rouse (Kona
Queens)
>
> scolded me severely (I exagerate) over the practice.