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.
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