> It would seem to me that once supersedure occurs the colony would return to the vigor of a colony headed by a newly mated queen. 

That's what I always figured. I thought that a queen raised by a colony on its own was probably the best you could get. I think the main problem with supersedure is that they wait too long, the queen is already starting to let the colony down. That, and the percentage of queens that fail to return from mating flight. 

The main problem with annual or wholesale requeening is that you may be killing off perfectly good queens and replacing them with potentially a worthless one. But commercial beekeeping always banks on percentages. If by requeening, you increase your overall honey production, that counts as a plus. 

I would like to see a cost benefit analysis which compares the money spent on requeening and the actual return, versus -- say -- the same money invested in queens used to make increase in the number of colonies. I suspect many or most queens purchased in the spring go down this second path.

PLB

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