>Although the study didn't mention mating nuc size, I believe the cell builder and the air (or instrument) are by far the most important factors.  The environment in which the larvae is raised and the thoroughness of mating I believe make the best queens.  Like Steve Tabor said: "improve the environment, improve the environment, improve the environment".

Mara Spivak once said that you can breed a poor quality queen from a good breeder and a reasonable queen from a poor quality breeder.  It is all in the cell raising.  

First up grafting, look at Woyke's work on ovarioles and age of grafted larvae and also the strength of the cell builder.

I believe that size of mating nuc is not crucial as all the queens characteristics have been determined in the cell produced.  We used mini nucs with great success.  Paid great attention to drone colonies for drones for mating.

We supplied untested queens and I was often asked if I had queens that were not quite up to scratch.  My answer was yes.  A successful beekeeper here in Australia said he requeened 120% of his hives each year.  After all we are dealing with nature.  Look at how many race horses end up as pet food, despite the so called breeding.

Trevor Weatherhead
Australia

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