> It would be nice to know the answers, not in order to be proved 'right' or
> 'wrong', but just to know more definitely.

It is not, I'm afraid, just a matter of knowing, 'more definitely'. The fact
is that we either know or we do not, and in this case, we just do not know
at all.  We are just guessing and presenting the guess as fact, even though
many experienced and observant beekeepers have found emergency queens to be
very satisfactory, and even though we *know* (proven fact) that many raised
and/or purchased queens are much less than satisfactory by the time they are
raised, caught, stored, transported, stored again and finally introduced to
a strange hive.

Although a properly raised and properly handled grafted queen may (and I say
"may") be a better queen if all has gone well, many are known to be rejected
or superseded within a month or two, and the superior qualities claimed may
never actually be required in many hobby hives or even many commercial
applications.  I wonder how many commercial queens raised and shipped
actually end up heading successful colonies for a year or more, and how many
are lost along the way, rejected by the bees or superseded?  I'd bet 50% or
more are lost one way or another within 2 months of being produced, and even
more are lost by the first winter.  That doubles the effective cost of the
ones that survive.

When all the dust settles, for many of us, emergency queens are the best
choice in many situations, since they

1. do not rely on the expertise and trustworthiness of others,
2. do not cost the price of 20 lbs of honey or more,
3. do not require labour and expertise to produce and introduce,
4. have a high success rate,
5. perform as well as or better than purchased queens in many cases.
6. can be produced at will in season
7. require no advance planning, ordering, waiting, multiple trips to the
yard, etc.

As a hobbyist, I'd be crazy to pay the going price for commercial queens at
$20 CAD when honey is at 75c/lb and costs 10c/lb or more to extract.  I'd
have to produce an extra 31 lbs/hive average to pay for them, assuming all
the purchased queens took, and do a lot more work as well, splitting and
extracting.  I'd much rather do walk-away splits and take my chances.

I could raise queens, but that is a whole other job.  I've done it, and it
can pay off, but I don't need the work or the scheduling.  I salute those
who choose to do so, but I think they fully earn any gains they get over my
lazy method.

At this point, I'd like to solicit success and failure stories.  I've found
that, although most beekeepers have used emergency queens from time to time,
and usually with good success, most are reluctant to admit the fact due to
the strong (and IMO unjustifiable) prejudice against them.  Here's the
chance to relate good and bad experiences.

allen

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