> Out of curiosity, does anyone know how many man hours it takes to evaluate the laying production of that many nucs?  

Like I said, typical the queens are caught as soon as they begin to lay. No attempt to evaluate the queen is done, other than to observe that she isn't damaged or deformed in some way. To wait for a pattern to emerge would be catastrophic to production; to wait for bees to emerge would triple the cost of the queen (tested queen). 

I am not sure you can tell very much from the first round of brood in any case. It there are scattered cells of pollen or brood from a previous queen, the pattern isn't going to be solid. Also, brood care in nucs is sometimes below par which might translate to a spotty pattern, not the queen's fault.

If you don't believe me, here is Harry Laidlaw Jr. from "Contemporary Queen Rearing," 1979:

"Young queens mated from nuclei are ready for use as soon as they begin to lay. They are now as good as they will ever be, but they can be injured or killed by careless or inept handling." and "the _untested_ classification is the usual one for almost all queens sold." 

However, the bottom line is that unless all conditions are optimal, the results will not be. This means the best stock, the best queen rearing colonies, the best selection of larvae, the best conditions for mating, the best conditions for the nucs, etc. Very often early in the season, these conditions are not all optimal. Better queens can be raised in late spring than early; better results occur if the producer is not in a mad rush.

PLB

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