Hi Waldemar & All, > Would you please outline this method - does it involve placing eggs in queen cups? > Smith used a version of the Alley method as basically described in the link below except he used new or only slightly used comb. http://web.archive.org/web/20020313084530/gobeekeeping.com/Alleyqueens.htm Alley used cells with eggs and Smith actually used cells with freshly hatch eggs, larvae so small that they were smaller than he would use for grafting. He said in "Better Queens" that these freshly hatched larvae would suffer damage if grafted. Using his later method of using worker comb he achieved better queens than if he would have grafted. He lays out his complete method in his 1949 book "Better Queens", this book was to supersede his book "Queen Rearing Simplified" as far as grafting is concerned. Foe some reason "Better Queens" was not as popular as "Queen Rearing Simplified" and is much more rare and in turn can cost much more if found. The book can still be found if searched for. . .. Keith Malone, Chugiak, Alaska USA, http://www.cer.org/, c(((([ , Apiarian, http://takeoff.to/alaskahoney/, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akbeekeepers/ , http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Norlandbeekeepers/ , http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ApiarianBreedersGuild/ :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::