This spring I purchased 200 Strachan queens and had about 30% superscede. Mating weather in CA was poor so might be hard to say if it was comb or weather. However during the same time period I purchased 50 packages from Olivarez who is just north of Strachan but nearby. Of the packages 1 or 2 supersceded and overall were way more prolific then the splits I made with the Strachan queeens.. The owner Ray I think his name is talked at length about the affects of chems in comb and his efforts to have new clean drone comb.. So my point is there are CA queen producers out there who hear the "data". -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---