Good Morning all Bee-Liners: I have a question that I need answered. A few weeks back someone posted a comment about requeening and his opinion about queen suppliers having problems with virgin queens. I can't find the post or else I'd reference it. I need to know more about this. I purchased a Double-Hybrid queen 2+ weeks ago to requeen my lackluster Italian hive. I was beset by a multitude of problems. First the queen was the smallest queen (packaged or otherwise) that I've ever seen. Just barely larger than the attendants. Secondly, I received her on a beautiful sunny, warm day but was unable to retrieve her from the P.O. until late afternoon; and since the next day had a favorable weather forecast I decided to wait. The next day dawned cold and rainy. It was the first of three days of rain showers and heavy overcast. Thirdly, I shamefacedly admit that I was unable to locate the old queen after two attempts. In my second botched attempt I spent the better part of an hour delving into the hive in a vain search. I collected some valuable data. For this particular hive the girls tolerence is limited to 45 minutes. I received several stings THROUGH my suit and clothes as reward for my ineptness. I decided to split a nuc off the hive with brood and nurse bees the next day. Much to my delight I discovered that the alarm and sting pheromes were still quite fresh on my suit, so I didn't even get the inner cover off before I was beset by 2 dozen bitchy bees. Retrieveing the brood frames was pandamonium! When I finally placed the queen cage in the nuc, all the attendants were dead but queeny looked ok. The queen was accepted and released without incident. I checked on the nuc Sunday, 9-1 and while queeny was contendedly meandering across the frame there was not a single egg or larvae to be found. I should also mention that there was a golenrod flow but all field bees went back to the parent hive, so I fed sugar syrup. By my rough calculation the queen has been free for about 9-10 days. What are your considered opinions? Do I have a virgin? If so, what should I do now? Wait for supercedure? or send for another queen? Should I wait awhile longer and see what develops? I don't want to wait too long, as Fall is upon us up here. Thanks for your help in advance, Tim Peters, Kirby VT [log in to unmask] KirBee Apiary, Bear Bait Honey I rather be flying!