nuc preparation for virgin and mated queens

[guatebee]

Most opinions indicate that a strong hive,although queenless, is much harder to requeen than a small hive or nuc. So, one should make up a 2 or 3 frame queenless nuc, some 5 days before her majesty arrives.
Question #1: can queen cells be destroyed inmediately before (i.e. during)introduction?

Question #2: after some 5 or 8 days of undisturbed living, the queenright nuc can be united to the parent colony, again making sure no cells are present. Right? Plenty of smoke helps disguise odors, but it is also very stressing. What do you think?


Some or many beekeepers do support the idea of local mating, because the local drone force is better adapted to the particular conditions of the apiary site. This means that purchasing virgins is a choice.
Question #3: What is the main difference in management when introducing a virgin queen?
Timing?
Size of hosting colony?


Thanks for the help.

[Velbert]

guatebee Question #1 Destroy inmediately before introduction. I always waite until you have your Queen before making up the nuc. I just leave them queenles over night. then reQueen.But in you place it might be a good idea to make up nuc 5-6 bays before introducing new Queen so they can't raise a emergance Queen Because of the AHB in your area but look very close a each frame some E-Q Cells are very small i have seen them capped and didn't look much bigger than a capped Drone cell... #2 I have put them in when their is brood in all stages usally when there is a good necture flow and it works... #3 I put in 40 virgin queens in 40 mini nucs with Build combs with a very small amount of bees 12 oz cup full of bees shaken from the brood nest Got a grand total of (4) laying Queens some killed the Queens,some left with bees (swarmed) most killed the Queens.The best way that has worked for me is to shake the cup full of bees onto nothing but foundation and FEED, keep closed up with plenty of air ventilation until the Queen is 3 days old then she gets her pharmon.I do these in small mini nucs.out of 25 got 24 laying Queens from introducing virgins. also next batch out of 12 got 9 laying Queens 1 queen left with all the bees the other 2 killed the queens if weather is good most usally will have laying queens in 11-12 days from the time Queen hatched. some may take a few more days