OK here's some info especially for W. PA. area beekeepers.
I plan to re-queen my 2 new packages this Summer. There is a local beekeeper that raises queens from survivor stock plus daughter queens raised from pure Russian queens. His name is Stephen Repasky. He is a Master beekeeper, President of BurghBees, 2nd vice President of the PA Beekeepers Assn. He has hives all over the local area. And if you go to his website, be sure to watch the video "Portrait of an Urban Beekeeper". The link is on his homepage. It's a very nicely done video.
Here is his website.
http://meadowsweetbees.com
Here is the BurghBees website:
http://burghbees.com
You may have seen Stephen on TV recently removing bees from the Penn Brewery wall collapse.
http://www.wtae.com/news/giant-beehi...6139968#!TJjG0
Stephen sells queens that are available for local pick-up or you can have them shipped. I think shipping is very expensive----even locally, but I'm not sure. He lives in Dormont, so that's about as Pittsburgh as it gets. I want to re-queen this Summer because it may help lessen the swarming instinct next Spring if they survive the Winter and it will give me, what I hope, will be a bit more hardy stock than the Southern queens that came with my 2 new packages. I know Stephen as I am a new member of BurghBees and have attended a couple of his classes. He's a very knowledgeable person and an excellent teacher, plus he's a really nice guy.
Paul