I intend to demarree a hive tomorrow, if warm enough, its on brood and a half, Q is two years old, bees feisty, and I'm not sure I want to raise a Q from her. Is the following a sensible idea? After doing the demarree, graft the larvae from chosen hive, putting the cell starter frame in with the brood at the top of the hive. Also if the bees start their own Q cells I could take out the larva and replace with a larva from the donor colony.
If I just allowed the bees to start Q cells from the brood at the top of the hive I would have to make up nucs? But if using a cell raiser frame/cupkits I can raise a few queens with far less bees and without drastically splitting the hive. Please feel free to shoot the idea down if it is stoopid Thanks.