Rearing Queens and breeding bees - A Practical Manual of Beekeeping - page 232

Advantages : This method is easy - the bees do all the 'thinking'. The beekeeper can also
assess and choose the best cells from a good selection, and very little extra equipment
is needed.
Disadvantages : The beekeeper has no control over the timing of queen-cell production,
and assessing the age of the cells can be difficult. Remember that, if the cells are cut out
and moved too early, the queen may be damaged.
Note : If you find sealed queen cells, it is likely the colony has already swarmed. Look
for the open queen cell, therefore, and for a virgin or young queen: the bees may have
re-queened for you.
The let-alone method: variations
(Larval transfer not necessary.)
Variation 1
This method is based on the fact that queenless bees will try to raise another queen
from young larvae. Again, it allows the bees to develop their own larvae into queens but,
this time, the beekeeper has a greater say in the timings.
Procedure
The following is the procedure for variation 1:
During the spring, check that the colony has plenty of drone larvae or that the
drones are flying.
Make sure the colony has eggs and young larvae. Remove the queen and place her
in a prepared nucleus with a frame of brood and bees, and some honey frames.
This is for safe keeping in case things go wrong and the bees don't develop another
queen.
Inspect the colony 48 hours later to see if queen cells have been started.