I am so glad to be a mentor-I sure appreciated mine!
We have eight hives and a bee tree, and have not bought a Queen in 3 years, always leaving our bees to make their own. We live very rurally, and I am not aware of any beekeepers within 4-5 miles, but that certainly doesn't mean there aren't any. Then there's feral bees - so our bees are probably mutts by now - they are also not as nice as they used to be. One hive is downright hot. Our three hives in our top apiary are pretty docile, I opened them up just to say hi this evening (it was still sunny and relatively warm) and they just looked at me like Captain's Kilroy!
My mentee just got two packages of Italians, and they are so sweet and docile and calm and pretty (and no mites evident on the baseboard). I'm thinking of buying some Italian Queens and requeening a couple of my hives. What'ya think?