That seems to be a common problem, most of the queen breeders are up north or in warmer areas and what works for them doesn't necessarily work well for us in colder wetter climes. I have had a couple of bought in queens that just won't stop laying over winter and run the colony in to the ground.
On the other hand I have one colony of really dark bees I got from a cut out locally that are the quietest bees I have ever worked with and are really frugal with their winter supplies. Unfortunately they don't produce a lot either, I have never gotten any honey from them! I refuse to re-queen them though as they are such great bees :-D