>Hi Bee folk, > Does anyone have any information on the way the group mind of the colony behaves. For example I have heard that a colony will allow several queens to hatch out - isolating each one with a small court of attendants - to keep them apart. Letting them out one by one to mate and in some cases allowing several queens (up to four in the case mentioned ) to lay in separate parts of the hive without any fuss. I know about the Cjemical signals emitted by the Queen but it is this detailed working of the consensual mind that is the curious feature I am interested in. Any comments?? David Warr Warrington Cheshire England