>  cases of two queens per hive...I wonder if that particular 
> characteristic isn't necessarily linked to
>aggression.


I had a wickedly mean hive two summers ago. I usually leave them alone, 
when they are in an isolated outyard, but this one was in my cell building 
yard. Not many colonies can make me put on gloves, but this one sure did. 
So, I killed the queen...ouch!...and planned on giving a ripe cell the 
following day. Stupid me. Always trying to do too much in one day. I forgot 
to give the cell. Five days later, I remembered. OK, no big deal. I'll just 
kill the emergency cells, and give a laying, caged queen. There weren't any 
cells started?? They had a second queen. I killed her...ouch ouch!!...and 
successfully requeened the colony. I wonder how often this happens, too. 
When trying to requeen a really mean colony, the process often fails. How 
many times is it because there are two queens present.

I seem to have more colonies with multiple queens in recent years. Two 
years ago, I requeened 50 colonies, and found 17 with multiple queens. None 
of them were particularly defensive. Maybe the increase in multiple queened 
colonies has to do with my allowing colonies to supercede. If a colony 
successfully supercedes, and the queen is good, I accept that queen. I 
don't requeen annually, or by the calendar. I am not trying to maintain any 
specific breed or coloration in my bees. Perhaps by doing so, I am 
selecting for colonies that supercede, and so am getting more multiple 
queened colonies?
Mike  


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