I have read an interesting booklet entitled 'A Simple Two-Queen System' by
Ron Brown dated December 1980.
He makes a point regarding introducing a queen in July August or September.
The beekeeper removes the old queen (possibly marked) and then introduces
the new queen. The next morning the new queen is found dead. What the
beekeeper did not know, was that the bees had superseded the old queen and
that she was still in the hive.
He does not give any procedure to attempt to find out if there is a second
queen in the hive. I would imagine she would be extremely difficult to find.
Presumably the beekeeper has missed the queen cells - difficult to understand.
Any ideas on the subject.
Sincerely
Tom Barrett
49 South Park
Foxrock
Dublin 18
Ireland
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Location: Northern hemisphere