George Styer reports on two queens in a hive and asks  how ?
 
>The excluder was put in place after i had brood in my
cut-comb super.<
>So how do I end up with 2 laying queens, one on each side of the QX? I can
not offer up an explaination of how a laying queen could end up above the
excluder since there could not have been any eggs up there from which to
raise a queen.<
 
George, this is not the first time I have heard of ending up with two queens
when a queen excluder was put below a super with eggs or young larvae.  If
there was a crack or hole above the queen excluder, it is not surprising
that the bees raised a new queen and she mated.  Otherwise, I believe your
supposition is correct the young queen managed to get through the excluder
for mating flights and to commence egg laying.
 
As far as why the two queens did not fight and kill one, my understanding is
that a virgin queen will co-exist comfortably with her mother and that even
after the virgin mates there is a period of several weeks when both  queens
will occupy a hive and both will lay eggs.  This is covered in Tom Seeley s
book The Wisdom of the Hive.
 
Lloyd
[log in to unmask]
Owner, Ross Rounds   the finest in comb honey production.