Hey Bee-L'ers.


I had a shock on Sunday when the temps got above 60 and i began cracking
lids...  of  18 colonies i had bees flying from all of them and i felt very
proud... upon opening the 8th box which had been a colony that was queenless
(at least i thought it was) last october, and had been combined with a
queenright colony, i was proud to find my (red marked) queen along with 1
frame of eggs and a small patch of capped brood.  I moved to the next frame
and found a 2nd (red/marked) queen as well.   these two had been in the same
box for the past 3 months.  evidently, the colony that i thought was
queenless was in fact not so..  But for the two to have survived together
for 3 months or more was striking.

has anyone had this experience or seen this before...  I know that a
supersedure queen may hang with the mother for a while, before the old lady
is disposed of but this takes the cake for me..

i placed one queen in a nuc box with 2 frames of bees, but today on 2nd
thought, i wonder if it would not have been best to have left the two
together and let nature take it's course.

any thoughts anyone

thanks.


jimmy odom
charlotte nc

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