Alden P. Marshall wrote:
 
>         Bob, don't know why this phenomena is not mentioned more in bee
> literature. I't is not exactly a common occurrence but on occasion mother
> and daughter will work side by side for awhile and eventually mother
> disappears.
 
A good friend of mine once had two unrelated queens - both marked -
survive the winter here in the Anchorage, Alaska area.  We found them
accidently when inspecting the hive in the spring.  My buddy has a
picture of the two queens on one frame.  As we watched the two passed
right beside one another ignoring each other.
 
The previous summer the hive had been a two queen colony.  It appeared
that the two got so accustomed to their respective odors that they each
learned to ignore the other.
 
Is THAT common?  I doubt it.  But even laying workers will eventually
accept a queen if she is caged among them long enough.  I learned that
from experience.  It takes several weeks though and is probably never
apt to be useful.
 
Tom
--
"Test everything.  Hold on to the good."  (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
 
Tom Elliott
Chugiak,  Alaska
U.S.A.
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