>
>
> Both these methods are fraught with danger for the colony of course, for
> if the virgin kills the queen she still has to mate successfully.


This is news to me. I wasn't aware that supersedure "daughter" queens
battled with their successors.

When I learned about beekeeping at NCSU under Dr. Tarpy and Dr. Ambrose, I
was told a replacement supersedure queen would hatch, mate, and often begin
laying side by side with the old queen. Then, the old queen was "replaced."
When we asked how, we were told its still one of the unknowns of beekeeping
(and it was suggested if someone had a significant amount of time on their
hands and a desire to do a research project they could watch a supersedure
take place in an observation hive and find out what happens to the old
queen, whether the daughter kills her, the bees kill her, or she removes
herself altruistically).

Has that been figured out in the past 14 years? Or is it still an unknown?

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