In a message dated 6/24/99 6:54:59 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> A week after that, I went to look at the colony
>  and there was a lot of eggs, but I found an
>  UNMARKED queen.  I doubt the bees could
>  have taken off the marking material so soon.
>  I also found two opened swarm cells that I must
>  have missed in an earlier inspection.  There must
>  have been a swarm, but did the new queen leave
>  with the swarm?  Did the colony swarm before I
>  introduced the new queen and did the virgin swarm
>  queen kill the introduced queen?  I captured this
>  queen and ordered another queen and installed it
>  today but I am wondering what happened.

   When they swarm, they are broodless for awhile, so I would guess that they
did not swarm. Did you notice if the population was down?   More likely they
were in process of supercedure. The old queen and the young queen may both
lay for awhile, so there may be no interruption in the brood cycle.

    If they already had their own young queen, they wouldn't accept the one
you gave them.

[log in to unmask]     Dave Green  Hemingway, SC  USA
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