<> This is a good point, a lot would depend on how reliable your local climate is. I wouldn't want a lot of needless brood either, the bees probably wouldn't survive the British climate without feeding. That's not to say that you can't find two queens in a hive at times in the UK though. <<The story of the queens brought to a meeting years ago in an observation hive has certainly grown as the original story I heard was two queens. My experience with queens is if you put two together they fight. I have found two in the same hive both laying but when I put them together they fought. I quickly separated the two but still they fought. Hmmm. As a person which raises queens I have never seen a queen hatch first and not try to kill all the other queens which have not hatched yet. In my opinion two queens working side by side is putting human characteristics on insects. Very unnatural but agree although rare can happen but not normal bee behavior. Sincerely, Bob Harrison>> A commercial beekeeper in Scotland who is on the Irish List reports finding this regularly, with two marked queens being found still together, if I remember right, up to a year after the younger was introduced. Beowulf Cooper reported it in some strains of A.m.m. ('supersedure strains'), and published photos of mother and daughter queens together on a comb in his book. This is probably an insurance against mating failures in an unfavourable climate. Regards, Robert Brenchley [log in to unmask] Birmingham, UK.