Hi Mike & all

dave originally said...
>> it is possible for her to live several years alongside a daughter

Mike replied...
 > From my personal experience I see the above as a very very rare
> occurrence at least in the bees we use in the U.S. My guess would
> be one in around 200 hives has two laying queens.

I have not have enough colonies over the last few years to be able to put
precise numbers on it, but within the colonies I have kept over the last 20
years I reckon as many as 25% would have had two queens, three queens is a
good deal rarer and I would reckon one hive in 200 to one hive in 300 having
three generations.

I also think that two queens is more common than many think, simply because
they 'see' a queen and presume that she is the only one... They do not go
looking for a second queen.


Best Regards & 73s, Dave Cushman... G8MZY
Beekeeping & Bee Breeding Website
Email: [log in to unmask] or  [log in to unmask]
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman & http://www.dave-cushman.net

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