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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