Paul Koski asks about requeening. 1. It is not unusual for several queens to be in any swarm where the old queen is not present. While this is usually a swarm after the primary swarm ( an afterswarm or a secondary swarm ) it can also be a swarm from a hive with a clipped queen or any condition where the hive queen could not join the swarm. Usually, or perhaps always, these queens will be unmated. 2. It could be that both queens could not mate properly because of inclement weather or a lack of drones. The latter condition is suspected by some as being common, due to varroa s preference for drone brood. 3. I believe that there is considerable dis-agreement concerning whether the presence of the worker bees in a queen cage hinders acceptance. Commercial beekeepers that I know leave them in the cage. I personally leave them in the cage. 4. At least two studies, cited by Dr. Tom Seeley at Cornell, maintain that workers more readily accept a queen of the same line than a queen of a differing line. However, I recall these studies were examining two different lines of Italians, which are more closely related than any line of Italian would be to any line of Carnolians. Moreover, these studies showed a preference for queens that were genetically related and did not show that workers would always reject queens not genetically related. I have often successfully introduced Carnolian queens to Italian hives with no difficulty. Lloyd [log in to unmask] Owner, Ross Rounds the finest in comb honey production.