Queen cage Fight!

[Frantz]

Boy they don't waste time going at it do they? I had about 4 queen cells that I was waiting to open up in the ob hive and within about an hours time it looks like two of them emerged. I did not get to see it, darn it. But I did notice a queen on the bottom who looked like she had just about had it. Then I noticed another queen and I think that she was flexing. I was hoping to use the ob hive as kind of a queen rearing hive to get a few hives built up and have a spare queen just in case. I have learned a lot in the last couple of weeks just watching. I had a queen in there the other day and she just raced around a lot. She did not go for the other cells and tear them apart right away, so I am glad I got her out of there this morning otherwise it would have been a three way match..
Learning a lot about the girls with this ob hive. ..
F

[Nelly]

A couple of years ago, my hive superseded their queen.  I was unaware until I was working the hives and I heard that piping that the newly hatched queen makes.  Found the hive she was in and just got to the right frame when she raced out.   The old queen had never been as good as my others in their hives.  I figured I'd let nature take its course, and put the frame back in the hive.  A few days later, I observed the new queen in the hive, the old marked queen was nowhere to be found. 

Seeing her race out of her cell was so exciting!!!

Good luck with your queening efforts-

Nelly

[Michael Bush]

I've seen a queen emerge and kill every other queen and all the cells in a matter of less than a day.  I've also seen them piddle around and not get to it for a couple of days.