2 Queens !!!

[jeeper038]

I just did an inspection of one of my hives and I found 2 queens. This hive was a package installed May 9th 08. They almost have the 2nd brood chamber filled and are doing great. The first frame I looked at I found an unmarked queen and thought that they had swarmed without me knowing. Then I flipped the frame over and I found my marked queen. Also, I just captures a swarm 2 days ago and that hive is about 5 feet away from the 2 queen hive. The unmarked queen is bigger than my marked queen.
Questions: What happened or what is going on? What should I do?  Could my swarms queen have gotten in somehow?

[MrILoveTheAnts]

I'll let an expert give you an expert opinion on this.

A 2 queen hive is possible when there are two seperate brood areas, usually to much honey is separating them or a queen excluder or something.

I believe Queen Bees do tolerate one another if one is the mother waiting to swarm, while the other is the daughter waiting to take over the task of egg laying. If they're around one another to long they might out right kill each other, for now though they will get along until one gets the idea to leave.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if 2 queens beehives sometimes occurred naturally. Yellow jackets seem to be doing it in some locations, and it's certainly seen in some species of ants (the invasive fire ant is a shining example of this).

[sc-bee]

You think they may have swarmed already? No sign of old cups etc. You could be a little late---probably seeing a mother and daughter. Seems to me more common than most think. Seems when a beekeeper finds a queen he/she usually never looks for a second.

Most say one will disappear shortly kill or maybe swarm. May be a good time to snatch the old queen or do a split(maybe to late for a split in your area?) or requeen a hive or give to a friend or sell . Old queen needs to come out of hive or they will think they are back to square one. Some other folks on here know these things better than I and I hope will lead you.

[kathyp]

i'd leave it alone and count your blessings!  best hive i every had was a two queen hive.  it may not last, but it sure can't hurt.  just watch for overcrowding.

[sc-bee]

In order to keep both queens do you not need to place and excluder or something between them. Will one not shortly dispatch of the other? Or perhaps a swarm?

As I said above no experice w/two queens that I am aware of but I never look for two!

[kathyp]

sometimes they will co-exist.  if they are happy, so should you be.  don't mess with a good thing!   if they get tired of each other, they will take care of things. 

[sc-bee]

Makes sense to me ---- finding two women that get along is a hard task--- so why ruin a good thing  !

Just kidding .

[bmacior]

I've read 2 queen colonies are more common than people think; and that 2 laying queens generally don't bother each other, it's the virgin queens that are in the kill mode.

And as for women getting along; why is it the best run societies in this world are female--ants, termites, and of course our darling little bees.

[Michael Bush]

They often supersede the first queen but don't get rid of her.  She will eventually disappear, probably this fall or winter.

[sc-bee]

>And as for women getting along; why is it the best run societies in this world are female--ants, termites, and of course our darling little bees. grin

But it never works when two want to be QUEEN !

[bmacior]

Of course it works.  Only 1 bee dies.  When human men want to be king how many of their soldiers die?!