queens killing queend?

[mrbillz]

good morning!

recently split a hive that appearently lost it's queen. The 2 split hives are next to each other about 1 foot apart and a third is 1 foot from the middle and is a 2 box hive) (so 3 hives 1 foot apart) I requeened the center box but decided to let the other half of the split raise it's own queen - she should be emerging any day now. Mt question is when she takes her mating flight how likely would it be that she would return to the wrong hive and kill the resident queen. In other words, should I move the queenless colony away from the others?

Thanks!

[jimbee]

I would. Also, If you can place or paint some distingushing feature on the hive, it makes it easier for her to "landmark the correct hive.

[Michael Bush]

Or simply face the two on the outside to the outside, so all three face different directions.

It's not REAL likely, but it's not at all unheard of for her to return to the wrong one.

[mrbillz]

Thanks for the suggestions - and reassurance. I did get quite a bit of drift from the split which I sort of expected given that they were so close.