Supercedure

[Ern]

What happens to the old queen in a supercedure? Is she killed by the new virgin queen?

Ern

[Rick 1456]

My understanding is the workers administer the axe. Too risky to allow the replacement queen to be killed or injured.
I will defer to ME beeks here. Along those lines, I would like to know when??

Rick SoMd

[Oldtimer]

It survives till after the new queen is laying, then it deteriorates, gets smaller and looks much older, quickly. Commonly it's wings will get chewed off. Eventually it disappears.

Strangely enough there is not much agro between the two queens, I have often seen a new supersedure queen right next to the old one, on the same comb, and both laying.

[rjg]

I just noticed Im in the same boat here. Along those same lines when do you think I should mark the new Queen? And could I use a regular "non-toxic", thats what it says anyway, paint pen?

[Oldtimer]

If the new queen is mated you can mark it. Some people mark virgins but IMO it's not a good plan.

For a pen, Posca is a good brand for this job. You could try any other pen you like, but just what "non toxic" means I don't know, sometimes it refers to the amount a person might be expected to absorb during normal use, which would be proportionately a lot less than a queen with a big dob of it on it's back. If you want to try a different pen give it a try on a worker first to see how it stands out. With the Posca pens, green usually stands out well, white is good also but slowish to dry.

[Velbert]

if incoming nectar and pollen is good they both will lay for a time and when it slows down the older queen will disapear. I have seen them push them out the old Queen with a small swarm of bee 1/2-1 Lbs

[waynesgarden]

I've learned to wait for the queen to be laying for a while before marking her. She's a bit more slow-moving and less apt to take flight to avoid capture.

Wayne