[Todd 64]

One of my hives swarmed a week ago, (prime swarm) yesterday they produced
two more.Two hours after hiving the last two, i found a queen with eight workers on the face of one of the hives. She was`ent looking to good. The rest of the swarm has stayed put. Twice i placed her back in the hive only to have her back on the face a minute later. A small gust of wind blow her of the hive. She appeard to be very weak. I was wundering if their can be more than one queen in a swarm? Was she stung by the other? Can anyone tell me if the virgin queens get mated before they swarm?

Thanks,Todd64

 

[D Coates]

I had what I thought was a 2 queen swarm last week. I was feeling quite ****y about seeing and catching 2 queens in the mass of a swarm. They seem,ed to jump out like sore thumbs. After caging them separately in the swarm for a day, I marked them both, and released them both figuring they'd straighten it out. 3 days ago when I was refilling the feeder I glanced for eggs. None yet but there was a large unmarked queen. I guess their were 3 queens in retrospect. Nonetheless, I closed it up and will review for eggs in this weekend. Yesterday 3 out of 5 foragers were bringing in pollen so I feel pretty sure there's a laying queen.

Were the queens virgins? Considering none of them were laying within a couple of days I'd say yes. I'm under the impression that if there are multiple queens, that means they are virgins. I am also under the impression that only the original queen is mated before they casts with a swarm. All other afterswarms leave with virgin queens.

I am certain that if I am incorrect in my impressions I will be corrected (and rightly so).

 

[Todd 64]

Hey D.C, thanks. Just checked both swarms and found a healthy queen in both. Will wait a week to see if they had a good time on the town.
Wundering, will a queen mate on a rainy day if left no choice? My bees do a lot of flying in lite rain. Weather forcast calling for rain for next four days. Lucky for the bees the weather man is incorrect 80% of the time.

 

[D Coates]

I've wondered that very question but found no conclusive information on it. They may try but I'd bet on occasion it would lead to queens not making it back and the occasional hive going queenless.