_Seneca Falls, N. Y._, Oct. 5, 1870.
[For the American Bee Journal.]
Why are Two Queens Sometimes Found in One Hive?
MR. EDITOR:--Mr. A. Green, in the October number of the Journal, gives
an account of finding two queens in one hive. Other correspondents have
also given us their knowledge of similar facts; but none have, I think,
given us any reasons for such exceptions.
Last fall I bought an Italian queen from a reliable breeder. She came
recommended as A No. 1. I received her on the 8th of September. All the
workers sent with her were dead, except two; and she was herself so
benumbed by cold that I had quite a time of it bringing her back to
vitality. Finally I succeeded in getting her quite lively, and
introduced her to a tolerably weak swarm. On the 10th of October finely
marked Italians were flying in front of the hive. I spared no pains in
wintering. (I winter out-of-doors.) In April she had filled three cards
of brood. I then gave her a card of drone-comb. She would not look at
it, and I moved it back and put in its place a card of worker-comb,
which she filled with eggs almost instanter. I then put the drone-comb
in the middle of the cluster, and got about fifty drones. Of course I
was stimulating, and kept plenty of honey in the hive. I put in other
worker-comb, but she refused to lay any more. I then took out a frame to
start a nucleus, and in about a week after, when examining the old
stock, I found queen cells started and the old queen on the comb,
apparently all right. In due course a young queen was hatched, and after
destroying the queen-cells, she remained with the old queen ten days
before she was fertilized, and at least a week after she was laying. At
the end of three weeks the old queen was gone.
Now, what does this prove? Simply that the queen was chilled in coming
by mail, which interfered with her prolificness, rendering her
supersedure a necessity for the future welfare of the colony. She was
tolerated in the hive by the new queen and bees, having lost that
distinct individuality peculiar to the queen bee, and consequently
become to them (the workers and young queen) no more than a common bee.
I cannot help but conclude that when such exceptions occur, the course
relatively is the same.