Yes, I often let the bees sort it out. However, I watch the bees closely as
they move up the board into the hive and, on occasion, I will remove a queen or
two if I see several. The ones I remove are generally the pale queens as this
can be an indication that they have more imported genes (Buckfast, Carnica,
Italian etc). My bees are all mongrels but I like to keep them with fewer
imported genes if possible.
I am far from convinced that the bees allow the queens just to fight, as is
generally suggested. My feeling is that it is more complex than that. I once
saw a queen submit to a rival by becoming catatonic. The other queen climbed
onto this queen’s back, administered a sting (fatal) and then walked into the
hive, followed by the bees. This occurred after considerable circling of the
two queens around each other and general sizing up.
Gareth
On 3 Jul 2021, at 15:02, Barbara Elizabeth Robinson <liz20swan@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi Gareth,
I'm interested in your comment about combining.
Do you let the queens sort themselves out?
Liz.
On Sat, Jul 3, 2021, 14:14 Gareth John <gj.garethjohn@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:gj.garethjohn@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Of the 15 or so swarms I’ve handled this year, all have been on the small
side. I usually get the occasional whopper, but not this year. So much so
that I have been combining them when hived, two and sometimes three swarms to
a hive.
Gareth
On 3 Jul 2021, at 10:43, Andrew Bax (Redacted sender "andrew.bax" for DMARC)
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
It may be my imagination but all five of the swarms I have collected so far
seem to have been smaller than in previous years. Andrew
