If you unite hives do you ever end up with 2 laying queens?

[Sutty]

I have a bunch of hives to unite this autumn. I've always culled one queen prior to unites but have no real preference for some. If you unite 2 queenright hives do they always reduce to one, or do two occasionally stay laying?
Also, how often do they both die & leave you with none?!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Murray does this a lot and it seems to work with one surviving.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

just done it and have in the past - always ended up with one.

 

[Redcap]

So does this result in one massive scrap until one of the queens is killed, or is it more subtle, and the non victorious queen is booted out, game over?

 

[Erichalfbee]

The queens do not fight. The bees do one in

 

[philipm]

I,m reducing from five hives to three ,always thought that you had to dispatch one queen but this makes it a lot easier.

 

[enrico]

Never done it, I presume you do a paper or spray unite and hope for the best.

 

[Sutty]

The queens do not fight. The bees do one in

Interesting - I'd always understood they fought. Where did you find this out?

 

[Poly Hive]

Always... no such word in the beekeeping world. Bees do nothing invariably though is safe to say.

PH

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I presume you do a paper or spray unite and hope for the best.

yes

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Bees do nothing invariably though is safe to say.

Manley was correct in that - and he was only quoting another (lady) beekeeper who regularly wrote in the bee journal in the 1920's

 

[Erichalfbee]

Interesting - I'd always understood they fought. Where did you find this out?

Sealey probably but I can’t be sure.
Think about it
Would bees from one colony allow a foreign queen to walk about unmolested till she found the other to fight?

 

[OH honey]

Sealey probably but I can’t be sure.
Think about it
Would bees from one colony allow a foreign queen to walk about unmolested till she found the other to fight?

I plan reducing 3 to 2 after treatments etc so this thread is very helpful. To be clear, I just pop 1 BB on the other with paper between and no QE? After how long will it be before its 1 united colony, and what about reducing to 1 BB for winter? (shake them in to 1 box? put QE back on and wait for 1 box to empty?)

 

[Sutty]

Sealey probably but I can’t be sure.
Think about it
Would bees from one colony allow a foreign queen to walk about unmolested till she found the other to fight?

Once the colony odours have mingled adequately I don't know!
I've often wondered what allows superceding queens and their mothers to coexist happily & whether it could be reproduced.