Three queens

[Tim1606]

On the 3rd July i found an unmarked queen where there should have been last years blue one. So i marked her white, finished off and closed up.

30th July i could not find the new white marked queen but i did find the original blue one. Now i am confused.

Yesterday, 24th August, i found the white queen AND the blue queen on different frames going about their business. Now really confused, BUT, i then found another unmarked queen. Took her away and is now temporarily in a five frame nuc.

Has anyone ever come across this before?

 

[drstitson]

no - but interesting stock to breed from????

 

[WaxManSmokerBoy]

Actually sounds liked quite a result. Especially if you managed to pop one of the other two into a nuc too.

 

[Norton]

YES! I have mentioned this before - I have also found 3 queens in a hive - once only up to now.
About 5% of all hives have 2 queens in them at all times!
Best regards
Norton.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Sounds like supersedure gone mad! or HM cancelled swarming due to bad weather!

 

[Swarm]

Whatever it is, it does sound very interesting ... and I agree with DrStitson.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

I'd call it Perfect Supercedure Plus. PSP.

 

[Norton]

In our hive it appeared to be the result of absconding from two other hives that all ended up in one. I also suspect that many cases of CCD are actually severe cases of absconding. The disappearance of large numbers of worker bees from hives can be explained by this behaviour.

 

[Tim1606]

In our hive it appeared to be the result of absconding from two other hives that all ended up in one. I also suspect that many cases of CCD are actually severe cases of absconding. The disappearance of large numbers of worker bees from hives can be explained by this behaviour.

You could be right because a few weeks before we had one of the nucs robbed out by wasps. Now thinking about it, i wonder if some plus queenie just upped and went to the nearest hive. Would love to know.

 

[oliver90owner]

i wonder if some plus queenie just upped and went to the nearest hive.

Sounds like supersedure gone mad!

Not gone mad at all, just simplest guess is PSP, as Hebeegeebee says. The plus, to me, denotes two queens-a-laying, so plenty of bees to overwinter. I would think three queens is a real rarity, but as Norton says he has 5% with two queens, the odds on three must be, at most 5% of 5%, but probably a great deal less than that.

RAB

 

[newportbuzz]

i had one hive one step away from that last week.
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=13314
they are now all seperated no queen cells left and my nice mated queen is dead. i guess the angry hive won this round ill be back.

 

[Norton]

I have attached a scan from the BKQ (reproduced with permission) - when read with CCD in mind and absconding of hives (which I have always said is the cause of CCD) you can see that Job Pichon had all the symptoms but did not connect the size of the swarms with absconding and swarms with multiple mated queens. Read the "Breton season and Bad surprises".

 

[Norton]

The dead bees in front of the hives on the moor were probably the result of absconding bees trying to get into other hives.