To unite or not?

[steveselvage]

I have a very strong colony in a commercial brood with a 2009 queen,they tried to swarm constantly in may so i did an a/s and they settled down.
They have filled four supers with the fifth partially capped.
I also have a colony that appeared in a bait hive with a new queen and they have been building up at an amazing rate, they also seem very gentle and need only a whiff of smoke, never complaining about my clumsy inspections.
I am considering what to do next regarding the 2 year old queen, should i let her overwinter or should i unite these colonies and keep the young queen?
Would there be any advantage in having a younger queen?
Should i overwinter them both as insurance?

 

[Rosti]

You do not say how many colonies you have? It would be bonkers (IMO) to unite and over winter a single colony irrespective of how old either queen is. If that becomes your only colony.

If you have multiple hives, can aford to drop one and have a new 2010 queen (of what ever source) with characteristics that you would like to bring forward then why not unite, afterall you already have a respectable crop from the hive in question and balance between current performance and future potential is a valid consideration