Two queens in a colony

[Woodland bees]

I assumed one of my colonies had superseded late last year as I noted the queen was different in my first inspection of the year. I've inspected it regularly and either seen a queen or eggs. I've not done a thorough inspect until today due to the weather.

Today I went through it and found two queens. I'm reasonably sure neither is a recent hatching as there's been no sign of Q cells.

One queen was fairly large, had her abdomen in a cell and was circled by attentive workers (I thought it was strange as I've never seen that before, mostly the queens run around and occasionally can be seen laying). The other queen was smaller and running about but she had an egg attached to her end.

Now I know it's not unusual to see two queens in a hive but can they co-exist for a few months? I also found a single queen cup with an egg in, but no jelly, so I'm wondering if the superseded queen isn't up to it and they are going to try again. There is room in the hive but I wouldn't guarantee they are not planning on swarming.

Is there anything I should do or just leave them to it?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I assumed one of my colonies had superseded late last year as I noted the queen was different in my first inspection of the year. I've inspected it regularly and either seen a queen or eggs. I've not done a thorough inspect until today due to the weather.

Today I went through it and found two queens. I'm reasonably sure neither is a recent hatching as there's been no sign of Q cells.

One queen was fairly large, had her abdomen in a cell and was circled by attentive workers (I thought it was strange as I've never seen that before, mostly the queens run around and occasionally can be seen laying). The other queen was smaller and running about but she had an egg attached to her end.

Now I know it's not unusual to see two queens in a hive but can they co-exist for a few months? I also found a single queen cup with an egg in, but no jelly, so I'm wondering if the superseded queen isn't up to it and they are going to try again. There is room in the hive but I wouldn't guarantee they are not planning on swarming.

Is there anything I should do or just leave them to it?

Yes, in fact once I had three generations, all coexisting in the same hive until well into the summer

 

[madasafish]

Mother and daughter Qs have been seen living together for months. Don't worry: the mother will eventually die.