Quote:
Originally Posted by massphatness
A colony will often introduce a new queen to the hive themselves if they sense the old queen is slowing down because her egg laying production drops or pheromones aren't as strong. They literally raise a new queen. Since the new queen comes from an egg laid by the old queen, they are often allowed to co-exist in the hive as genetically they are mother/daughter. If the hive doesn't WANT two queens, they kill the older one once the younger one is established.
The above is wholly based on what I learned in the classes I took, and doesn't represent any firsthand experiences. However, many of the blogs I follow seem to confirm it.
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That's what it is, Vin, but it gets bigger.
Most times the girls will feed up a number of ladies with royal jelly, turning them into queens.
When the very first queen erupts, she runs around and chews the heads off the other queens while they're still in the comb.
That also depends.
Generally she'll eat all their heads. If she leaves one, she has reason.
Mostly it's hive strength.
This is cool...
You know how you're to NEVER set a hive in the shade because "the bees get aggressive"?
And this is partly my personal feeling or theory mixed with my own stuff from studying and working with critters and sh1t my entire life.
It's hive temperature.
Bees are extremely intelligent and sensitive.
If something has happened to the hive that's caused the population to be just right for the hive, the new queen eats some serious heads.
If it's low, and the hive is going to swarm, maybe a new queen.
Depends. Large, healthy colony or sick small one?
Small and sick, Likely an extra queen. I case.
The hive will swarm to find a smaller home that they can support with their population, move in, recover and survive to grow. Or not. Depends how sick they got. You understand susceptibility, I won't blather on that.
Healthy hive. They move because it's too hot or too cold and they get b1tchy, exactly like we do.
The standing queen will let a queen live, and maybe two. One to replace her. Depends on her age. Another wrinkly but that's not gonna happen often, the "let 2 new queens live".
That's enough typing.
And this stuff is obviously deeper, but I know you'll think it into submission. Or call me.
But it's temperature in the hive.
You can use the same question to answer "why does part of the hive swarm sometimes, but the whole swarms sometimes?"
You won't find an answer for that anywhere. Or maybe you will now. That was the 64 dollar question years ago.
But it's easy enough to figure out.
Temperature.