Last week's news: I know mother and daughter are often found in the same hive, but I was surprised at the length of time one of my mother-daughter teams have been together now.
Around mid-May I saw a new queen in the hive, and no sign of the mother. By mid-June I marked her red. I assumed she was mated as there were eggs in the hive, and I still didn't see the mother. I saw the red queen once more, and then for the whole of July I didn't see a queen at all - but there were always eggs.
The beginning of this month I saw yet another new queen - unmarked - in the super (no queen excluder), and found the mother still happily living downstairs in the brood box, and no red queen. During my inspection I moved the new queen into the brood box and assumed the mother will have vanished by my next visit - but she's still there! The young queen is back in the super and the mother is below.
So, since mid-May the mother and a daughter have been living together - three months! Is that usual? (Out of interest - the mother is one of the queens that survived floating down the Deveron in January 2016.)
Kitta
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