I just checked some of my hives. Not much honey despite beautiful weather and golden rod and knotweed in full bloom ??? (is this what others in Mass experience?). But one hive surprised me. Several weeks ago I saw few queen cells, looked like supersedure. I left them alone, the "old" (this year) queen was still there. Today I am pulling one frame and there is new, unmarked queen. I thought they got rid of the old one and there is not many drones left. But I am pulling next frame and the is the old queen. Two queens on neighboring frames ! What are they planning to do? Winterize with two, or get rid of one if the new one mates? There was open brood, so the old one is laying.
I was just reading about this in a book. It said in fall it is common for the bees to supersede the old queen and you will often find that two queens are living peacefully side by side. Im sorry but thats all I remember. Im sure they will sort it out on there own. Im guessing the new queen will eventually kill her mother. I will have to try to find that part in the book again. If I do find it I will write back.
a two queen hive is not so uncommon. eventually, you may end up with only one, but two is not a bad thing.
I sold a nuc out of a hive this spring, queen included. Made sure I left eggs for raising a new queen. Checked for q-cells one week later and found frames of eggs. That's when I knew there had been two queens.
The Bible, ABC-XYZ say a mother - daughter Queen hive is generaly a booming hive, However it is generaly not a long term relationship !
Bee-Bop
I split a hive 4 or so weeks ago. Could not find the queen when I split. Went a few days later to check for eggs, to see which box had a queen and they both had a queen :-D!