Today 10/21/09 I had two week hives that I attempted to combine into one for winter using newspaper. I wanted to keep the younger of the two queens (in hive A) and terminate the queen in hive B. I found the queen in A. I couldn't find the queen in B after much looking, but I combined them anyway and hoped that she truly wasn't in there.
If queen B was still in there, what will happen now?
What a mess. This was more difficult than I thought. I had both hives open and must have attracted every robber bee in the county!!!...sunny,calm and 65 degrees.
Eventually the two queens will find eachother. One will kill the other. Usually the stronges queen lives, probably your younger queen anyway. If your queens are marked, you will be able to see who the winner was come spring. If not, no worries, one queen will live. You can always re-queen in the spring if you are not happy with her brood pattern then. Better to re-queen during the spring flow in my opinion anyway. ;)