Virgin queens fighting

[D Coates]

I have a OB hive I was concerned about swarming because I've got just under 100 employees around here and I don't need that trouble.  I waited for one queen to hatch and assumed if she was goign to swarm she would not kill the other capped queen cells.  Well, we had cool stormy weather and she stayed in house waiting for weather to warm up and left the other Queen cells alone.  At the first chance, I captured her and took 1/2 of the hive and started another nuc.  I let the remaining queens sort it out.  Yesterday I saw balling going on with a queen running around the ball, very agitated.  I could see another queen in the ball trying to get out while the other was clearly trying to get in.  It was quite a scrum.

I couldn't stick around because of my sons baseball game so I had to go.  This morning, one queen and the hive seems to be completely calm.  I don't know which one survived but I now hope she can get out to say hello to the drones and make it back okay.