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Have any of you experienced finding multiple queens in a swarm?

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Ben Framed:
Have any of you experienced catching multiple queens in a swarm? There are many reports form reputable beekeepers who not only say it is possible but have experienced as much! I will give a list of just a few. Barnyard Bees, New River Honey Bees, HONEYBEE HIGHWAY, JustBeecuz, schawee, Liz Jones, 628DirtRooster Bees, and Scott Benack Bee Removal just for starters. I am thinking that I talked to Joe May also about this but my memory is cloudy. But regardless, David at Barnyard bees caught 9 in one swarm! Schawee caught 6 and etc.
Phillip Hall

cao:
Some where on this site it was talked about this spring.  I had trouble getting several swarms to go into the box this spring.  I typically found 2 or 3 queens in those swarms.  I think there was one that had 4 queens.

BeeMaster2:
I have not found multiple queens in a swarm, I don?t look through the bees to see if there is more than one.
I have had several swarms that refuse to go in a box. I wonder if that is an indication of a swarm having more than one queen? 
I think the next time it happens I will try to shake them into an open box and look for queens.
Jim Altmiller

Nock:
I?ve never seen a swarm yet :sad:

Michael Bush:
>Have any of you experienced catching multiple queens in a swarm?

Often.  It's very common.  Here is one likely cause:

"On the fourteenth, the fifth young queen appeared, and the hive threw a swarm, with all the concomitant disorder before described. The agitation was so considerable, that a sufficient number of bees did not remain to guard the royal cells, and several of the imprisoned queens were thus enabled to make their escape. Three were in the cluster formed by the swarm, and other three remained in the hive. We removed those that had left the colony, to force the bees to return. They entered in hive, resumed their post around the royal cells, and maltreated the queen when a duel took place in the night of the fifteenth, in which one queen fell. We found her dead next morning before the hive; but three still remained, as one had been hatched during night. Next morning we saw a duel. Both combatants were extremely agitated, either with the desire of fighting, or the treatment of the bees, when they came near the royal cells. Their agitation quickly communicated to the rest of the bees, and at mid-day they departed impetuously with the two females. This the fifth swarm that had left the hive the thirtieth of May and fifteenth of June. On the fifteenth, a fifth swarm cast, which I shall give you no account of, as it showed nothing new."--Fran?ois Huber, New Observations on the Natural History Of Bees Volume I

http://www.bushfarms.com/huber.htm#letter9

Another thing I have observed is that often two swarms hanging in the trees will merge over time as one shrinks and the other grows.

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