Mr Van,
Thank you for your response. I have had little experience with swarms either. I did catch a couple this past season, on the second one I shook them out as David showed in his video using a sheet. He was catching them as they marched into the nuc box. I found only one queen. I would like to hear more replies from other members here and their experiences in catching swarms and multiple queens. Along with ideas as to why there are sometimes multiple queens in a single swarm.
I am of the opinion that most folks do not look for multiple queens in a swarm? The folks that do look and find, tell me that if all allowed to enter the box together, most of the time all but one is killed.
When you have the opportunity, check out on youtube, (barnyard bees 9 queens in one swarm), that David put out. I believe you will find this video very interesting. In the comment section look for my name and you may find the discussion that David, Queenbee, and I had concerning this subject and ideas of this mystery. The mystery being, how can multiple queens survive long enough to make it to swarm together, and not have been killed when they emerged or hatched in the same box. What little experience I have had with queen cells, the first one hatched,kills all the rest, chewing a hole in the side of the remaining cells stinging the remaining ones, and that is all she wrote. So adding to the mystery how does the survivors live long enough to be mated and still live together to be able to swarm together? I have a theory. anyone else?
Blessings,
Phillip