To Switch hives or not...

[Jan Mc]

Hello-Newbie here w/another question.  As posted prev., have 2 hives started from Nucs May 2 this yr.  Weaker hive had 2 supersedure Q cells (I posted about).  I left them bee  - yesterday's hive ck. showed 1 cell now open & empty, 2nd cell closed.  We DID see the old queen still laying & open brood, etc.  Am thinking if 2nd new queen present, they will both lay til one takes the other out.  This hive, although making progress has Way less bees and several frames not drawn out yet (Note: this Nuc was way smaller from the beginning).  Hive #1 is cranking - to the point we added a honey super yest. b/c they had 7 of 8 frames pulled out, tons of honey, etc. My question is - should I switch the hives at this point to help improve the weaker hive?  Thanks in advance for your input!!!  So Much to learn.....

[rober]

you could try swapping locations & giving the weaker hive the frame with the remaining queen cell.

[rookie2531]

I have heard that supercedure queens don't kill her mother and sometimes they lay together for a while and sometimes old one swarms later. But, as far as building up the weak one, you can take a frame or two of capped brood from the strong hive and put it in your weak hive. Make sure the queen from your strong hive isn't on those frames though. That will build up the weak hive numbers and get  them going.

[OldMech]

Agreed, if both queens are in the hive laying it will explode with bees very soon.

   The question is, do you wish to weaken your strong hive to bolster your weak hive?
   
   If the strong hive is on the verge of swarming, it can be a good thing, if it is not, then I would let them be and get as much honey as I could from the strong hive. If the weather and other conditions permit, the weak hive will catch up.
   The best reason to have two hives.. seeing the difference between them.
   Next, is the ability to steal a bit from the strong to bolster the weak...   BUT, the weak is weak for a reason... Superseding the queen is a valid acceptable reason. If there is a new queen, and she is doing WELL, then giving her a boost might well catch that hive up for the fall flow.

[Jan Mc]

Thanks for your help!  Next insp. hope to find the queen in strong hive and move some brood to weaker on.  Will try that instead of swapping hive locations. : )