The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

I captured 7 fertilized queen ants about a week ago. I have been monitoring them, and they have show all the signs of fertility. One thing though is that #1, 2 of them died of drowning, unfortunately, so I only have 5 queens now, and #2, they are all in the same container, and they have grouped all of their eggs together. I think this is amazing, because if they continue to do this, it means I have a multi-queen colony. Any suggestions at all of what to do when the workers start appearing, besides moving them when the time is right. Should I separate the queens, or no. Keep in mond, these are queens of the species Solenopsis Invicta.

At this point it's still early, separate the queens and using a toothpick divide up the eggs between them and put them in with the separate queens. Doing this now will be easier then trying to do it with the nantics once they have hatched. Each queen has a different "Smell" and that is what spreads thru the colony and that's how workers from the same colony identify one another. Good thing at this time they all "smell" the same so there won't be any issue with rejection of the eggs.

No. Don't separate the queens. If they're showing this behavior, you either A. have a polygynous colony, or B. a pleometrotic one.