Pheromones, combines, 2-queen hives, shake-outs, Queen attendants?

[SEEYA]

     I am confused! In a newspaper combine, you stack up, two beehives with a sheet of newspaper in between (with some small cuts in it),to avoid the hives fighting it out, Correct?  One remedy for a hive with laying workers is the shake-out. Why doesn't that start a bee war, when they try to enter a different hive? What is the issue with the caged queens attendants? There are times, when two queens live together in the same hive (mother/daughter or sisters). Lastly, there are those towers with two boxes (side by side) each with its separate queen (and excluder), with the workers happily (?) coexisting. Queens peacefully co-exist, sometimes. Workers from different hives peacefully co-exist some times. Could someone explain what I'm missing?   Thanks in advance! WHAT A GREAT FORUM. :bee:

[BBees]

>In a newspaper combine, you stack up, two beehives with a sheet of newspaper in between (with some small cuts in it),to avoid the hives fighting it out, Correct?

Yes.

>One remedy for a hive with laying workers is the shake-out. Why doesn't that start a bee war, when they try to enter a different hive?

They are probably killed if they don't arrive at a new hive bearing gifts....nectar and pollen.

>There are times, when two queens live together in the same hive (mother/daughter or sisters).

Yes, but it's usually a temporary thing. Eventually, the young or most prolific queen will usually be the only queen.

>Lastly, there are those towers with two boxes (side by side) each with its separate queen (and excluder), with the workers happily (?) coexisting.

In my experience, in the spring and summer this works, but I have found situations where the second queen is being balled in the fall. My experience is with two nucs in a 10-frame box with a queen excluder on top of this box and boxes full of honey frames above this for common feed.

>Could someone explain what I'm missing?
It's kind of like people, if you have something that can benefit another person, they like you. If you can't offer anything that person needs, they don't need you and they'll like you less or not like you at all.

Hope this helps,
Steve

[Michael Bush]

>I am confused! In a newspaper combine, you stack up, two beehives with a sheet of newspaper in between (with some small cuts in it),to avoid the hives fighting it out, Correct?

Yes.

>  One remedy for a hive with laying workers is the shake-out. Why doesn't that start a bee war, when they try to enter a different hive?

When a robber tires to enter a hive she has an attitude.  When a homeless bee tries to enter a hive it is with humility and timidity.

> What is the issue with the caged queens attendants?

Sometimes the are treated as stranger bees.  Maybe part of it is how they act.  But I have seldom had an issue.  I leave them in and they are not a problem.

> There are times, when two queens live together in the same hive (mother/daughter or sisters). Lastly, there are those towers with two boxes (side by side) each with its separate queen (and excluder), with the workers happily (?) coexisting.

What is the question?

>Queens peacefully co-exist, sometimes. Workers from different hives peacefully co-exist some times. Could someone explain what I'm missing?

Bees react to certain things like robbers.  If you take some bees from three or four hives and put the frames in a box together they tend to get along fine.  Mostly because it's confusion and there are no "sides" to take when there are four different kinds of bees.  But two, they take sides and sometimes fight.  A daughter queen is not rejected because she is a virgin at first and then is their queen later, but her mother is still their queen, so they peacefully coexist.  Virgins are looking for virgins to kill, not laying queens, and laying queens aren't looking to kill anyone.

[SEEYA]

Thanks that explains some of it. It still seems strange that: when you shake out a hive the bees move in without a fuss (?), but when you combine hives there needs to be a temporary barrier. I am Not saying that someone is mistaken, I just think it is strange> :?

[Michael Bush]

In the case of a combine they have not left the house but suddenly there are a bunch of strangers and both hives act like it's theirs and this attitude sets off the fighting.  When the strangers are docile and humble, they are accepted.  So in the case of the combine neither are docile and humble.  In the case of the shakeout the bees begging to join the hive are docile and humble.