BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > RAPID BEEYARD GROWTH
MultiQueen for Rapid Growth - will this work?
TheHoneyPump:
Great question!
The paper wasn't really a paper. Burger King napkin. Unfolded and opened into single layer, very thin material. Also covered only the centre, left 1" open uncovered all way round the perimeter. Plenty of air through the napkin and from around the edges by the wall. Reason I put the paper over the centre core of the nest area was just to slow them down for an hour or two. The Q3 colony moved into that top box is much more populous than Q1 and Q2 below. My thinking was I didn't want them running straight down into the super and the others below, all at once. Hence the napkin.
Daytime highs currently are 22 - 26 deg C. Temperature shouldn't be a problem. The super is also an old pos box. Good frames in it but the box itself has plenty of cracks and edge chips around it for air flow too.
Thanks!
beepro:
Last year I tried to configure the hives using a 2 -3 queens set up. Because the bees are so aggressive some
queens got killed. This season I tried something different. I got the gentle type local bees. After the sister
queens got mated, I combine them in a single hive 3 boxes deep. In each box there is a new laying queen separated by a
plastic QE. I also tried and separated these queens in their individual box without the QE. After 2 months reunited them in the previous hive
arrangement. This is to see if they are still gentle type bees or they might kill off one of the weaker queen.
You can do this when the flow is on plus you have the gentle type bees that don't mind having another laying queen in a
separate box. Gentleness is the key!
TheHoneyPump:
Fortunately, my bees are all my own select raised stock. They are very calm and super productive. My veil is my Berkley fishing sunglasses and my bee suit is tan jeans and a brown T-shirt.
The three queens are also sisters, all been grafted from the same mother queen.
There is also a really heavy flow on. Mid-August the red clover is out in full and the last growth of alfalfa is allowed to flower. This will persist until the first frost (1 to 3 weeks).
So based on the experiment and experience that you said there beepro, this should be a very good situation for the time being.
I will be going to that yard tomorrow to do a round. I am anxious to see how well the three are rooming together. Hoping for no surprises and that it is all well as the original concept!
I will be sure to come back here and let y'all know what I seen.
beepro:
When the flow is on you can also make lots of QCs too. With a hive arrangement like that you can
certainly make some beautiful late season queens to sell or keep. After the queens consolidation you can even
expand some more to sell bees or nucs when the new queens are mated using the extra brood frames. In a small
operation I can use this method to make many 5 frame nucs here. Every year the weather is different. And especially this
year our bee season might even be extended into Nov. before it gets cold. You will learn a lot this way. Enjoy your new bee experiment!
TheHoneyPump:
Apologies for not posting back sooner. Been busy making final round of pulling honey and extracting.
I am very pleased to report back that all is well, very very well, with the three queen arrangement. The bees are happily mingling in the hive and depositing nectar/honey in the super. Q3 on top is booming away, lots of brood. They have not top entrance. All bees must go down and out through either Q1 or Q2 side. Plenty of bees and to-fro flight activity from both Q1 and Q2 entrances, which are on opposing sides (front/back) of the hive. I will post a picture when next I am there over this weekend.
Not sure what the overall end result is going to be yet. That other hive that is superseding has a gorgeous virgin that as of 2 days ago was not laying yet. I am giving her until Monday to get performing. It is getting really late in my climate for queens, I expect the first killing frost within a week. If she isn't laying by then she will be pulled and popped into a 2 frame nuc to do her thing there or to expire. If I have to do that then Q3 will be moved over to take over the colony - kinda what I was thinking from the beginning of this setup.
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