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MultiQueen for Rapid Growth - will this work?

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TheHoneyPump:
Not sure which section this question properly belongs in. I think it is a crossover point between queen rearing and rapid bee yard growth, so I am posting it here.

For 2018 we have been aggressively increasing the size of the apiary.  Managed to reach our goals and even getting the bees to fill supers so we will also get some honey off.  There is still a very good flow on, however knowing it will be tapering off soon and fall/winter is imminent I am thinking forward as I like to try to stay at least a month ahead of the bees.

For 2018/2019 fall/winter there will be some losses and are preparing for 2019 by getting a group of the better looking nuc colonies built up with intention to winter them indoors.  The preps have generally all gone very well.  We are down to our last few to deal with and have been blessed with the dilemma of running short on equipment.

I have a question of experience/experiment on multi-queening to get colonies sharing bees to support the queens and expand the nests rapidly.  I am familiar with combining two queens with the excluder divider above them - horizontal style.  I have done this successfully short term with the divided 10 frame box nucs as well as full 10frame colonies with a tower of supers above them in the middle.  That covers running two queens.  What about three queens?

The situation is this: 
Bottom box is a divided 10frame that has a queen in each side, each on 5 frames.  Queens 1 and 2.  These originated from 2 frame mating nuts.  The best queens (the keepers) have been moved into these larger 5 frame setups so they have room to grow out. One side was bit weaker on bees and resources when initially setup but the queen is a bomber, the bees cannot keep up to her.  A queen excluder is put on top of them and added a super for shared space.  The expectation is the bees to mix and mingle and equalize between the two queens.  It is mainly the nurse bees that move to care for developing brood in each nest.

For the third queen, Q3 is in a stand alone 5 frame nuc box.  She is packed out with bees and frames full of honey and pollen as well as having a good foraging force.  She is more than ready to move into a full hive, but we are out of equipment to setup any more full hives.

What is being considered is to put Q3 into the last spare 10 frame brood box.  Then place her on top of a queen excluder that is put on top the super that is on top of the the other two queens way below.  Lotsa toppings there!  Hope that description makes sense.  I have made an attempt at illustrating what the hive would look like, see attached.

The idea here is Q1 and Q2 need more bees to expand more rapidly and Q3 needs more space immediately. This gives everybody, Q1 Q2 Q3, a boost in nurse and field bees and space. The super is space for bees to move between nests and a place for them to put the resources that are coming in without overpacking the 5frames nests the queens are on. Our end goal is more frames of brood and bees out of this, not honey.

In late September we will be culling out anything subpar from all the hives in the apiary and supplanting them with these queen-nucs.  What nucs are left will be reduced to the divided single hive bodies (5Fx5F) which will be wintered indoors.  Until then I want to keep as many queens nucs going as possible. 

I am hoping this could work to give everybody what they need right now and hold them over. This is intended a temporary setup for 4 to 6 weeks.

Any thoughts on this or what problems could develop?

TheHoneyPump:
...

texanbelchers:
Short term it will absolutely work.  You'll want an entrance up top.  When running stacked multiples I found they preferred one queen or maybe it was nest location in the stack.   I can't say they had more bees because they were stacked,  but it will get you over an equipment shortage.

BeeMaster2:
I would say it will work for a short duration or during dearth?s/winter. Most of my queens will bee forced to swarm with only 5 frames to lay in.
Jim

TheHoneyPump:

--- Quote from: texanbelchers on August 13, 2018, 09:13:48 am ---Short term it will absolutely work.  You'll want an entrance up top.  When running stacked multiples I found they preferred one queen or maybe it was nest location in the stack.   I can't say they had more bees because they were stacked,  but it will get you over an equipment shortage.

--- End quote ---

Why the top entrance?  I would prefer them all to go down out the bottom entrances.  Particularly with the wasps pestering them at this time of the season.  More bees at the door to keep the wasps at bay.

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