a hive with two queens keep apart /

[hardtime]

A HIVE WITH two queens keep apart  like two hives put together and thay shair  the same suppers  made to fit . can it work / two hives made  1  will it work  ????

[JP]

The main problem that I have gathered from two queen systems, and I will assume you mean two colonies stacked atop each other is the sheer size in numbers that this system can achieve. Some on here have done this and say numbers can get close to the 200,000 mark. This obviously makes for a system that can be a handful to work, but production can be terrific, good luck!


...JP

[BjornBee]

The best two queen system I have used is this....

http://www.betterbee.com/resources/images/dronereport.pdf

Here is a picture of mine at the farm...

[Michael Bush]

They are difficult to overwinter while maintaining two queens.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beestwoqueenhive.htm

[Brian D. Bray]

In the spring I'm going to be setting up a double queen hive.

2 deep and 2 nediums nucs set side by side will be the brood chambers.
those will be supered with 8 frame mediums overlapping the brood chambers.
It is actually a way I'm going to be trying to "bank" extra queens but in a productive manor.

I can then pull one of those queens, if needed, to queen another hive or swarm.

Will I ever stop experimenting?  Probably not.

[hardtime]

yell bjornbee  that looks good  i can do that   .is there a queen stoper under the suppers  i would think so  just asking     .to keep queens apart?

[Lone]

My one disastrous attempt at requeening went something like this.  I couldn't find the old queen so made an emergency dash to town to find out what to do.  I was advised to put a couple of brood frames in the second super, with the new queen, and leave the old queen in the bottom box.  Leave the excluder between them and put a sheet of newspaper over it with a couple of slits in it.  The bees eat through it slowly while getting the smell of the new queen apparently, and some stay with her.  In 3 weeks I was told to separate them, which I did a few days ago.  The downside is that the hive which needed requeening was weakened a bit.  I still see italians in the new hive.  The queen is a carniolan so I keep looking for little black bees, but I'm not certain I'm seeing any yet.  The numbers are still low.

I wonder if I'll ever find a moving needle in a moving haystack   :-D

All the best with your experiments, hardtime, and have fun trying it out.

Lone

[Lone]

Some on here have done this and say numbers can get close to the 200,000 mark.

By the way, JP, how do you count bees?
(and don't tell me to count the legs and divide by 6)

Lone

[BjornBee]

yell bjornbee  that looks good  i can do that   .is there a queen stoper under the suppers  i would think so  just asking     .to keep queens apart?

Yes there is. If you look right above the two deeps, you can see it. The secret to using it, is to put a shim right down the middle of the excluder on the underside of it as it sits. Otherwise, the queen can sneak under the excluder as it sits on the boxes. (you just take a 3/8 wide strip of wood and glue it in place.)

Unlike other type two queen systems, like MB said, this is easy to overwinter. Just take your supers off and place two inner covers on each side. I then use two telescoping covers turns up-side-down, since they will not fit down over when using two. (Mine are under an overhang so rain water is not a problem.) But you can use two pieces (or one) of plywood also.

[Scadsobees]

There is another way, using screen boards...in the early spring, place a deep with a queen on top of an existing hive in the spring on a screen board.  After a couple of weeks you can replace the screen with an excluder.  Eventually the deeps can all be placed togather and the queens sort it out togather.

That is a short incomplete summary.

The idea is that early the 2 queens can raise 2x as many bees for the honey flow, and then after the honeyflow at least one of them(the weaker) will be naturally killed.

This system is frequently used for comb honey production.

Pros: more bees, more honey, less swarming (2x as much queen pheremone) supposedly
Cons: more bees, more aggressive

I tried it and didn't get the timing right and the dirty buggers swarmed on me 4 or 5 times.  On the plus side I had an ample supply of young queens.... :roll:

Rick

[Paraplegic Racehorse]

Re: queen excluder on BjornBee's 2Q hive

Yes there is. If you look right above the two deeps, you can see it. The secret to using it, is to put a shim right down the middle of the excluder on the underside of it as it sits. Otherwise, the queen can sneak under the excluder as it sits on the boxes. (you just take a 3/8 wide strip of wood and glue it in place.)

Alternatively, a piece of 1/4" hardware cloth can be placed directly across the brood boxes, then the supers placed atop. This effectively creates an "invisible" queen excluder and is less costly ($$) than modifying a "proper" QE.

[BjornBee]

I'll make this easy for the beginner, who may be scratching their heads about now....

The "scrap" of wood I use for the 3/8 inch spacer, costs nothing. If you cut it fit tight, even glue or a nail to tack it is not needed. The wood is easily taken back out of this "modified" QE..  :?

The side of the excluder would go down (In the system I mentioned above), creating a barrier under the QE, stopping the queens from reaching each other.

I'm not sure which is less costly, a piece of scrap wood, or running out and purchasing a couple feet of 1/4 inch hardware cloth. I'm betting on the scrap piece of wood....  :-D

Here is a picture of the excluder with the costly "improper" modification....

[WayneW]

They are difficult to overwinter while maintaining two queens.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beestwoqueenhive.htm

I like the explanation on your site about building a long hive, split with an excluder, and supering in the center. I was planning on building at least one, if not two long hives for the coming year anyway. Maybe i will try this and build another lang to play with. Quick question, since you said 3 boxes wide, i am assumming you meant medium depth..........or would i be better off using deeps since each brood chamber would actually only be 1/2 the overall size of the long hive, or 1.5 supers wide. I ask because swarming would be a bit of an issue if build up is rapid and large. Wouldnt wanna short the ladies on room. :roll:

[Paraplegic Racehorse]

I'm not sure which is less costly, a piece of scrap wood, or running out and purchasing a couple feet of 1/4 inch hardware cloth. I'm betting on the scrap piece of wood....  :-D

Sorry, BjornBee. I was under the assumption you were permanently modifying a costly QE (otherwise worthless piece of equipment, IMO). I did not mean to imply that your modification was expensive, but the QE certainly is more costly than hardware cloth.

[BjornBee]

I'm not sure which is less costly, a piece of scrap wood, or running out and purchasing a couple feet of 1/4 inch hardware cloth. I'm betting on the scrap piece of wood....  :-D

Sorry, BjornBee. I was under the assumption you were permanently modifying a costly QE (otherwise worthless piece of equipment, IMO). I did not mean to imply that your modification was expensive, but the QE certainly is more costly than hardware cloth.

Don't apologize. I actually am pulling my hair out with boredom, so any differing opinions that can get me "going" is encouraged and invited.  :-D