> Bob has replied fully, but not mentioned long hives, which are of
> course far the easiest way to manage two queens.

The same thing is often accomplished by placing two single or double brood
Langstroth hives tight together on a level stand, then bridging them with a
single excluder that sits so that half is on each hive.  A single stack of
supers is built on top of the excluder and is occupied by both hives.

Special half-lids of some sort or another cover the outer parts of each
brood box -- the parts of the brood chambers which are not covered by the
excluder and super stack, and the bees go up the stack, mingling happily
with the neighbour bees, as they both expand.

Using this trick, small splits that might only fill half a super can be made
to completely fill a box, or stronger hives can be combined to work one
stack of supers in a weak flow, yet be separated easily later, with minimal
bother.

'Splitting' happens automatically when then the supers and excluders are
removed and the normal lids are put back on, or the brood boxes can be
stacked on one another at that time to combine them if desired.

allen
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/

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