Jean-Marie's description of the side-by-side 2 queen method reminded me
   of the "double 5 queen" hives used by Charlie Warren (Babes Honey) on
   Vancouver Island. He has used these for many (20?) years. One of the
   reasons for them is protection from bears.
 
   The arrangement consists of 5 standard Langstroth hives in contact with
   each other side-to-side, backed up to another 5 facing the opposite way.
   The 10 colonies are one one solid bottom board, and have one telescoping
   hive cover (the solid block of hives is the bear protection). They are
   managed individually until the honeyflow. The 10-hive blocks are loaded
   onto trucks with a hydraulic arm, and transported to mountain regions
   where fireweed (Epilobium) grows after logging. Each of the 10 queens
   gets a standard queen excluder, then the 10 hives are covered with 2
   large supers (per layer), each holding 60? standard frames, 6 5/8 depth.
   The bees are able to move throughout 5 colonies without going outside.
   The large supers take 2 persons to put on, and are removed with the
   hydraulic arm. Apparently each colony maintains a fairly separate area,
   and stores honey more or less above their own brood area. If a colony is
   stronger, it stores in more space to either side. If a colony were to
   die, the space above it would still be used, if enough nectar were
   available and the other colonies were capable.
 
   There are more failures in self-re-queening, and probably more drift of
   workers, than from separate colonies. You have to work the colonies from
   the front, with bees all around you. The system uses special equipment
   of hydraulic assistance and special supers.
 
   It looked to me like a smooth working operation, and it looked like the
   system contributed to the operation.
 
 
   Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist
   B.C. Ministry of Agriculture
   1201 103 Ave
   Dawson Creek B.C.
        V1G 4J2  CANADA          Tel (604) 784-2225     fax (604) 784-2299
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