George Imirie's post says:
 
"Bee people, researchers, and scientists like myself have proven over and
over
again that one good queen, properly managed by a knowledgeable beekeeper,
can
out produce any two queen colony.  This is why you never see a skilled
beekeeper or a commercial beekeeper using a two queen system.
While I am on the suject, I trust that you know (proven thousands of times)
that a colony with 40,000 bees can produce almost twice as much honey as 2
colonies that each have 20,000 bees!"
 
George, the first and last sentences may actually be in conflict.  First,
we have a commercial beekeeper here who has been running 3,000 hives all
two queens for 15 years.  He out produces his neighbor beekeepers every
year.  Another beekeeper kept half of the hives in each of 40 apiaries
single queens, and the other half two queens.  The singles produced an
average of 60 lbs. the same as his neighbors' bees, while the two queen
colonies produced 85 lbs.  Second, a two queen colony may actually have
more than 60,000 bees.
 
I have managed my hives with two queens for 20 years.  I use all western
supers so that they are easier to lift.  With a good queen in the bottom
hive it may be 10 or 11 westerns high.  I use an excluder over the bottom
brood nest, then the supers, with the top queen over a ventilated
(screened) bottom board device.  Yes, lifting the top few supers especially
when they are full is a chore.  I back the pickup up next to the hives and
work them from the tailgate to save on my back.  The last five years, I
have produced an average of 135 lbs. per production colony.
 
What I have observed are the following:
 
a)  Bottom queens often fail part way through their first full production
season (12 to 14 months from introduction),
b.) A bottom queen, in the last ten years or so, only produces enough
pheromone to influence bee behavior in the first deep super and sometimes
in half of the second.  This is why the bees store honey close to the brood
nest - 1.5 deep boxes - and then start to plug the brood nest.  This is
also why bees will raise queens if given eggs in the middle of the fourth
deep.
c.)  When a second queen is placed on top of a hive and two deeps (4
westerns) used as honey supers, the bees store honey evenly between the two
queens.  Honey foragers from the top queen will put honey in the open comb
under the ventilated bottom board if given an entrance at the second or
third western.
d.)  With failing lower queens the top queen can be moved down as soon as
the bottom queen is seen to be failing.
e.)  I presume that the increased queen pheromone caused by the two queens
causes the bees to store honey as I have described.  However, I could be
wrong because one of the commercial beekeepers above uses some one quarter
inch thick plywood without screen as his top bottom board and he has the
same result on these colonies as he does with those where he uses screened
inner covers.  Beats me.  Is it vibration as a means of communication?
f.)  With noisy bottom hive because of a poor queen down below, the bees
will often move up to the more attractive queen in the top nuc, often
filling two westerns and hanging out of the top entrance like a swarm.
 
But, the more mature I get, I may go back to single queens just for
practical reasons.
 
Regards all
 
James C. Bach
WSDA State Apiarist
Yakima WA
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