The recent notes concerning two queens in a hive and use of the Snelgrove
system reminded me of a question I wanted to ask the group.
 
I know a person who produces many thousands of Ross Round  sections a year,
on a late flow of Yellow Star Thistle.  In his area this blooms in July.
From April-June he runs his hives with two queens and two entrances and
supers for extracted honey.  He has a heavy flow from May 1 until mid-June.
While running two queens he has a solid board between the hives and uses a
hole for an entrance to the upper hive.  Beginning with the Yellow Star flow
he reduces the hives to one deep, moves one queen elsewhere, and raises
bumper crops of Ross Round  sections.  He tells me he never has a problem
with swarming on the Yellow Star flow as it is too late (?), does not use
excluders, and never has difficulty with brood or pollen in the Ross Round
supers.  He does not manipulate brood frames in the deep left behind and
reports that the bees will not swarm as there is a dearth of two to three
weeks between the end of the May/June flow and the July Yellow Star flow.
 
This year another experienced beekeeper I know decided to let his bees build
up by using two queens and the Snelgrove system.  At the beginning of June
he reduced to one deep, also moved the second queen elsewhere, and ended up
with significant amounts of pollen in the Ross Round  supers (but no brood)!
 
Is there an obvious reason why the one beekeeper has no problem with pollen
stored in the supers and the other does not?  Could it be because the Yellow
Star flow is so late the bees had already put sufficient pollen in the brood
combs, while with a June flow it is likely the hive still needs pollen?  If
so, could pollen deposits in the supers be reduced by manipulating the brood
combs to be certain they contained a lot of pollen?
 
Lloyd
[log in to unmask]
Owner, Ross Rounds   the finest in comb honey production.