> > I recently made come comments about the increased production of two queen
> > vs single queen colonies.  Someone replied that my two queen colonies made
> > 85 lbs. while two single-queen colonies make 60x2=120 lbs...
 
Another huge factor is the winter survival and general vigour of two queen
colonies.
 
I figure that at any given time 10% of my hives are either queenless or
will be soon.  Of course I don't know which ones in advance. With two
queens, if 10% of the total queens in an operation are about to fail in
the next few months (them above assumption restated), then in a two queen
colony there is only a 1% mathematical chance that both queens will be bad
(10% of 10%).  Since the majority of winter loss many years is due to
queen failure-- and even if a queenless colony is saved, it is poor --
there is a huge saving (9% of total colony count) right here.
 
Moreover two queen colonies have more young bees going into winter and
these bees are also likely better fed.  This ensures more and stronger
colonies get through to spring and they then give more splits and in
the meantime need less wrapping.  Add to that the extra honey and subtract
the cost of the extra queen and the management and you *may* be ahead.
 
Me?  No, I don't keep two queen colonies these days.  Maybe I should?
 
Allen