On Mon, 20 Jun 1994 Aaron Morris <SYSAM%ALBANY.bitnet> wrote ...
> My 'two queen' questions havs resulted in a number of questions and
> a good deal of interest in my success (hopefully) and progress. The
> questions asked most often were, "Why would you do such a thing?" and
> " What are the benefits?".
>
> The benefit of operating a hive with two queens is that you have
> two queens producing workers within the same hive, and a very
> populous hive will produce more honey. Experiments have shown that
> doubling the number of bees in a hive can more than double the honey
> production. A 'normal' hive may fill one or two supers, whereas a
> two queen hive could fill four to six supers.
Ok ! It's the principle ! In the french speaking litterature, E.
Loubet de l'Hoste wrote a book (for maybe 20 years but with numerous
new editions) " La Biruche " (the bi-hive). Easy method with very few
new material :
- In early spring or winter, you put two common hives side by side,
with the 2 entrances diametrically opposed (one to the Est side, one
to the West : it's the best). The 2 colonies must to be equilibrated
(same queen age, ideally from last year to avoid swarming; same brood
surface, transfer from one to the other).
.../...
Each couple of hives looks like this (sorry for the readers using an
improved mailer : choose the courier type character) ...
top view /------\
-----------------------
| || |
| hive || hive |
| queen || queen | -------> North
| one || two |
| || |
-----------------------
\------/
.../...
- When it's time to put the super(s), you put first a single special
cover (the only new material) which is with 2 queen excluders
top view
-----------------------
| |----||----| |
| |----||----| |
| |----||----| |
| |----||----| |
| |----||----| |
-----------------------
cover side 2 queen excl. cover
On the queen excluder side of this special cover, you put as much
super(s) as necessary. The queen are really separate, the bees may go
in the whole <bi-hive>.
I was using this technique during 10 years ('79-'88) in my apiary with
6 couples of 8 standard Dadant frames hives. Curious experience !
The double colony works early in the morning (east entrance) to late
in the evening (west entrance). The honey crop is good even with weak
honey flow or with bee-lines with slow starting (the brown european
feral bee for ex). The honey crop is excellent during good honey flow.
BUT ...
Swarming is very difficult to control (imagine unstacking 3-4
quasi-full supers to examine the brood nest) and when one colony is
swarming, the other get out the same way. The swarms are gigantic.
After swarming you must separate the 2 old colonies to be sure to get
2 new queens ! To do this you cover one of the 2 queen excluders with
a plastic sheet.
Seems that with prolific bee-lines, the honey crop increment is
smaller and the work and swarming risk is higher.
Actually I'm rearing Buckfast bees (prolific bees) and I don't use
this system yet (not usefull) !
Aaron Morris ...
<deleted>
> It also should be noted that the reference states that the procedure
> may or may not be productive, depending on location. The reference
> states that the procedure is well suited to areas with short, intense
> honey flows (such as those experienced in the Northeast US), but is not
> worth the bother for beekeepers in the southern US. The two queen
> method is intriguing and may yield impressive harvests, but it's not
> well suited for all areas. For the best information, go right to the
> source (The Hive and the Honeybee) before deciding if such an
> arrangement would suit your needs.
It's correct and really, it's a good process when ...
- you have a good honey flow in very early spring, when the colonies
are not developed yet.
- you have a bee-line which don't develop very high.
- as Aaron mind, you have a very short, intense honey flow ... but
seems the difference will not be important if you have a good bee-line.
- you 'll make some curious experiences and don't matter the work to do.
It's definitely _not_ a good process when ...
- you have no time enough and/or you don't like to do curious experiences.
- your bees are prolific enough for the first honey flow (early spring)
- your bee-line is a swarming line (don't take in place!) !
If you have some other questions about "the bi-hive" I'll try to answer !
ps. seems E. Loubet de l'Hoste spent some years in the US. It's not
impossible that his book exists in English .. Maybe our _IBRA_
correspondent may answer this question.
Jean-Marie <[log in to unmask]>
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