At 04:50 PM 12/17/96 +0000, you wrote:
>2 queens for section comb honey--
>
>We overwinter in 2 brood chambers here; the upper one is mostly full of
>honey at the start of winter.
>
>In spring I would divide up the brood and bees and place a separation
>(board or screen, with upper entrance) between the two stories.  A queen
>was then introduced to the upper story (the older queen being in the lower
>unit).  The lower colony would get an extracting super if needed, and the
>upper was fed sugar syrup if honey was not available.
>
>Then, about 5 weeks later, the separating board was removed and replaced
>with a queen excluder covered by newspaper.  Then, supers were added atop
>the two brood chambers.  Both queens would keep laying throughout the
>summer, and the large colonies did wonderful work in the sections.  The
>supers sometimes got as high as 8 or 9, and they finished them very fast.
>(After all, there's not a whole lot of room in a section super.)
>
>The upper brood nest was established with a rear entrance, and once the
>colonies were joined (excluder between) for the honey flow, the upper unit
>still had its own entrance.  This was made by pushing the box forward
>enough on the excluder to leave a 3/8" gap in the back.  Then a piece of
>lath was tacked slightly above it to shelter the opening.  It was really
>something to see the large volume of foragers coming and going from front
>and back at the same time.  They continued the use of both entrances all
>season.
>
 
A question for you at this point: If I understand your description, starting
from the bottom: bottom board with normal entrance, brood chamber with a
laying queen, a queen excluder, an extracting super, another queen excluder,
a brood chamber with laying queen with its own entrance 180 degrees from
bottom entrance and created by offsetting the brood chamber, another queen
excluder, and your comb honey supers? Did you always have an extracting
super between the two hives? Did I miss or add any pieces?
 
 
>In autumn I would just remove the queen excluder and let the bees fill the
>upper brood chamber with stores for winter.  The colonies going into winter
>were of course very strong, so it worked out pretty well all 'round.
>
>
>Best regards, --   JWG
>
 
How did you convert back to a single queen overwintering hive?  Did you kill
one of the queens (which one?)? Did you just let them decide on their own?
 
Rick Grossman
Oregon, USA