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Date: | Wed, 20 Jan 2021 11:37:11 -0700 |
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A wintering trick with almost guaranteed success (all things being equal)
for some who like lazy beekeeping is to split in the early season, run the
separate colonies all summer and then, in fall, double up the colonies.
i.e. stack one on the next. There is no need to look for queens or do
anything but stack them up on a nice day when the bees are foraging and
won't fight.
If you are not experienced enough to assess the bees' mood, then don't do
this. There are a few times when it could be disastrous like when the bees
are robbing and fighting, but combining can also be done later when it is
cold and the bees are dominant if you were lax and winter came early. They
won't fight then either.
Those doubled up colonies winter very well, even without wraps in the
north. An insulated lid is always a good idea, though.
Another approach that is essentially the same is to double-queen colonies
in spring, then pull the excluder(s) in fall.
Running vertical two-queen colonies is more work, though and more complex.
Such colonies may require a ladder to add and remove supers and are prone
to falling over with much damage to equipment unless on a solid level base.
There are some two-queen systems that run the hives side by side on a
shared floor however. While these are two-queen colonies, they don't have
the same geometry or heat concentration, as vertical two-queen colonies and
perhaps don't get the advantage a vertical system provides.
These would have to be stacked onto a single floor at the end of season to
get the wintering improvement.
The wintering improvement comes from doubling the starting population.
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