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.
 
   The down side is that running a two queen set up requires a lot
more work: hive manipulations, setting up the hive in the first place,
having enough honey supers ready, and adding supers to the colony
requires a lot more unstacking and restacking.
 
   I should also add that I have never done this before, I have only
read about it.  Actually, I should say I never did this before last
Friday evening, when I combined the hives as I described I would in
my original postings.  So far so good, although I have yet to check
inside the brood chambers to make sure both queens are well.  I figured
I'd give them a few days to adjust to the new arrangement before I go
poking around to satisfy my own curiosity.
 
   The source I used for the two queen management was The Hive and
the Honeybee (Dadant Publications, 1993 edition, don't know the pages).
The procedures call for splitting a strong hive, gradually introducing
the second queen and easing the splits back together.  I just quickly
slapped two unrelated swarms together into the same colony and am not
yet sure that I've created a successful unit.  I'll verify the success
of my 'experiment' later this week and will post an update.
 
   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.