Hi Glenn, Thank you for this excellent video. May I ask: 1. Where in the stack do you place the honey supers? Do all of them go above them 2nd brood box? Will both sets of bees travel up to fill such boxes? 2. If a super goes between the brood boxes, do the bees from the top box help to fill the middle super? Thanks
The beekeepers who played around with the two queen hive systems only placed the honey supers on the very top of stack. Never in between the two queens boxes. Bees do not ever like putting nectar underneath any brood nest. The bees equally take care of both queens passing through the boxes and excluders not knowing one queen from the other. I tried the system in the past a few times and it's a waste of a good queen. The double queen excluder does have uses though. I would use the separation shim of two queen excluders exclusively for making new queens early in the spring during the cold weather instead of any two queen system providing that it is late enough for drones to fly. Keeping the brood warm on top of the warm established hive regardless of spring weather fluctuations. Two queen system was supposed to lower the swarm impulse but did nothing of the sort.
This is an okay system. But you can place a divider in a 10 or 8 frame hive (double nuc) from top to bottom and place a queen excluder on top of it it's a lot easier to make and work.
My Lazy way to raise a few Queens or to have a 2 Queen hive until I need a Queen somewhere else is simply to put a Queen excluder on top of the bottom box and make sure there is some brood and eggs in both box's. The Nurse bees in the Box where the Queen cannot get to will raise queen cells which I either harvest or I create a top entrance so if the queen cells are above the Queen excluder the young virgin can get out and mate. 30 days latter there will be eggs in both box's and I have never got a poor Queen from doing this. Just make sure you do it at a time when the hive has the resources it needs (on a flow) including fairly new comb with the eggs and Lava so the Nurse bees can tear down the cell and create a good well provisioned Queen cell. So basically for a 2 Queen hive I just stick a queen excluder on the bottom box making sure there are eggs and lava above and bellow the Queen excluder crack the lid for a top entrance and walk away, 30 days later I have a 2 queen hive or a spare Queen happily laying away until I want her somewhere else.
depends on your goals. Ask the question, then solve the riddle, perhaps double nuc doesnt fit the idea/management required to fulfill the original question.
a horsley anytime you put open brood over a queen excluder they will draw out a queen you don't have to make them queenless, that's why in a Cell Builder you need to shake the bees and make sure they didn't start emergency Queens
Can you confirm that we put more honey boxes above the 2nd level? Do you put a regular queen excluder going to the 3rd level? assuming deep brood boxes used below. How about if just medium brood boxes used below. Thank you four help, Gleen.
I haven't tried it myself. You might find answers on beekeeping pages on Facebook. Search for some in and around your area so they can help you with your type of weather.
Question for the beekeepers... if starting a two queen hive from an existing one by splitting it on top, starting with just a division board so they'll raise a queen in the top box; at what point is it safe to switch from division board to queen excluder? You have to wait till the new queen in the top box is mated and laying, or can you already switch once a queen cell is capped in the top box?
My Lazy way to raise a few Queens or to have a 2 Queen hive until I need a Queen somewhere else is simply to put a Queen excluder on top of the bottom box and make sure there is some brood and eggs in both box's. The Nurse bees in the Box where the Queen cannot get to will raise queen cells which I either harvest or I create a top entrance so if the queen cells are above the Queen excluder the young virgin can get out and mate. 30 days latter there will be eggs in both box's and I have never got a poor Queen from doing this. Just make sure you do it at a time when the hive has the resources it needs (on a flow) including fairly new comb with the eggs and Lava so the Nurse bees can tear down the cell and create a good well provisioned Queen cell. So basically for a 2 Queen hive I just stick a queen excluder on the bottom box making sure there are eggs and lava above and bellow the Queen excluder crack the lid for a top entrance and walk away, 30 days later I have a 2 queen hive or a spare Queen happily laying away until I want her somewhere else.
@@haajareberle4042 The queen or any bee for that matter will spend time hovering in front of the entrance she came out of so she can remember it. A top entrance should look a lot different to a bottom entrance and the fact is in most cases it works. Queens do sometimes go into the wrong hive but most of the time they get it right.
how is this system any different than two separate hives? two queens will still occupy the usual space you'd give her (ex. each queen gets one deep to start, as opposed to actually two queens laying on the same frames)....is your advantage financial as you're ordering just one package + extra queen vs. two packages? If your intent is honey collecting, it seems more work to do this than to have two separate hives arranged side by side and touching, with shared honey supers.
Why not make it simple and use a wooden framed queen excluder with 3/4" lip on three sides. The lower hive would use the original entrance and the upper would use the entrance created by adding the 3/4" lip on three sides of the queen excluder.
I don't think this is clever at all. Those entrances are too close to each other and a mating queen might actually get into the wrong hive when she comes back. Those two entrances should be at least about 6 inches from each other if you want a double-queen hive.
@@antoniojosecarrasco2259 I don't think you're understanding the principle behind the double-queen hive. The purpose is to have them share worker bees, but the queens HAVE TO BE IN DIFFERENT COMPARTMENTS. If one gets into the other's area, they will try to kill each other, and there goes your double-queen hive. That's why their entrances can't be that close together.
Wow amazing!One of best teachers i seen so far!Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.Wish u all nice sweet beekeeping from Serbia.
thank you very practical and instructive .From TURKEY -Çanakkale
Well thought out questions.
Здравствуйте. Какая высота рамки?
Hi Glenn,
Thank you for this excellent video. May I ask:
1. Where in the stack do you place the honey supers? Do all of them go above them 2nd brood box? Will both sets of bees travel up to fill such boxes?
2. If a super goes between the brood boxes, do the bees from the top box help to fill the middle super?
Thanks
The hives get separated when they are large enough. Then you can add supers as required after they are stand alone hives.
The beekeepers who played around with the two queen hive systems only placed the honey supers on the very top of stack. Never in between the two queens boxes. Bees do not ever like putting nectar underneath any brood nest. The bees equally take care of both queens passing through the boxes and excluders not knowing one queen from the other. I tried the system in the past a few times and it's a waste of a good queen. The double queen excluder does have uses though. I would use the separation shim of two queen excluders exclusively for making new queens early in the spring during the cold weather instead of any two queen system providing that it is late enough for drones to fly. Keeping the brood warm on top of the warm established hive regardless of spring weather fluctuations. Two queen system was supposed to lower the swarm impulse but did nothing of the sort.
Do you find any difference with the tendency to swarm, of a 2-queen system?
I don't really have an informed response because I have had to quit beekeeping due to back problems and surgeries.
@@creekbird1 I am very sorry to hear that :(
This is an okay system. But you can place a divider in a 10 or 8 frame hive (double nuc) from top to bottom and place a queen excluder on top of it it's a lot easier to make and work.
My Lazy way to raise a few Queens or to have a 2 Queen hive until I need a Queen somewhere else is simply to put a Queen excluder on top of the bottom box and make sure there is some brood and eggs in both box's. The Nurse bees in the Box where the Queen cannot get to will raise queen cells which I either harvest or I create a top entrance so if the queen cells are above the Queen excluder the young virgin can get out and mate.
30 days latter there will be eggs in both box's and I have never got a poor Queen from doing this. Just make sure you do it at a time when the hive has the resources it needs (on a flow) including fairly new comb with the eggs and Lava so the Nurse bees can tear down the cell and create a good well provisioned Queen cell.
So basically for a 2 Queen hive I just stick a queen excluder on the bottom box making sure there are eggs and lava above and bellow the Queen excluder crack the lid for a top entrance and walk away, 30 days later I have a 2 queen hive or a spare Queen happily laying away until I want her somewhere else.
Why would they make a queen? You did a Cloake board with out the board.
depends on your goals. Ask the question, then solve the riddle, perhaps double nuc doesnt fit the idea/management required to fulfill the original question.
a horsley anytime you put open brood over a queen excluder they will draw out a queen you don't have to make them queenless, that's why in a Cell Builder you need to shake the bees and make sure they didn't start emergency Queens
Baddest Bees
thanks! Not enough pheromone gets into the upper box to suppress the sense of queenlessness?
Here. Most bee colonies died trying to make it from winter to spring. So wonder if the 2 queen system result in better survival to spring.
Can you confirm that we put more honey boxes above the 2nd level? Do you put a regular queen excluder going to the 3rd level? assuming deep brood boxes used below. How about if just medium brood boxes used below. Thank you four help, Gleen.
Thank you for your help, Glenn.
No answers seem to be given. Why have TH-cam videos, if not willing, to answer comments?
The hives get separated when they are large enough. Then you can add supers as required after they are stand alone hives. See 10:25
Would this work for overwintering 2 hives together when one of them is much weaker, and couldn't make it on its own? Has anyone tried it this way?
I haven't tried it myself. You might find answers on beekeeping pages on Facebook. Search for some in and around your area so they can help you with your type of weather.
The hard answer is yes, absolutely.
Thank you for the reply.
Long live the queen
Question for the beekeepers... if starting a two queen hive from an existing one by splitting it on top, starting with just a division board so they'll raise a queen in the top box; at what point is it safe to switch from division board to queen excluder? You have to wait till the new queen in the top box is mated and laying, or can you already switch once a queen cell is capped in the top box?
+Wim miW We bought an extra queen for the top hive (or bottom hive)
My Lazy way to raise a few Queens or to have a 2 Queen hive until I need a Queen somewhere else is simply to put a Queen excluder on top of the bottom box and make sure there is some brood and eggs in both box's. The Nurse bees in the Box where the Queen cannot get to will raise queen cells which I either harvest or I create a top entrance so if the queen cells are above the Queen excluder the young virgin can get out and mate. 30 days latter there will be eggs in both box's and I have never got a poor Queen from doing this. Just make sure you do it at a time when the hive has the resources it needs (on a flow) including fairly new comb with the eggs and Lava so the Nurse bees can tear down the cell and create a good well provisioned Queen cell. So basically for a 2 Queen hive I just stick a queen excluder on the bottom box making sure there are eggs and lava above and bellow the Queen excluder crack the lid for a top entrance and walk away, 30 days later I have a 2 queen hive or a spare Queen happily laying away until I want her somewhere else.
@@MegaDavyk in this method wont the entrances of the two queens be too close to each other and they can go in the wrong hive?
@@haajareberle4042 The queen or any bee for that matter will spend time hovering in front of the entrance she came out of so she can remember it. A top entrance should look a lot different to a bottom entrance and the fact is in most cases it works. Queens do sometimes go into the wrong hive but most of the time they get it right.
@@MegaDavyk ok thank you:)
What is the reason for running a two queen hive?
Take the class beekeeping 101.
Good solution 2 queens ❤
great job, Thank you
how is this system any different than two separate hives? two queens will still occupy the usual space you'd give her (ex. each queen gets one deep to start, as opposed to actually two queens laying on the same frames)....is your advantage financial as you're ordering just one package + extra queen vs. two packages? If your intent is honey collecting, it seems more work to do this than to have two separate hives arranged side by side and touching, with shared honey supers.
It is a harder hive to brake into therefore better against varroa, wax moths etc
It is a harder hive to brake into therefore better against varroa, wax moths etc
Thanks, 😮, ❤❤,😅😅😅.
Why not make it simple and use a wooden framed queen excluder with 3/4" lip on three sides. The lower hive would use the original entrance and the upper would use the entrance created by adding the 3/4" lip on three sides of the queen excluder.
I don't think this is clever at all. Those entrances are too close to each other and a mating queen might actually get into the wrong hive when she comes back. Those two entrances should be at least about 6 inches from each other if you want a double-queen hive.
No the hives share the bees and they travel up and down só they are not enemies.
The entrances are close só they protect better against enemies
@@antoniojosecarrasco2259 I don't think you're understanding the principle behind the double-queen hive. The purpose is to have them share worker bees, but the queens HAVE TO BE IN DIFFERENT COMPARTMENTS. If one gets into the other's area, they will try to kill each other, and there goes your double-queen hive. That's why their entrances can't be that close together.
Ken Tichy right at the begining of the vídeo you see the Queen excluder.
@@antoniojosecarrasco2259 So, do you understand now why the entrances can't be close together like that?