Keeping bees in double-queen hives

Keeping bees in two queens makes beekeeping more rational. This method has certain advantages, but it is not without its disadvantages. The technology and nuances of the process largely depend on what type of hive to use.

What does it mean?

Double-queen housing means a special organization of bee colonies. Usually there is only one queen, but in this case the two brood nests have mutual access through separator grids. This method was invented at the end of the 19th century.

To unite brood nests with different queens, add-ons or bodies are used. As a result, something like one large bee colony is formed. Such maintenance can be carried out using various technologies.

Advantages and disadvantages

Keeping bees with two queens has several undeniable advantages:

1. Bees survive the winter better. They overwinter in large numbers, so their vital energy is saved.
2. Due to energy savings During wintering, when two queens are kept, the feed consumption is also reduced. For the beekeeper, this means a reduction in expenses.
3. Increased strength of the bee colony. During wintering, when two queens are kept, there is more heat, so the insects are healthy and strong by spring.
4. Increase in brood, and therefore the opportunity to expand the apiary.
5. Effective honey collection. This factor is provided by the health and endurance of individuals. Productivity can be increased by 1,5-2 times.

The advantages of keeping bees in two queens are very important, but this method also has certain disadvantages:

1. The design of the hive becomes more complex, it is necessary to increase the number of frames. The volume of honey and other products of insect life activity increases. This means a significant increase in the weight of the hive, which complicates certain manipulations with it – the beekeeper alone will no longer be able to cope.
2. When kept with two queens hives, the growth of insect density increases, which affects ventilation. Bees perceive its deterioration negatively, so they can react by swarming. If it is not detected in time and appropriate measures are not taken, then part of the bee colony will be lost.
3. Increased number of frames makes it difficult to inspect the hive, so the amount of work on it increases. At the same time, inspections need to be carried out more often due to the risk of swarming.
4. A significant drawback keeping bees in two queens is the possibility of hostility between families. To obtain the advantages of this method, normal interaction of all bees with both queens is necessary, otherwise the meaning of unification is lost, therefore separation of families is required.

General recommendations for arranging a hive

When setting up a hive for two-queen housing, regardless of the chosen method, it is important to adhere to the following recommendations:

• For wintering use the outer sections, remove the summer section in advance.
• Early spring fertilizing to build up strength after wintering. Use pollen for this.
• accustoming to use the lower flight hole.
• In two months Before the main bribe, plant a new queen and replace the board with a dividing grid.
• Change localizations every 1,5 weeks.
• During early honey collection installation of a magazine extension is required.
• Installing the middle section after the insects have settled into the hive. A mesh partition is a must. Later it will need to be replaced with a grate.
• Gradual transfer ready brood from the outer section to the middle. After it is filled, you should start combining families. It is effective to use drops with mint for the frame, which replaces the mesh partition.
• To expand the family It is effective to use frame movement, and to use a construction frame as an indication.
• At the first sign swarming, take measures – organize a separate 8-frame case and a method of divisions.
• When swarming is excluded During honey collection, collect sealed honey and monitor free honeycombs for nectar.
• After the main bribe has ceased the activity of bees in the hive increases, so there is a risk of their aggression towards the queen. In this case, you need to close the middle flight hole and open the outer one.

The double-queen system is discontinued after the main honey flow. Instead, two standard bee colonies are organized. Leaving a double-queen hive for the winter is also practiced.

How to organize keeping bees in two queens?

The keeping of two queen bees can be organized in different types of hives. The specifics of the organization of the process depend on this.

Hive-bed

In this case, a hive with 16-20 frames and a dividing partition is usually used. Each bee family has its own section. The queen and brood are placed in it. This type of hive is suitable for wintering and spring development of insects.

In the summer, a body with a dividing grid and a common store are installed on the lounger. As a result, productivity increases significantly.

When keeping in a horizontal hive, take one initially full-fledged family. In one section of the hive, place the queen and half of the combs with worker bees. The other half is placed in the second section. The fertile queen is first placed here in a cap, releasing her only after the bees have become accustomed.

At the peak of egg-laying activity, all frames may be sown, so a gradual selection is necessary. If the bees do not have enough space, swarming may begin.

A colony must be formed from the selected frames and worker bees. Later, it can also be used to organize two-queen maintenance.

Multi-body hive

Keeping bees in two-hull hives is also called the Gand or Farrar method. In this case, a spring colony is formed over the main family.

Multi-hull hives are usually used to increase the strength of the family for the honey harvest. The formation of the queen brood should begin in the first ten days of May, then by the second half of the year the family will already occupy 2-3 hulls.

To organize a colony in the upper case, it is necessary to place a barren queen with a queen cell there. Egg laying will begin at the end of the month. Thanks to two queens, the growth of families will be intensive.

At the beginning of clover flowering, when there are 6-8 frames in the layer, it is necessary to install a metal separator mesh – it will stand for no more than two days. Then start filling the layer with wax – the body should be completely filled.

Afterwards it must be turned over and another body with a dividing grid installed. The old queen is removed to form an additional colony.

The attractiveness of keeping two queens in multi-hull hives is the low risk of swarming and a large number of worker bees due to the rearing of brood in the upper hives. The number of foragers increases, so productivity during the nectar flow will be higher.

According to Ozerov

In this method, the first two cases are nest cases and are divided in half. The flight holes are closed for the summer, and the nests and super cases are separated by bars. The bees fly through the flight holes of the super cases, using their reserves to supply the brood with honey and bee bread.

It is recommended to arrange the flight holes symmetrically, with a 30 mm gap from the bottom and top. This will speed up the insects’ adaptation to the flight holes after installing new bodies.

Ozerov’s method involves creating a spacious nest for a strong family. The technology is as follows:

1. When will the spring cleansing flight end?, close the streets (use slats-bookmarks) and put insulation. If it is necessary to use stimulating or medicinal feeding, then it is necessary to take out several slats and put feeders (4 cm deep). Place an empty extension on the lower body, put good insulation.
2. To expand, you need to remove three slats from the center of each section of the lower body. Cover the sections with separator grids, install a common body. It should contain 8 frames with dry food, which should be sprinkled with syrup. Use diaphragms to limit the dry food on both sides.
3. After 1,5 weeks, remove the upper body onto a stand behind the hive. Remove the separator grates, remove the bookmark grates. Cover the sections with grates, add a common body, which should contain wax and dry.
4. After another 1,5 weeks, after the upper body has been fully mastered, remove it to a stand behind the hive., remove the dividers and put in half of the second case. Put in 4 frames of dry honey and the same amount of wax foundation. Put in the divider grids, cover them with canvas and install the roof. Shake the bees from the third case behind the hive onto the plywood, placing one edge of it on the landing board of the lower case. Pump out the frames, and put the case on the halves of the second case, covering them with dividers. Close the streets of the third case with slats-bookmarks.
5. The halves of the second building will be completed in approximately 3 weeks. The third case should be removed and the halves of the second case should be placed. The queens with young brood from them should be transferred to the lower case and covered with separator grids. Then, after pumping out, install the third case with separators, and on top of that, the sections of the second case – all the brood frames should be in it. Open the side entrances of the second case. After a week, replace the separator grids with mesh partitions. Destroy the queen cells of the second case and replace them with fertile queens.
6. Combine sections for bribe. Remove the extension and put it at the back, remove the sections of the second body and place them on the sides. Remove the third body and put it at the back. Remove the dividers from the lower body, install the sections of the second body, and the extension without dividers on top. Transfer the bees with smoke into the second body from the extension, and put it on the lid. Put dividers on the second body, then the transition bodies and extensions for honey. Shake the bees out of the third body.
7. Remove honey casings, when the main trick is over.
8. Before winter Move brood, honey and bee bread from the other bodies to the lower body. Shake off the bees one by one, add food if necessary.

According to Sviridov

This method was developed in the Dnepropetrovsk region (Ukraine). It uses horizontal hives with a dividing grid for insect communication.

Only a strong family is suitable for the Sviridov method. The process is carried out according to the standard algorithm for horizontal hives. Compliance with the technology ensures the receipt of 16 frames with brood.

Dadan-Blatt hive

Such hives are considered universal and are well suited for two-queen maintenance. It is organized according to the Starobogatov method, which used 16 Dadan-Blatt frames.

With this method, the connection in winter is carried out in the fall before wintering. This allows you to leave a strong queen for the swarm.

Later the scheme changed – the family is united only during the bribe from mid-May to mid-July. The rest of the time, including wintering, the families must be separated by a diaphragm. In such conditions they become practically independent.

The entire process is carried out according to the following algorithm:

1. Before the main bribe remove the weak and non-viable queen and 2 frames of brood.
2. Remove the partition, put 3 frames with wax foundation.
3. Bribe for a while add half frames – 1-2 extensions.
4. Removed queen and brood Place in a regular hive – there should be 4 sections where the queens will be bred.
5. At the end of the honey collection select the strongest individuals from the queen cell and place them in a two-queen hive.
6. In the middle of August insulate the hives, organize syrup feeding. This is the final stage.

Calendar and scheme of work in two-family hives with solar heating and auxiliary divisions

• October-April-wintering bees in the wild.
• 1-25 April – reduction of the nest. Replacement of last year’s bees with young ones.
• 25 of April – 10 of May — the first expansion of families with halves of the second body and the establishment of queen cells in the strongest breeding family.
• 11-20 May — expansion of strong families with a third body, placed at odds with the first and second and separated from them from above and below by dividing grids. Raising young queens in the halves of the second body. In the remaining hives — laying down early colonies on queen cells from the breeding family.
• 20-30 May — the second expansion of all families with the third body. Checking young queens for fertility. Selecting sealed brood from the first body to the third. Replacing frames with sealed brood with wax foundation.
• 1-10 June — the second selection of sealed brood from the first body and its replacement with wax foundation.
• 11-20 June — the third expansion with a fourth body, which is placed on the first one at odds with the first and third bodies (the halves of the second body with young queens remain on top).
• 21-30 June — the first honey extraction, unification of all families with auxiliary divisions for the main honey flow. Transfer of old queens together with frames of sealed brood and bees from the first body to separate nuclei placed next to new families. Replacement of selected frames with extracted ones.
• 1-15 July – the second honey extraction.
• July 16 – August 10 — the final extraction of honey, formation of the nest.
• August 11 – September 20 — preparation for wintering. Autumn stimulating feeding. Formation of nests, unification of weak families with average ones.

The swarming problem

Many beekeeping theorists say that keeping bees with two queens provokes them to swarming more. They explain this mainly by the lack of space in the nests, their cramped conditions and poor ventilation.

In general, swarming occurs in the same way as in a regular single-queen bee colony, but there are some specific features. The interaction of different bee colonies is often aggressive, the character of the insects becomes unstable, they react worse to changes in the weather. In such an unfavorable intra-family climate, the queen can die much faster.

If the united two-queen colony were friendly and united, the bees would live peacefully under the wing of the second queen, and the beekeeper would quietly introduce a new one to them. In practice, this happens extremely rarely.

In contrast to this view, beekeepers claim that keeping bees with two queens practically solves the swarming problem. They believe that the main reason for swarming is the lack of special royal jelly, but if there are two queens, they will share this substance between two families, and swarming moods will not arise.

Similar methods of dual queen housing

In addition to traditional schemes, there are additional methods of beekeeping of this type.

However, they provide for compliance with the following general recommendations that affect the productivity of the bee colony:

1. In spring, insects should receive additional feeding to build up their strength before the new honey harvest.
2. The frames need to be rearranged a couple of months before the main honey flow. In this case, a new female is transferred to the queenless colony.
3. The formation of the hive is completed 30 days before the honey flow, so that the honey-bearing insects can adapt to the new layout of the house.

Some beekeepers separate their bees for the winter and then unite them in the spring. But experts believe that wintering together will have a positive effect on the future interaction of the insects.

Conclusion

Due to the double queen beekeeping, wintering is better tolerated, so the family strength will be great. This increases productivity during the main honey flow, which is the main goal of beekeeping. Double queen beekeeping can be organized in various ways. Each case has a certain technology and its own nuances.