Two queen colonies

[Finman]

So finman, why is it that you have the strongest colonies on the planet, yet you have never seen 18 frames of brood from a single queen?

What was the total hight of that hive in main yield? How many boxes?

 

[Finman]

I've had 18 frames of brood in a colony with a single queen. 14 of them were pretty good solid frames of brood, 4 of them were partial frames. My best estimate came to about 80,000 cells of brood in Langstroth size frames. Do the math and it works out to about 3800 eggs laid daily for at least 3 weeks. So finman, why is it that you have the strongest colonies on the planet, yet you have never seen 18 frames of brood from a single queen?

18 brood frames is an ordinary number.

Those hives are often hybrids and you cannot take daughters from them. Italian queens x Carniolan drones.
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Last summer I had several hives, which had over 20 brood frames. I had bought the queens from 1500 -hive owner.
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One hive had brood in two langstroth box plus medium box full.

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[Finman]

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So, when hive has 18 frames brood, how many langstroth boxes the colony will need.

 

[Fusion_power]

That particular hive was the best performer for the year. A full Langstroth deep holds about 60 pounds of honey so they would have filled nearly 4 boxes. It was a Buckfast queen that I've posted about previously.

How do you drive a Finlander mad? You post a better beekeeping story.... then prove it is not just another fish tale.

 

[B+.]

I Now I want to take the best parts of the two queen system and combine it with mite resistant bees.

This is nonsense.
You can't evaluate performance this way

 

[Anduril]

This is nonsense.
You can't evaluate performance this way

The procedure is getting too complex, one queen colonies are needed not two. How would you know which was the better queen, when you have workers mixing together.

 

[Fusion_power]

This is nonsense. You can't evaluate performance this way

I'm not running these colonies to evaluate performance. They are to produce honey. period! I can sell honey at $5 per pound so a colony that makes 200 pounds of honey is producing $1000. I would love to have a few colonies that go over 200 pounds next year.

I will have plenty of single queen colonies to evaluate for individual performance.

 

[Hivemaker.]

I would love to have a few colonies that go over 200 pounds next year.

Hope you succeed, this is achievable with good single queen colonies during the right weather and in good forage areas.

 

[Finman]

I will have plenty of single queen colonies to evaluate for individual performance.

You have learned nothing what I have written with you.

- Good yields come from pastures. You must move hives to good pastures.

- Then you must have big hives, that bees can store the nectar flow inside the hive, every day as long as flow lasts
- hives must be in one spot so few, that they get easily full load under 1 km radius.

- you count cell sizes and cell amounts, but it has nothing to do with honey production.

I am disappointed your ability to learn.



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[Finman]

Hope you succeed, this is achievable with good single queen colonies during the right weather and in good forage areas.

With those principles, what Fusion tells, hope has no place to work. He needs a skill "to draw from nothing".

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We have a proverb: " cold coffee makes a person more beautifull, but it does not make miracles".

 

[Finman]

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The system in nut shell: You get now 40 kg honey /hive. Then you add second queen into the hive, and your yield rises to 100 kg per hive.

You may try Australian system where they get 300 kg per hive. Perhaps you need more eucalyptus forests to your area.
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What if Australians invent the two queen system?

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[jenkinsbrynmair]

I'm not running these colonies to evaluate performance. They are to produce honey. period!

In that case, why don't you just give all those duff queens you've admitted you raise the gatepost treatment and get in some decent productive stock?

 

[Eyeman]

Fusion-power
What are you views on:
My 2 queen hive experiment by Ray Nabors started in the July 2015 ABJ?

One of his concerns was:
" The bees are filling a full deep super with honey first, below the queen excluder." Back to the drawing board.

 

[rolande]

I also have discussed running them horizontally in square Dadant hives with BernhardHeuvel who runs 300 two queen colonies in Germany. Here is an ongoing discussion on beesource that covers quite a bit.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?306234-Running-two-queen-colonies

In that beesource thread Heuvel states:

A good queen and thus a good colony I wouldn't waste in 2 queen hive, I run her in a single deep. But if the queen comes out of winter not so strong, she either stays or goes into a 2 queen hive. Together with another queen she produces as much as the best hives you have or that can be found in your location.

While I don't always agree with him he does strike me as quite a thoughtful poster, hence my surprise if your figures are correct; that's a lot of underperforming queens.

 

[Michael Palmer]

Hope you succeed, this is achievable with good single queen colonies during the right weather and in good forage areas.

I agree.

 

[Eyeman]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hivemaker.
Hope you succeed, this is achievable with good single queen colonies during the right weather and in good forage areas.

And don't forget the all important "Right Management"

 

[Finman]

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Fusion has one basic problem. He breeds a stock, which has about 20 members. Number leads only to inbreeding problems. Impossible to imagine, what kind of problems. It clears out when you compare your stock to other beekeepers' stocks.



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[Hivemaker.]

And don't forget the all important "Right Management"

Good beekeepers should already know this.

 

[Finman]

[
Tupla

 

[Finman]

Good beekeepers should already know this.

I do not know what is right management. But I do my way like Frank Sinatra. Guys have so many methods.