The best-laid schemes o' bees an' beeks...

Following the inspection on Tuesday night (and some fair amount of badgering people on biobees and Phil Chandler at the course) I have decided to split my colony on Saturday, but that is not all!

NB - Please prepare yourself for a long rambling description of my thoughts on this. Get yourself a coffee, maybe a flapjack, settle in, get comfy, OR bail out now and spend the time with your family instead.

My current hive is wombled together from scrap wood and I had very little idea of what I was doing. As such I am a little concerned for its longevity. I would also like to make some modifications ie deep litter (eco) floor, redo the entrance, add additional entrances for in hive splits etc etc. My NEW hive is long.... 51 3/4" long... two colonies in one hive long :)

Originally for this hive I just thought I would put an entrance in each end and it could hold two colonies, or in the very least be used for splits, and over wintering multiple colonies. From spending too much time thinking about stuff I now think it may be an interesting experiment in a two queen kTBH. That's right TWO QUEENS, but no.. I am not mad.

Theoretically the size of the hive should allow for a brood nest located at each end with honey stores in the middle. Queens very rarely cross the honey barrier but just in case I will have two follower boards snuggly fit with queen excluder "windows". These will be placed 12 bars into the hive from each side.

So, here is the plan:
(please excuse the very bad drawing pictures will be available later)

As well as end entrances the new hive has some small entrances just under halfway on each side. This was originally to help foragers during a heavy nectar flow but it will also help here. First I move the old hive back slightly and put the new hive in its place. Any returning foragers return to the entrance position, stop to find two holes as entrances. They will (close enough) split themselves 50:50 between these holes. In the hive the two follower boards (with queen excluder windows closed) will separate the hive in two. Now I can open the old hive and split the contents between each each side in the new hive.

The central entrance on the old hive means currently the brood nest is in the middle with the comb containing drones to the outside edges of the brood nest, and comb containing nectar and honey on the far outside on both sides. The queen cups were on a few different combs within the brood nest. SO assuming 14 bars in the old hive I take the 7 bars on the left pick them up as they are and move them into the new hive on the right. Pick up the 7 bars on the right pick them up and move them to the new hive on the left. This will put the brood near the entrance and with stores towards the middle. I will quite likely have to ensure each side has a mixture of eggs and larvae an equal split of stores, but I wanted to keep the combs that were together in the old hive, together in the new hive if possible.

The side that gets the queen will continue as before, slightly weakened, but with a laying queen and a mix of brood at all stages and foragers. The side that doesn't get the queen will raise a queen using the already prepared queen cups, or raise an emergency from the eggs and larvae I give it, but will also have some foragers to help. As both sides expand they will eventually meet in the middle. The queen excluder follower boards will stop the queens meeting and I can do a standard combine in the middle. That fact that they have the same parent colony should allow for the queens pheromones to be similar. The additional centre entrances reduce the amount the foragers that have to pass through the excluders.

PROS:
Two queen systems are more productive. The higher amount of pheromone helps make the colony more productive and there is an efficiency in the colonies only requiring a certain amount of bees to keep the brood warm, thus releasing more bees for foraging.

Both colonies are "happier". The two queens worth of pheromone give the colonies the sense that they have a very strong queen keeping them calmer, and less likely to swarm.

If one colony in flagging, especially while a new queen is waiting to get mated or start laying, the other colony can take up the slack.

If either queen fails there is a spare at the other side of the hive which can be used to raise a new one.

Two colonies in a single hive will share hive warmth hopefully allowing for a more successful over wintering.

THINGS THAT MAY GO WRONG:(they "Gang aft agley" so they do)
The new colony fails to raise a queen - either combine with original colony or transfer bar with eggs to give them another chance.

The colony swarms anyway - Hopefully, there will be new queens available on each side and I will catch the old queen. If either side is too weak I can recombine at the strong end and attempt another day.

The new queen fails to mate, return from mating, one queen kills other etc - see above.

The new queen goes into the wrong side - close middle entrances before new queen emerges forcing the colonies to use the end entrances.

The colonies are SO productive (hmmm) when working together they fill the hive - I am working on supering system for the middle section of the hive for that purpose.

All in all I think it is no more risky than any other split only (because there's another queen in there) with a more easy combine or requeen if necessary.

I will try and get some video as my dad is visiting this weekend and I have already informed him he is helping. Wish me luck.

NB - The author will not accept any applications from readers for the return of the part of their life they have just wasted by reading this blog. Disgruntled readers may take solace in reviewing the next blog entry for reports of the author being stung lots or failing miserably.