[Bienenkorb]

Having limited available space for my hives a double hive or two queen hive system woke my interest. Apiarists I talked to so far have different opinions and tend to stick to a single hive system with several hive bodies/super stacked on top of each other, spread out over quite an area in some cases.
Strengthening a hive by combining two weak colonies seams to be common practice. Nobody I asked could answer how a two queen hive in a tower setup would do over winter though.
My hives are wrapped in Styrofoam over winter. In my opinion a combination of a deep super housing one colony/queen topped with a second deep super housing a colony/queen and both divided with a queen excluder would produce more heat. They should be easier to be fed in a top feeder when necessary too.
Some apiarists use a two queen system to achieve a better honey harvest but what are the pros or more excact cons of keeping a dual queen system in a tower setup over winter?

 

[Jim S]

I have the same question. Maybe a bump up will get a response. Thanks everyone for any help.

 

[Beeslave]

The bees from the lower colony below the excluder will move up into the top colony as winter progresses and they will leave the lower queen behind and she will perish.

 

[Birdman]

Beeslave that sounds like the right answer to me.

 

[Brooklyn]

Could you use a cloak board then both top and bottom would have there own set up

Brooklyn

 

[Beeslave]

You could but then it would be awful difficult to do a late winter early spring inspection to see if the bees need any food.

 

[BeeCurious]

I believe the original posting refers to this setup.

I believe you would loose both queens as neither could move up into the honey resevers as winter progressed.

 

[libhart]

As BeeCurious has said, I too think you'd lose both queens, not a good situation. If you'd like to simply stack the hives so one hive can help warm the other and you fit it into a small space, maybe one of the experienced keepers here could comment on this idea. You need to give both colonies the ability to take cleansing flights, so to keep them completely separate colonies but allow the lower to help warm the upper, set the bottom hive up as usual. Where the inner cover would normally be, put a double screened bottom board facing the opposite direction from the lower bottom board. Then stack that hive on top as usual with the normal covers at the top. When the bees take cleansing flights on slightly warmer days they'll return to their own entry. As has been mentioned though, you'll need a way to feed come spring time. Probably at that point you could divide them into the two-tower system that BeeCurious pictured?