Hive colony on top of another hive colony ?

dalewills · September 29, 2016, 02:07:01 AM

Hi guys,

Is it possible to put a hive colony on top of another hive colony? I am very tight for space on my property where I house my hives and am wondering what the possibility is of a double decker hive scenario.

I know its not probably ideal but just wondering everyone's thought.

Dale

PhilK · September 29, 2016, 02:26:56 AM

No worries in doing that, but whenever you want to get into the bottom hive you'll have to move the entire top hive off... that can be upwards of 100kg.

Culley · September 29, 2016, 03:35:01 AM

Have you considered putting beehives indoors somewhere?

Jim134 · September 29, 2016, 11:34:34 AM

I would consider a two queen hive.

BEE HAPPY Jim 134

Michael Bush · September 29, 2016, 12:08:51 PM

Yes, but you double the amount of work involved in inspecting in general and you more than double the amount of work if you only needed to check on the one on the bottom.

BeeMaster2 · September 29, 2016, 01:38:49 PM

If you really need to do this, I would recommend building a stand so that there is space above the bottom hive. The problem is when the top one grows, you will need a ladder to work it unless you build a stand next to it to stand on.
Jim

Michael Bush · September 29, 2016, 04:17:51 PM

>The problem is when the top one grows, you will need a ladder to work it unless you build a stand next to it to stand on.

Yes, that's the other problem. I've had to put supers on with a ladder when they were single stacks...

SlickMick · September 30, 2016, 01:48:50 AM

Are you able to place them back to back?

Mick

PhilK · September 30, 2016, 02:58:52 AM

Quote from: Michael Bush on September 29, 2016, 04:17:51 PM
>The problem is when the top one grows, you will need a ladder to work it unless you build a stand next to it to stand on.

Yes, that's the other problem. I've had to put supers on with a ladder when they were single stacks...

How do you get them off!

BeeMaster2 · September 30, 2016, 05:36:14 AM

Quote from: SlickMick on September 30, 2016, 01:48:50 AM
Are you able to place them back to back?

Mick

The answer is yes but I alway like to work the hives from the back. You could work on them from the side.
What I recommend you do is leave enough space between the hives so that you can walk/work between them.
When I take my bees to the farm on my trailer I have the hives back to back during transport for strapping them down and then I separate them. I move each hive to the edge of the trailer so that I can walk between them and clean out the oil trays.

Jim

little john · September 30, 2016, 07:43:10 AM

Could be useful if you described what facilities you have on your site ...

Any sheds, flat-roof buildings, or trees etc ? Hives don't have to be placed on the ground, although that's obviously the ideal place if possible.
LJ

BeeMaster2 · September 30, 2016, 04:00:23 PM

My father ran 5 hives on his 4/12 roof for years. Hard to get supers up and down ladders.
Jim

little john · October 01, 2016, 04:31:05 AM

Robin Dartington used to keep bees on a roof - his only access was via a tight circular stairwell, so he 'invented' the half-width super, three of which were then placed over his main hive box. "Design by necessity" you might say ...

I once met a bloke who was planning to keep standard hives on top of a Cathedral roof, which could only be accessed by crawling through an internal access chamber just big enough for one person to squeeze through. He was talking about raising and lowering beekeeping gear using the same block and tackle system that the Cathedral's stonemasons used. Most certainly not an ideal way of working.
LJ

divemaster1963 · October 01, 2016, 12:58:32 PM

I have used double qween hives on top of each other many times but only for purposes of getting them thru winter when they were weak and low on stores. I would place qween exculders above brood camber of lower hive then the supers of honey then another qween excluder then the brood camber of the other hive. just had a upper and lower entrance facing two different directions son they would not try and walk up to attack each other. works great. just tear it down in the spring. if your doing it to just get more hive in compact space. you will have to have a work platform for each row of hives. it can be done and has but it will require you to work your hive a ton more to keep their growth down as no to out build the hight limit of each level of hives. thier is videos online of people who do do this. but unless you have the ample time to work them it will be very vey hard to control them from swarming due to space .

john