Two Queens Noob

[snowmix]

I bought a Nuc about two weeks ago from Prairie wind bee supply. When I picked up the nuc I pulled one of the frames out and noticed that there was a queen cell on the frame. I was told not to worry about it because it was probably just because of the small size of the nuc. I have opened the hive about 4 times now and I cant seem to see any eggs. There is a small patch of capped brood and some larva but not a lot. I was worried that the queen is failing so today I went back into the hive, and I found my marked queen and right next to her is another smaller queen (99% sure) now at this point I don't know what to do. The workers are bringing in pollen I am feeding but the hive seems kind of lackadaisical 

[Michael Bush]

The bees are sorting it out.  They thought the queen was substandard and raised her replacement.  They are wise enough to wait for this one to get mated and for the hive to get going well before disposing of the old one...

[snowmix]

First off thanks for the help, So how long should I wait to go back in the hive, and from what you are saying when I go back in there I'm probably only going to see one of the queens right?

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[johng]

I would wait a couple weeks. You will likely have both queens laying for a little while. Once the new queen gets up to speed the bees will get rid of the old queen.

[Michael Bush]

It takes two weeks usually for a queen to get mated and laying well enough that you can find eggs.  Sometimes three.  The old queen might be disposed of anytime between now and winter.  Sometimes they keep her for a while.

[snowmix]

Here is the hive... I wish I would have just bought a starter kit I would have had a lot less tinkering to do and less to worry about. The next thing I think i need to do is find some #8 hardware cloth since tue dead bees and trash wont fall threw the regular screen. I have been to every ace near me in Denver and no one sells it.

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[Moots]

Snowmix,
It's kind of hard to judge scale in your photo, but what size it that screen?  It sort of looks like #8...

I'm also confused...You say, "I think i need to do is find some #8 hardware cloth since tue dead bees and trash wont fall threw the regular screen".  But bees don't fit through #8 (8 squares per inch), that's the whole point of using it.

If it is #8 you want, you are right, it's tough to find...If you have any Mom and Pop type feed stores, they can usually order it for you and have it in a week, maybe two at the most.

Good Luck!

[BlueBee]

I have bought #8 at my local ACE store here, but they don’t always carry it.  I usually just order from one of the bee supply companies.  They ship fast and are the lowest cost I’ve found.

Moots, it looks like window screen in the photo to me, but I can’t tell for sure.

Moots is right; dead bees won't fall through #8 hardware cloth either.

[Moots]

I know nothing about top bar hives, so not sure what exactly you're trying to accomplish.

However, if you use a screen big enough for dead bees to fall through....it'll be big enough for live bees to pass through!  So, then from a bee prospective, you pretty much have no hive bottom...Is this what you want?

[snowmix]

Well I have already had to close down the entrance quite a bit because of the robbing (wild bees in a tree next door) so I guess an open bottom probably wont work until this hive gets stronger. And I did look at top bar hive plans and thought why can't I design it to accept deep frames. So I just found out this is called a long lang I guess. The screen is just regular window screen I was hoping that the mites will fall threw but I saw one yesterday and they look almost as big as the holes in the screen so I'm thinking of just getting 1/4 and doubling it up to make 1/8.

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[Moots]

Well I have already had to close down the entrance quite a bit because of the robbing (wild bees in a tree next door) so I guess an open bottom probably wont work until this hive gets stronger. And I did look at top bar hive plans and thought why can't I design it to accept deep frames. So I just found out this is called a long lang I guess. The screen is just regular window screen I was hoping that the mites will fall threw but I saw one yesterday and they look almost as big as the holes in the screen so I'm thinking of just getting 1/4 and doubling it up to make 1/8.

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Snow,
Cool!  Thanks for the explanation....I've seen and been tempted to try a long lang, just haven't gotten there yet, but it's on my long list of "bee things" to try.  :laugh:
Are you using dummy or following boards to reduce their current space?  Going from a Nuc to that much space is a huge jump, that much space for a small and/or weak hive can be problematic.

If you really have no luck finding the #8, doubling the number #4 is probably your best bet and would work in a jam.  

Good luck!
 

[snowmix]

right now I just have one follower in there and I have 8 frames I think. When I built it originally I cut two entrances because I thought two is better then one. I ended up blocking one off once I figured out that the bees probably wouldn't like that. Now that I am learning some more I'm kind of interested in putting a queen excluder in the middle and running a two queen hive. I might try it if that second queen that's in there is alive on my next inspection. I'm just not sure if any bees will go over to her on other side of the hive and if I could over winter with this set up. If I would just have to kill one of the queens every winter I don't think I will do it.