Double Queen Hive Installed!

I did it.  In 100 degree heat, completely covered in a full bee suit, I did it.  I installed the double queen hive.  I had planned on taking pictures throughout the entire process but it was so hot and I was fighting the coming darkness so I just plowed through the installation.  Here's what I did in the specific order in case you want to try it with your bees:

1. The grass was pretty tall around the existing hives so I took a hoe to chop down the grass where I wanted to place the hives.
2. I laid down sand to make the ground level and then placed the cinder blocks where I needed them to support the platform I made last night, then placed the platform on the cinder blocks.
3. I flushed the bees out of the super of the weak hive with Fisher's Bee Quick, which is a natural bee repellent that smells like almond oil.  I love the smell but bees hate it!  lol  This drove the bees down into the brood box where I wanted them. 
4. Next, I took the super off the strong hive and set it aside while I moved the hive body with the screen bottom board onto the platform.
5. I took the super off the weak hive and set it aside, then moved the hive body with the screen bottom board next to the strong hive on the platform.
6. I placed a queen excluder in the middle of both hives, which covered half of each hive.
7. I placed a piece of news paper on top of the queen excluder.
8. I placed the super from the strong hive on top of the newspaper.
9. Then I placed the super from the weak hive on top of the first super.
10. Finally, I put the inner hive cover and cover on top of the supers, and two halfs of a migratory hive cover on each of the exposed halves of the hive bodies.

Here's the finished result.

By the time I completed the installation, the bees were pretty upset.  I was hot and thirsty so I took off my veil and gloves and chugged some water and poured it on top of my head.  Whew!  That hit the spot!!  I decided to take a few pics with my veil off and the bees were buzzing around and not too happy.  One of the girls decided to let me know exactly how she felt about it and stung me right on the tip of my nose!!!  Ouch!!!  LOL 

 

I decided to put an entrance reducer on the weaker hive because I could tell the two hives were not happy with each other.  The newspaper I laid down between the hive is designed to keep the two hives separate long enough for them to get used to each other's smell.  The bees will chew through the paper within a couple of days and gradually the hive smells will mingle together and the bees won't know who is a friend or enemy and they'll start working together.  The queens, however, will never get along and will fight each other to the death - that's the reason for the queen excluder between the two hives.  The workers can walk between the holes in the excluder, but the queens are to large to fit through so they'll never come in contact with each other. 

I did all of this at the end of the day when all the field workers were back home for the night so that when they leave the hives in the morning, they'll get their bearings on where their home is now located. 

I'll check on the newly combined hive in a few days to make sure it's doing ok and will keep you updated.  I'm really anxious to see if this configuration works.  My goal is to make the weaker hive stronger with more bees and shared stores of honey.  The super from the strong hive is nearly full of honey on all 10 frames, however the super on the weak hive is nearly empty of honey - not even a full frame of honey.  Keep your fingers crossed!