Advantages and Disadvantages of the Chinese Bee Double Queen Group

   Double queen colony of Chinese bees refers to raising two queen bees in one hive. Because the reproduction speed of Chinese bees is slow, it is easy to breed into a strong colony in a relatively short time by using double queen reproduction to improve the honey yield of the colony. But everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Let me take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of the double queen colony of Chinese bees.

What are the advantages of the Chinese bee double queen group？

1. Rapid reproduction

   The double queen colony of Chinese bees is equivalent to having two queens laying eggs in a hive at the same time. Under the same conditions, two queens will definitely lay more eggs than one queen in the same time. And because the two bees are close together, it is conducive to maintaining the stability of the hive, which creates a foundation for the colony breeding (a stable temperature of 35 ℃ is required). Therefore, it is conducive to the reproduction of the colony, and is more important for the reproduction of the colony during the recovery period.

2. High collection efficiency

   Because there are two queens in the same hive, the Chinese bees have a high enthusiasm for gathering because they can create spleen and breed insects quickly; It is not easy to generate bee splitting heat and the temperature in the hive is stable, which can reduce the number of field bees engaged in the heat preservation work in the hive, enable more field bees to carry out external collection activities, and can be early in the morning and late in the evening, so as to extend the time of attendance.

3. Easy to form strong group

   Because there are two queens in the same hive, the Chinese queen bee colony can lay eggs and reproduce quickly. The colony can well breed strong and highly collecting worker bees, which is conducive to the development of the colony into a strong colony. At the same time, the temperature in the nest of the double queen colony is suitable because of the strong swarm potential of the bees, and the bees can survive the winter safely even if they do not keep warm in winter. The strong colony also has great advantages in disease resistance, anti theft bee and anti enemy damage.

What are the disadvantages of the Chinese bee double queen group?

1.Colony biased set

   The double queen colony of Chinese bees is easy to lead to bee deviation. The main reason is that the queen pheromone secreted by the two queens is strong or weak, which will show differences in the attractiveness of bees. The second reason is that beekeepers have a biased understanding of the distance between the two areas' hives. 

   They think that the farther the two areas' hives are, the more conducive to preventing the colony deviation. However, the problem is precisely that here, it is absolutely impossible to reach the distance between the two hives of a hive.

2.Buzzers are easy to be confused

   There are two queens in the Chinese bee double queen colony at the same time, so the "queen pheromone" in the colony may be confused, leading to abnormal worker bees' attendance. In addition, the temperature in the colony is relatively high in the hot summer weather, so it is difficult to maintain a strong colony. At the same time, when the honey source is sufficient, the colony will increase its reproduction strength, causing the colony to be full of pupae, which will not play the role of double queen reproduction when the honey source is insufficient.

3.Management is troublesome

   The daily management of the Chinese bee double queen colony is also troublesome. The keepers are required to pay attention to the situation of the two queen colonies at all times, especially the situation of the double queen "visiting". When the bee colony starts to divide into two groups, if one group starts to divide into two groups, both groups will start to divide into two groups. 

   When the bee colony starts to divide into two groups, a group of bees and two groups will run out. At the same time, the Chinese bee double queen colony will affect the mating of the local queen, because the queen is prone to miscarry during mating, which will lead to mating failure.

4.Disease is difficult to control

   Although the Chinese honeybee double queen colony has certain advantages in disease resistance, anti-theft bee resistance, enemy resistance and other aspects, it is also very troublesome in disease treatment and pest prevention. If one group gets sick, the other group will also suffer, and the same prevention and treatment must be carried out. In addition, when there are wasps and other enemies attacking, due to the confused smell of the two groups of bees, it is very easy for two groups of bees in the same box to fight each other, thus causing unnecessary deaths and injuries to the bees.