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Hey Mindy, that's the plan! We will be updating everyone about NAHBE hives in the next couple of weeks!

@TheKeepersHive Great to hear!

True that! George

Ok. It is super easy to put them on over the frames and then slide the frames under the queen excluder. 3 strips per hive.

Once the nectar flow is on and the bees have drawn out the comb in the brood chamber, you can remove the feeder jars and place frames in the spacer box. George

Gracias

Gracias

I generally leave the queen and 1-2 frame of emerging capped brood in the brood chamber. All open brood gets moves up. Yes, check for emergency cells 1 week after moving open brood up. Less emergency queen cells in the one queen keeper than would expect. Maybe because of the use of 5 frame supers instead of 10. Hope this clears up what we are recommending. George

They were available during our crowd funding in 2024. They will be available again in 2025. Go to www.thekeepershive.com and leave us your email to stay connected to future updates. Go big with the two queen keeper!! George

The exchange box, the box left off, was shaken out in front of the hive and that box was taken away. What other questions do you have? I believe in transparency but also not having videos that go on for ever. George

The only box with a divider in it is the space box which sits directly on top of the brood box. The eschange box and the supers are not divided. George

@@TheKeepersHive thanks. I understand you are working on delivering your backlog of orders. Once you open up general sales I will send through an order for one of these doubles.

Awesome! We are excited too. Remember, they are big hives! George

Harvey, Nope on using two 5 frame deep nuc boxes.. the hive will come with a 10 frame spacer box. You can make a shim that would then transition to 8 frame boxes above the 10 frame spacer box. If you UA-cam this, there are some pretty good examples on how people use 8 frame boxes above 10 frame boxes. George

Or something like this: ua-cam.com/video/xyFcSVXjDNg/v-deo.html Instead of using caulk just use exterior duct tape to prevent rain from coming in.

Is there a reason you left off the inner cover? I would think that would be just a bit more insulation and keep the bees away from the foam board which I find they sometimes chew. I am also going to wrap my polystyrene in aluminum foil next year to keep the ants in my yard from making a nest in there.

You bet!

@@TheKeepersHive Will yall be selling your hives? I'm anticipating wanting more 🙂

Agree. I count the frame as harvestable if 75% of the frame is capped or if 75% of the box is capped.. all three of those boxes were greater than 75% capped. George

Our crowd funding just wrapped up where preorders were available. If you go to our website: www.thekeepershive.com and get on our email list, we will keep you informed when they will be available for purchase again. George

I just sent you an email Anthony. George

Will do. The spacer box immediately above the brood box has a divider in it. So each colony has 8 deep frames in the brood chamber and 5 deep frames in the spacer box to overwinter. George

You are correct. A follower board works a little bit better in the Keepers Hive than a regular Langstroth. You could put in a entrance reducer in the bottom board entrance to direct the bees to enter where you have frames. Take the extra frames out of the box where you dont want the bees and add the frames back when the colony starts to grow. Cool that you are appreciating the use of a follower board in keeping bees! George

Awesome memories! When a two queen hive works, it will surely out produce two single queen hives. There is a tremendous forager force so when they find an exceptional nectar source, the amount of honey they produce is amazing. With the Keepers Hive, you can access the two brood chambers without removing the very tall super stack. It essentially takes a lot of the work out of management. Thanks for sharing. George

We use 10 frame bottom boards with the entrances on opposite sides of the hive, so each brood chamber has its own entrance and the bees don't drift to one side.

We will do that soon! George

We have not made that video yet actually but it is in the pipeline for this fall! We have a trick for overwintering them both in the hive on 13 deep frames while keeping them both completely separated.

Absolutely. Possibilities are endless with that many bees. George

​@@TheKeepersHive Here's another tip, Beeks, use supers with 9 frames to make cappings removal easier. If you are short of drawn combs, place foundation frames in supers. Bees will draw them out pretty fast, if a good flow. Remember to put gaps between boxes. This lets bees take advantage of entering and exiting the hive, also free movement of air during evening drying.

​@@TheKeepersHive another way to keep bee colonies from swarming is to give each brood box a young vigerous queen and plenty of empty combs to lay in. Nothing is as satisfying as seeing combs with good brood patterns just before a great flow starts.

Hi Tim, this is our Two Queen Keeper - our company is The Keeper's Hive, you can check out more information on our hives by visiting www.thekeepershive.com or our Indiegogo page where we are currently offering orders

Thanks for the tip. I do get stung a few times for sure. George

Next year, I promise to sit on the top of a two queen keeper and hum something. Sounds like a fun time! I am good with all comments. I am a big believer in multiple perspectives complete the picture. But yes, If I get one more comment that the Keepers Hive wont work because of propolis, I may start trying to raise some money somehow off of it! George

It was fun to make! Two queen hives are fun to run if you like big hives. George

Everywhere there was bearding there was an upper entrance. I set some supers back 3/8 inch and there is an entrance at the top too. Help dry out the honey and more return areas for the foragers. Just be careful if you have small hive beetles. A beetle does not stand much of a chance in this particular hive. George

​@@TheKeepersHive Also, make sure there are 10mm gaps between supers for air flow for drying out the nectar. Also, it is easier to remove and add filled and empty supers. Keep a date on the box when placed on the tower to know when to pull to extract. A good way to tell how the flow is progressing or waning down. Have fun!!

I added two more empty supers to the top just to give them enough space.

No I dont use clamps in the winter on the exchange box. Betterbee sells hive clamps if you want to buy additional ones. They are just adjustable toggle latches. You maybe able to find them cheaper shopping around. George

Thanks! It has been a journey for sure. Hive design is not easy. The bees will generally tell you what is right and wrong with your design. Just need patience to see it. George

Yep! Mark's idea. I wont wear crocks in the apiary but I am not a fine example of what protective equipment to wear either. Better bee handling does equate to needing less protective equipment most of the time. The Keepers Hive allows for minimal colony disturbance to examine the brood box. George

Thank you! I am excited that over 150 beekeepers have preordered at least one hive. I promise everyone it does what we show you it can do in our UA-cam videos. No staging being done on our single take videos. George

I am not a big flow frame user. I am just trying to show people that if you already own flow frames, they can be used on the Keeper's Hive (both one queen and two queen). Moving brood above the flow frames may help the bees start accepting and filling them. Just having fun! George

Simple. Just add it to the stack. The 7 frame flow super is the width of a 10 frame super. Fred Dunn is going to run a flow super on a two queen Keeper's Hive next year too. It fills up quick. George

The spacer box on the two queen keepers is a deep 10 frame box with a divider in the middle. The colonies in the two queen keeper overwinter with 8 deep in the brood chamber and 5 deep in the spacer box. Additional emergency feed can be added to the top of the spacer box if necessary. George

Sustainable beekeeping is not easy to achieve. I believe the Keepers Hive allows beekeepers to more efficiently and effectively do the management necessary to achieve a sustainable apiary. George

The two queen keeper has two separate eight frame deep brood chambers. There is a 6.5 inch closed off space between the two brood chambers so that the queens remain separate below but the foragers share the supers above. Big hive with lots of bees for sure! George

Hey Eddie! The two queen Keeper has 2 identical 8 frame deep brood chambers with a follower board. There is a 6 1/2 inch wide enclosed space that sits between the two brood chambers. The queen excluder and the supers sit on this box. The brood chambers and queens are totally separated while the foragers share the supers above. George

I set the box back a bit to give the bees a top entrance and to dry out the honey. It is a strong hive so not worried about robbing. Also, not much small hive beetle pressure in the area either. George

Yep! Flip the lid, remove the observation window/frame protectors and check brood/stores... all while seated. George

:)

Thank you. Assessment of food resources so important going into dearth. Does not get talked about enough. Everyone just focused on the honey production and not the health of the colony. George

I cant wait to introduce them too! George

Great point. Some times my pant legs are tucked in and some times I forget. The bees will let you know when you forget. I am a bit of a minimalist when it comes to protecting against stings. I breed for docility. George

Just get a higher stool to sit on. I tend to keep my hives about 6 to 9 inches off the ground; but I dont have much skunk pressure that I know of. George

Ok. If you are satisfied with your current hives, then all is well. We are providing people an option for using your langstroth equipment while lifting less. Pretty simple. George

A section honey box and frames will be a 2025 Keepers Hive product. George

@@TheKeepersHive I can’t wait!!!😃

Much appreciated! George

We're planning to have an update on international shipping by the end of this year. We're also looking into finding a UK manufacture and will definitely keep everyone posted!