Alan Wade has honed the craft of keeping bees for over forty years. As an experienced scientist applying himself to this ancient pastime, he brings a wealth of knowledge on the nature of bees and practical aspects of their upkeep. Healthy productive bees should be managed in a way that harness their natural instincts to maximise their wellbeing, an idea that recalls the old adage: Look after your bees and they will look after you. Honey bees, he says, should not be left to their own devices: one needs to be a keeper not an owner of bees.

In this book Wade outlines approaches to hive building with more than a single queen. They fall into two distinct categories: single-queen hives sharing common honey storage space and true multiple-queen hives hosting more than one queen. A History of Keeping and Managing Doubled and Two-Queen Hives explains how a honey bee colony with a second laying queen can be established and operated. The book retraces the long journey of discovery of such hives, their propensity to produce rivers of honey as well as the limitations and problems that arise in their management.