Nonstandard Combine

[wade]

I had a really weak nuc, <10% of a western frame of bees with a queen on drawn comb. I bought 2-3 pounds of bees I guess, from a nearby beekeeper. He'd shaken 7 deep frames of nurse bees into my western box setting on a screen-sealed bottom board housed with 7 frames of foundation. I let the bees settle down at my home for about an hour. I removed the screen from the entrance and lifted the box to add a queen excluder to the bottom board, and by the time I had the excluder placed and put the box onto the BB, the bees were everywhere. Either flying of gobbed to the exterior. I added a sheet of newspaper to the top of the box, slit it a few times, then added another western which contained the <1 frame nuc. I took up the extra space with a frame feeder, a follower board, and some insulation. By the time I got the cover on there weren't very many bees in the bottom box, they were everywhere either gobbed or flying. I have 2 other colonies set up there about 2' apart. I plan to look again tomorrow to remove the newspaper, put the nuc frame down below and remove the top box. What did I do wrong, geez? Are enough of those new bees going to still be there when I open it up tomorrow? I know I should've added the queen excluder BEFORE the man shook the bees into the box, but other than that where did I go wrong? If I'd sprayed them with syrup like you do for packages I think they'd have still gotten everywhere.

[peggjam]

Time will tell, but you should be alright. I hope you put very small slits in that newspaper, or they may combine to quickly, resulting in the loss of your queen.

[Michael Bush]

If they start fighting a good smoke screen can really help. I've actually watched when I added a frame of bees to my observation hive. The frame had been queenless for about a day and I put it in with the observation hive bees. They instantly started fighting. I blew some smoke in (it was in the house so I used sage and rolled a cigarete with it and blew it into the vent holes). You could see them stop fighting as soon as the smoke hit them. Then they got along fine.

[wade]

They seemed to be doing OK judging by the entrance activity a little later in the day.

Peggjam, I put 5 slits about 6" long.

Michael, they didn't get any smoke at all other than a little bit when the bee guy smoked his hive a little bit before he opened it to take them out. I figured smoking when I got home would be counterproductive since they didn't have anything to engorge on, maybe I was wrong? Would smoking them in a box they're trying to vacate or don't figure is home and where there is no food, drawn comb, brood, or queen do anything good? I didn't note any fighting.

[ April 18, 2006, 11:20 PM: Message edited by: wade ]

[peggjam]

"Peggjam, I put 5 slits about 6" long."

I always think smaller is better. The whole reason for using newspaper to combine a hive is to allow the bees to "smell the same". It doesn't hurt to give them extra time to get to know each other. 1 or 2 slits will speed it along, but you really don't want them combining too soon. Smoke is good, even with nothing for them to engore on, it provides a calming effect.

[Michael Bush]

Smoking in this situation is not about engorging it's about masking the alarm pheromones and keeping them confused long enough to make friends instead of staring a war.

[wade]

I guess I need to use smoke more. Thanks for the input folks.