Combining 2 hives with newspaper

[Exquisite Bee]

Does the newspaper method always work in combining hives? I got several new package bees this Spring and several of them just have too small of a population. They haven't even pulled any wax on the honey supers yet. I'm thinking of combining them some time this Fall. Five out of 6 of the package set-ups are HONRY as can be even though they are supposed to be Italian. They have a whole team of attack bees every time I get near the hives, but then I guess that is another topic!! Anyway, will the worker bees with the queen always accept a second hive piggybacked with the newspaper in between???? THANKS.

[tecumseh]

if the population is small you may need to slightly slit the newspaper (I make a couple of small slits between the frames top bars) with your hive tool. the only time that combining has not worked for me was when one or both hives were extremely weak in population and I failed to assist them in breaking thru the newspaper.

[Billy Y.]

You ment to type On'ry there didn't you Exquisite? lol

Anyway, your packages haven't drawn out any of the comb in the broodnest? Is there no brood in any of the hives that you want to combine? Need more info. I wouldn't give up on them yet.

[peggjam]

You indicate you are going to wait til fall to do this, so in the meantime, how may strong hives do you have? One of the things I find useful in these cases is to switch spots with a strong hive. This will give the weak hives an instant boost, and allow the queen to increase laying capacity. She will only lay enough brood for the bees to cover. So this limits her to small patches of brood that doesn't build the hive up, it will decrease in time because she can't lay enough eggs to offset the death rate of the workers over time. By giving her a field force, she can increase egg laying so the hive begins to build up. Your best hope is to get them to increase enough to winter through, a honey crop is unlikey this year.

[Exquisite Bee]

Hi....What do you mean by "switch spots with a strong hive". Do I exchange frames???

[Sherpa1]

Peggjam means to switch the locations of the complete hives. Move the weak hive to the location of the strong hive and move the strong hive to the location of the weak hive. The field bees returning to where the strong hive was previously located will take up residence in the weak hive and boost the population.

[Exquisite Bee]

I thought that the bees that guard the front of the hive entrance won't accept NEW or STRANGE bees?? So how does this take place? Thanks.

[peggjam]

The guards will when the foragers are coming in with full loads of nector and or pollen.

[Michael Bush]

>Does the newspaper method always work in combining hives? I

Not always. But it's pretty reliable. I've seen a war break out once and the queen ended up dead and a lot of bees died. I'd hesitate to do it on a really hot hive.

[jim b]

Modesto probably doesn't experience winter like many of the members of this forum, the kind where the bees shut down and cluster and only break when the weather warms enough for them to migrate around inside the hive a little.

It's maybe more like they fly most days and hole up during cold spells. I dont really know.

Exquisite Bee: When does winter start? How cold does it get and how often? For how long?

Point being is it acceptable to assume that a "weak" hive by colder climate standards may not neccessarily be a loss in California over the winter. That it may survive and pick up again next spring?

The adage that "a swarm in July aint worth a fly" may not hold for those of us to whom
winter means that it might rain.

I'm also not sure a spring package should be expected to draw out a super for honey. I've not had the experience of a package and i really do not know how they work and what they are capable of.

Could Exquisite Bee maybe wait and see what next spring brings, or maybe requeen now and play it by ear? Instead of combining, i mean.
-j