Best strategy for build up

[AstroBee]

My brother from Michigan (first year beekeeper) started two packages this past May. As of now, one of the two packages (Hive 1) has done very well (2 deep with all 20 frames well drawn out and lots of bees and brood). The other package (Hive 2) has underperformed and is only about 7 frames in one deep. While I was visiting him in early July, I inspected his hives. We found several queen cells in Hive 2, and placed a few in a nuc with an extra frame taken from Hive 1. He now has three queenright colonies, Hives 1&2 and Hive 3, the very small nuc. He wants to try to get all three hives to double deeps.

Given the hive resources above, what's the best strategy to achieve this goal, by say early September? My idea was to take resources (basically 10 or so frames) from Hive 1 to give Hives 2&3 a big jump start. Then give Hive 1 ten more frames of foundation and feed all hives like crazy adding more foundation to Hives 2&3 as needed.

Is this sound advice, or is there a better route?

Thanks.

[mike haney]

don't know the specific climate in mich. but its to late here for such radical splits to buid up enough for a hard winter. do you feel lucky about this winter?

[AstroBee]

don't know the specific climate in mich. but its to late here for such radical splits to buid up enough for a hard winter. do you feel lucky about this winter?

Really? I honestly don't consider it so "radical". One of the two hives is in very good shape, and the other has a fresh new queen laying and has about 7+ frames well built up. The nuc is certainly more of a long shot, but if it doesn't pan out, and early fall recombine should be very possible. If that were my goal in my area, which seems nearly the same latitude as you, I'd say I have a REALLY good chance of pulling it off. Of course I don't need two deeps to overwinter. Now, Michigan has very different climate, and I have NO experience keeping bees that far north, which is why I've asked for opinions.

[Yuleluder]

Depending on the type of bees you run I think it is an attainable goal. I overwinter two deep nucs just fine here.

[mike haney]

thats a tall order for a first year beekeeper. if the winter is mild in the middle and the queens start laying, he could easy lose them all. i just thought it better to be cautious.

[riverrat]

IMO I would leave the strong hive alone. You may end up with 3 weak hives with no bees in the spring. I would feed the 2 weak hives 1:1 Syrup to try and get them to draw out wax foundation and rear brood. Keep a close watch on them to make sure they dont get honey bound. In early fall if it looks like they wont over winter combine the 2 weak hives. In early spring put a feeder on and split back to 2 once they have built up.

[tecumseh]

you could level resources (brood and feed) but as mike has suggested I would also think you are risking the possibility of losing all.

[mike haney]

but then again old age has made me cautios. go figure!:)

[alpha6]

Go with what riverrat says. I would be feeding 1 to 1 to build up cone then in Sept. switch to 2 to 1 to build up stores. I would also think about overwintering hive 3 in a nuc. Michael Bush has some pretty good info about this and it may be a good thing for such a small hive this late in the season.