Bee Extraction question

[Kurt.Kemp]

Hi Folks, I am going to someone's house tomorrow to get a bunch of honey bees out of a part of thier house. Not sure how big the hive is yet. Been there for 3 years apparently. I am trying to figure out some logistics of where I am going to put these bees. I have one empty hive with all new undrawn frames in it. I cannot imagine they will survive the winter starting from scratch like that. I am in Michigan and it's now september. I have one very week hive that could use a bunch of bees. Is it possible for me to just haul the weak hive to this guys house and put the bees I extract in there? Queen and all? Not sure what kind of bees they are but the weak hive does at least have some brood ((very little) and honey in it. I believe the queen may have died when the farmer next door sprayed his soy beans as there was alot of dead bees outside this hive after he did that. The hive I am extracting has comb drawn from the rafters of a very tight space. Not sure how much I am going to be able to salvage getting it out without destroying it.

Main question is if I can dump a bunch of feral bees into a weak hive and will they all get along?

Thanks for any insight.
Kurt

[Aram]

Is it possible for me to just haul the weak hive to this guys house and put the bees I extract in there? Queen and all?
Kurt
Possible? Yes. Practical???
I would bring empty boxes and make some swarm frames (http://www.beesource.com/build-it-yourself/removeable-swarm-catching-frames/). Then bring them home and combine by stacking boxes with a newspaper between the old week hive and the new removal colony.
Combining and feeding is a good idea for this time of the year. I did two removals in August last year and they didn't make it through the winter. They had plenty stores, just didn't build up enough to make it.
How long ago did the spraying happen? Your queen might be alright, just shutting down for the winter. That brood in there was laid by somebody, right? A queen in a weak hive shouldn't be too hard to spot. You might want to keep the two separated until you see the queen(s).
Good luck.

[PCM]

Try to get some local advice, 700 mile away info. isn't the best !

What works for me might not work in your area.

But here Go's anyway.

In your area not a good time,try to get them to hold off till spring, now the hive population should be getting smaller.

If You can't hold off at least do a paper combine, don't just dump them in, you will have a killing war.

I would use 2 pieces of paper with several small slits about 1 in long done with a razer blade not a dull knife, may work but a massacure might result, those hive bees will definitely this time of year know they are being robbed !

Good Luck
PCM