Grabbing a hive in the fall?

[Medovina]

A friend of mine just called and said he found a wild hive the size of basketball in an abandoned house.

I was wondering if it is a good idea to grab the hive before winter sets on. My thinking is that the hive won't have enough time to build up any honey stores and that I will have to feed them all winter and even with that it might be iffy.

Perhaps it would be wiser to pick up the hive in the spring if it is still available?

[Ravenseye]

Any feel for the stores now? If they are light due to a late season swarm, they don't have much of a chance anyway.

[G3farms]

You could always combine them with a weak hive or nuc if you have one.

G3

[Medovina]

Actually I do have one hive that came from a late split and that hive isn't doing great right now. It hasn't built up the second brood box at all.

Do I just combine the two hives and let them duke it out?

[traveler45701]

I dont have any bees yet but I have found a wld colony and my mentor (multiple dozens of hives) says not to move them now and to feed them if you cannot verify that they have a lot of winter storage in place. He says they only have about a month to build up winter food. He says if they MUST be moved, you need to take as much of their comb as possible.

He is going to help me move the colony to one of my new hives in the spring.

[Ted n Ms]

Actually I do have one hive that came from a late split and that hive isn't doing great right now. It hasn't built up the second brood box at all.

Do I just combine the two hives and let them duke it out?

Do a newspaper combine. Choose the queen you want and kill the other one.Put a news paper in between the two hive bodys and make a few slits in the paper. By the time they chew through the paper they want fight.

[JOHNYOGA2]

Medovina,
Things we know: You live in Maine; you have a hive going into winter with one deep; you have a feral hive the size of a basketball you are interested in trying to save.
1. The feral hive can not possibly survive a long Maine winter with a hive the size of a basketball. If you do nothing, they are dead bees.
2. Your weak hive is seriously weak. Left as it is, it probably has a slim chance of getting to Spring.
3. The Newspaper combine Ted suggests has the potential to increase the size of the wintering cluster, but you are FAST running out of time for the combine to be successful. You are probably just a few days away from your first frost. They will have to be fed huge amounts of syrup to both build comb and store supplies.
If I were you, I would combine both those hives into stronger hives. I would not try to put two weak hives together this time of year. Two weak hives together usually make one bigger weak hive. Consider combining them with stronger hives now, and then spliting those stronger hives in the Spring. I am NOT optomistic about either weak hive or their combine, making it through. Hope I'm wrong. Sorry.

[G3farms]

I think JOHNYOGA2 hit the nail on the head...........I did not look at where you were from.

Your cold and frosty days are very close at hand and I also do not think either one would survive on their on, let alone one large weak hive.

Combine them with some stronger hives.

If you do the cut out be sure to use most all of the drawn comb to really help them out. Feed them also, even if you do a combine with a strong hive.

G3

[NewbeeNnc]

Are you feeding the week hive consistantly? If so then I would combine with a strong hive. If you haven't been feeding then possibly combine with the weak one and feed like crazy. I read that one of your fellow Maine beeks said you're supposed to get your first frost this weekend so there won't be much for them to take in from nature. Feed feed feed, but the previous posts of combining with strong hives may be the best fit.

[Velbert]

There is a reason why the weak one is weak would not combine with my good hive incase it may of had something wrong with it

[NewbeeNnc]

It's weak I assume because it came from a late split like he said, and if the weather is half as wet as it's been here it doesn't surprise me if a late swarm is weak at all. My bees have been trapped in for two weeks not to mention the whole month of April and half of May they couldn't fly.

[Medovina]

It's a late split. The hive looks healthy upon inspection. Just not very productive. I was planning on combining them with another hive of mine but they might do well with the wild hive I bring home. The wild hive should be stronger because it probably swarmed from somewhere. Sorry I don't really know enough details about the hive. I will check it out on Monday and report later. If I do combine the two I expect to get a stronger queen from the new hive. Either way it's a tough timing. Our first frost comes tonight. :eek:

[Medovina]

well it was all for nothing. It was an impressive wasp nest.

[Bens-Bees]

well it was all for nothing. It was an impressive wasp nest.


What, you mean you don't want to combine this nest with your honey bees? :lpf:

[Medovina]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2658/3965965130_952cddeb02.jpg

[JOHNYOGA2]

Medovina,
That hive looks amazingly like Genesha, the elephant-headed Hindu diety! If I were you, I would consider this a sign that your efforts were being blessed.

[jrtrapper]

I would combine that with a can of Raid!!

[traveler45701]

Save the insecticide! First freeze will kill them.

[brac]

I would cut that down with a chainsaw, and throw it on ebay, that is a nice shape.

[USCBeeMan]

That's a Hornet's nest not wasp.

[USCBeeMan]

They will abandon the Hornet's next once it gets cold. I have cut them out of branches before and given them to kids.

[EastSideBuzz]

I would save it. The queen might like it for a summer home or a love shack for her and her man. Or the drones could move in when they kicked out. A bachelors pad. :lpf: