Newspaper combine question

[jbw]

I have a hive that is quite strong. It has become queen less. I am considering combining with a small medium eight frame NUC colony I started about a month ago. All are in 8 frame mediums now so I could put the queen right hive on the bottom and combine but I am apprehensive about losing the queen cause the other colony is so strong. Should acceptance be a problem or not?

[AR Beekeeper]

If you are sure the strong colony is queenless they should combine together without fighting or killing the new queen. I usually place the box with the queen on top of the stack above the newspaper. It is less work and there is less traffic by field bees from the strong colony through the brood nest area of the weak colony.

To bee sure the strong colony is without a virgin queen I would place a frame of eggs/young larvae in it and check in three days for the beginning of queen cells.

[jbw]

Thanks AR, I think I'll do just that. I have a hive willing to part with a frame I think. I would like to do the combine because the NUC queen comes from over wintered stock so hopefully a good gene pool.