I have 2 hives which have a low population and are queenless. I was thinking of buying a queen, combining the bees and requeening. I would also add a frame or two of brood as the combined bees have some age on them. Will the 2 different colonies of bees get along when they are combined?
Thanx
Am I interpreting this correctly? You posses 2 hives total in your apiary and both are low on bees and both are queenless? Is there a bit of background as to how they got this way?
Go ahead and place your queen cage in the strongest of the two hives. Then, place your newspaper on top of that hive. Set your weaker hive on top of that one.
How did my hives get this way?
I started my first hives in April of last year. Went into my first winter with 4 hives. Came into my first Spring with 3. It was the middle of March before I could open them up due to weather (crazy Spring...still is). All hives were busting at the seams. Did 2 splits, but too late...capped queen cells. Had 3 swarms...caught 1. Decided to let 2 split hives requeen. One did, found virgin queen. As of yesterday, both are now queenless, no eggs, no brood and population is getting old. So now I'm trying to salvage these 2 hives by combining, adding brood and requeening.
I've learned so much this Spring. Unfortunately, the hard way.
Queen introduction works best with a smaller population. If you have a nuc box, put some frames with bees and honey in there and introduce the queen into the nuc. When she gets started laying, put the frames back in the hive they came from, just like installing a nuc. After a few more days, do a newspaper combine with the other hive.
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