I started 2 new hives on May 12th from purchased Nucs. The Nucs were several weeks old when I bought them and well established. One Nuc was considerably stronger and noticeably heavier than the other. Four weeks later, the hive from the stronger Nuc has filled 8 frames of a deep box and several frames of a 2nd deep. There are a lot of bees and about 12 swarm cells, most of which are capped. I also counted 2 superceedure cells which also are capped. The queen is laying like crazy on new and existing comb. The 2nd hive has 6 deep frames drawn and filled with some progress being made on the inside of the 7th & 8th frames. There is not much open comb for eggs although I can find eggs in some random cells.
Today I made a split from the stronger hive and added it to the weaker hive. I first removed the queen from the weaker hive and added an upper deep separated by newspaper. I took a full frame of brood with the queen from the strong hive and added this to the weaker hive along with another frame of bees & brood and a frame of bees & nectar (three frames with bees, brood & queen). I filled the remainder of the weaker hive with empty frames & foundation. I left all of the swarm & superceedure cells alone in the strong hive.
I have 2 questions to throw out to the forum;
#1 Will this action likely prevent a swarm from the stronger hive?
#2 What can I expect from my addition to the weaker hive?
All comments are appreciated!
MJ Franks
Today I made a split from the stronger hive and added it to the weaker hive. I first removed the queen from the weaker hive and added an upper deep separated by newspaper. I took a full frame of brood with the queen from the strong hive and added this to the weaker hive along with another frame of bees & brood and a frame of bees & nectar (three frames with bees, brood & queen). I filled the remainder of the weaker hive with empty frames & foundation. I left all of the swarm & superceedure cells alone in the strong hive.
I have 2 questions to throw out to the forum;
#1 Will this action likely prevent a swarm from the stronger hive?
#2 What can I expect from my addition to the weaker hive?
All comments are appreciated!
MJ Franks