It CAN be a problem if the strong one decides to rob the weak one. I always have a lot of nucs around and USUALLY they do ok. But sometimes they get robbed.
balanced hives?
Is it a problem to have really unbalanced hives next to each other? One hive is 3 boxes full, just added a fourth. The other hive is working on filling their first box - I have been giving them frames of brood and I'm feeding them. They were really weak coming out of winter, but they are coming back fast now.
Should I increase the brood transfer between them, or swap locations or can I just keep going the way they are?
Should I increase the brood transfer between them, or swap locations or can I just keep going the way they are?
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Only one thing do not give the weak hive more brood frams than it can take care of.IE If they are covering say 4 frames of brood now and there are only 4 frames of bees they will not be able to care for another frame of brood.
Thanks Mitch, but I've been giving them mostly capped brood covered with bees. The first time I did it I was really nervous that I'd see massive fighting break out, but I saw nothing. I've done it a few more times and it has always been fine. Increasing the population with capped brood AND nurse bees has really given them a big, fast boost.
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