[mharrell11]

I did a combine on Monday. Used the news paper between brood box method. Put on an empty super to add a feeder. Couple questions.

1. It appeared to me that the 2 hives are pretty well integrated at this point. Lots of newspaper dust bunnies. So I pulled it out this morning. Was 5 days long enough for them to combine?

2. Initially the feeders were going untouched, but on Day 3, they started sucking it down like crazy. Went through a quart yesterday. I added a pint jar this morning and went back ten minutes later and lifted the outer cover and they were packed around the feeding holes. Is this a situation where I feed until the stop? Nectar flow here is really strong right now.

 

[Slow Drone]

If there's a nectar flow don't need to feed. If you over feed they'll swarm on you. All the years I've kept bees I have only seen them what appears to have stopped. They will only do that momentarily. People think you feed until they stop but that's not so. Quite often some wonder why their bees swarmed quit often over feeding is the cause. If you feel you must feed only feed until they have a frame or two of syrup stored then quit.

 

[Bees In Miami]

Yes, 5 days is enough. The bees gave you that answer with the chewed up paper. I would absolutely not feed. There is too much available out there for them this time of year here. You're just asking for problems with back-filling. How old is this hive? Make sure you don't give them more space than they can defend or the SHB and wax moths will take over.

 

[mharrell11]

This is a combine. Took a 4 week old package where the queen vanished and no brood or eggs and added it to a NUC that was 8 weeks old. The NUC was ready for a another brood box. It was 7 frames full with comb being built on frame 8 on a 8 frame box. The package was 3 1/2 frames of comb with no eggs or brood. The package was very weak and dwindling fast.

I removed the feeder jar this afternoon.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Harley Craig]

I did 2 combines last yr using the newspaper method and by mid day the next day I saw bees carrying out little strips of paper so I knew they had integrated at that point you might as well pull it, as it sure beats picking up a bunch of little pieces off the ground lol