[topdog17]

Can you combine hives that are queen right? I have one hive that is nasty and I can't get through all of it before I have many stingers in my jacket and blue jeans. They fly up and pop the veil and will not respond to smoking which actually seems to make them more aggressive. This hive is 4 mediums full. I have another hive that is one deep and not aggressive and I was thinking about putting a screen (like window/porch screen) on top of it and putting the 4 mediums on top of that with a top entrance. I would leave like that for a couple of weeks then remove the screen and let the hives run together for our main flow the tallow tree.

Question is would the bees still kill each other's queen or would one queen kill the other or would they coexist happily? If both queens die it not the end of the world they will make another and I can order one later if she is no better then her mother. If one lives I will still replace her later and if they both live I will do nothing and see how that works out.

So will it work or am I just going to create a big mess?

 

[Vance G]

If the screen will let the queens thru or even sting thru, there would indeed probably be one remaining before too long but that does not always happen. If you want to change the genetics of the mean hive, then kill the queen and after five days go in and kill all the emergency cells. Then take hopefully a light colored soft waxed frame of eggs and brood and put it without bees in the mean colony and let them raise a new queen off a milder mother. If you do this ten days below the tallow flow, it can result both in a new queen and a good big crop.

 

[cblakely]

I am with Vance, if you do not like the one queen I would get rid of her.

But the answer to the question about two queens is yes, you can run two queens. I did it last year with several hives. I used a queen excluder and both queens survived. But there always seemed to be a favorite queen, who does not get the attention, so she does not lay as well. I was not really overwhelmed with the results.

I read where someone else uses two excluders so the queens can not meet at all. A medium is placed between as sort of a neutral zone

You use newspaper with the excluder and make a few slits in it with your hive tool, so they have a slow introduction or you may have a few dead bees. I did that last year too. I had removed a queen and just put the brood box on top of another colony and noticed over the next few days a number of dead bees on the front of the hive.

Another thought is to kill the queen of the aggressive hive and introduce your other queen (slowly) to it and have her take over. Then her old hive can make a new queen with her calmer genetics. Of course it would probably just be simpler to after you kill the aggressive queen, to replace her new larvae with the larvae of the mild queen, without risking her.

 

[Michael Bush]

>Can you combine hives that are queen right?

Yes.

> I have one hive that is nasty and I can't get through all of it before I have many stingers in my jacket and blue jeans. They fly up and pop the veil and will not respond to smoking which actually seems to make them more aggressive.

Then I would NOT combine this hive. First, aggressive hives are not good candidates for a combine. They are much more likely to fight. Second I want control over what queen I end up with if I don't like one of them. Obviously you will want to dispose of the queen in the hot hive. If you don't, she is likely to be the one that survives...

>This hive is 4 mediums full. I have another hive that is one deep and not aggressive and I was thinking about putting a screen (like window/porch screen) on top of it and putting the 4 mediums on top of that with a top entrance. I would leave like that for a couple of weeks then remove the screen and let the hives run together for our main flow the tallow tree.

The only flaw is that you need to control which queen you end up with...

>Question is would the bees still kill each other's queen or would one queen kill the other or would they coexist happily?

Most likely one will be disposed of.

> If both queens die

Unlikely outcome.

 

[Saltybee]

You could put an excluder in the middle of your hot hive, wait the five days and see which half has eggs. Move that hive and put the excluder between the two halfs. Kill any QCs in the remaining mediums. Remove 2 frames directly above each other and put in a deep from the calm hive. Queen from calm hive without risking calm queen and you have a mating failure back up queen.

Wait 5 more days and move the medium without eggs back onto the original hive. You could but medium on calm hive to boost that hive, but that would make it hotter for a while. Much easier to find the queen and maybe fewer stings. If you have the hive bodies you can split the single medium again or strain the queen out with the excluder and a shake out. That would be lively.

Michael Bush's; http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrequeeninghot.htm