[Chris2121]

Hello - If I wanted to combine 2 queen-right nucs, I'd have to kill the queen in one of them. If I do that, how long should the 1 nuc remain queenless before combining with the other? 24 hours before the standard newspaper combine?

This may seem like an odd thing to do, but here's my predicament - I ordered two nucs in January, but was given notice last week that they would be delayed a few weeks. Not wanting to miss bloom this year, I picked up a package from Mann Lake, and have been very impressed by their bees so far. Super gentle italians, and they seem to be productive from dawn till dusk. I'd like to keep this hive and its queen. I only have 2 hives though, so that would mean I'd need to combine the nucs when they come. I also only have 2 hives registered with New York City, so I don't want to just buy another few deeps (I know, I know, you probably fell out of your chair when you heard we have to register our hives in NYC...I'm surprised they don't make us register our toothbrushes).

Thanks for any help and advice you could give on combining these nucs to ensure all goes smoothly.

-C-

 

[Adrian Quiney WI]

Chris, combining straight away would be fine. There should be no need for a delay. Make sure both boxes have an auger hole in them so that one doesn't suffocate - I've done that.
You may want to see if some one in your area will take that nuc off your hands as a more economic alternative than combining it.

 

[mark williams]

First things first,I'd move me & the bees out of NYC.LOL
Just poking fun at you,As Adrian said combining them should be fine.Mark,,,,,

 

[Vance G]

Sell one which you can do near instantly on Craigslist or thru a local club.

 

[T0ADMAN]

Definitely better to sell one and get your money back. Or at least pull the queen to get some cash from that.

If money is no object, you can just do a newspaper combine and one of the queens will kill the other.

 

[Chris2121]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm going to send a notice to the local NYC beekeeper's club to see if anyone wants one of the nucs. If that doesn't work out, I'm probably going to bump off one queen, and combine them as soon as I get them.

On another note, I'm super impressed with the package I picked up from Mann Lake, at their Wilkes-Barre, PA location. Incredibly docile bees (for Italians), and I counted a total of 12 dead bees at the bottom of the package. The box was on the very heavy side of 3lbs, and the feed can was 3/4 full to boot. I put them in a drawn deep with 3 frames of honey and pollen, and queen is already laying a great pattern after only a few days. I'll post a formal review in the other forum, but in short, I would definitely buy again.

 

[Wolfer]

As has been said you can sell one queen. Or you can combine. I don't use newspaper very often, I just set them together. The bees will decide which queen they keep. They may keep both for awhile.

One method I've had good luck combining is to do it slow. I take a frame of brood from one and put it in the other. Couple days later I do it again. Continue until hive is very week then combine,