[marshmasterpat]

If you do a cut out or trap out and bring bees back to the yard, can you pull some bees from the cut out/trap out colony and place them in an existing hive. Or will they try to move back to the original.

I figured since they are in a new place, they would accept the new hive as their new home.

Will this work?

 

[rwlaw]

Do a newspaper combine, it'll save a lot of squabbling.

 

[enjambres]

I don't know if they would try to re-join the bees they were with in the previous location, but I would hesitate to transfer feral/unmanaged bees directly without a period of observation to make sure I wasn't transferring any diseases or pests to my existing hives.

Are you hoping to move nurse bees on comb (as easy as any move like that would be, no matter the source-hive) or adult foragers shaken in (harder once they've re-oriented to their new location I would think)?

Either way I would be wary of a too-fast transfer without knowing they were OK, and what I wanted in my old hives. I expect I may get some swarms this year and my plan for dealing with them includes keeping them somewhat apart from my current bees and under observation for a bit. I only starting beekeeping last year (with three swarms), so perhaps more experience beekeepers would think my caution foolish.

Enj.