[MSbeekeeper]

I'm planning on combining a queenright hive with a queenless hive tomorrow. This hive has been queenless for about a week and no laying worker signs as of yet. However when I place the queen right hive on top is there a certian time of day I need to do this? If I move that hive then the feild bees wont know where to go will they? or will they just distribute to other hives? Im not going to give them a top entrance but rather just trap them in so they will chew through to combine.

However on another note, how does a newspaper combine work? I mean why could you not just dump them together, your telling me that a sheet of newspaper will allow them to acclimate to one another so they wont kill eachother? Crazy!! These insect are wild!!

 

[peacekeeperapiaries]

MS, I do a lot of newspaper combines, yes that little piece of paper eases the merger without it they will usually fight quite fiercly. It gives them a project to work on together from opposite sides all the while distributing the pheremones from the queen right hive. Combines can be done anytime of the day, I might suggest not moving your queenright (strong hive) and place the weak one on top of the strong one. Fewer field bees out and about from the weak colony and those misplaced will probably find other homes. I dont provide an upper entrance either, be sure to cut a few slits (not big torn holes) with your hive tool or knife in the paper this gives the bees a start point for eating through and combining. Within a few days they will have removed most if not all of the paper and bee very happy together. Good luck.
steve

 

[MSbeekeeper]

Actually my swarm is is one deep and it has the queen which is a virgin who likley went out today to do here deed. The other hive had a queen who never made it back from here mating flight and that hive despite being queenless is strong in that it has alot of bees and it is currently 1 deep and two mediums. So i thought I would take the 1 deep swarm hive that has a queen and put it on top of the other hive. Would that not be a good move? The only thing that scares me is if she has not gone out to mate yet and she chooses tomorrow tand I move her hive then she wont make it back. Now this is all if's obviously.

On the 29th of April is when that hive had capped queen cells, so eight days later May 7th is when she would have emerged which on the 8th the queen cell was infact un capped. So 3 to 4 days to mate would have been yesterday which was rainy or today which was nice. So I would think tomorrow she should be back and ready to lay soon. Does this all sound good or should I still wait to combine for another date. I just dont want the other hive to develop a laying worker.

 

[peacekeeperapiaries]

Can take up to 10 days or so to get mated and start laying. I might wait in this situation for a few more days it usually takes a little while for the laying workers to show up. Know any other beeks you could grab a frame of eggs from, if so add a frame of eggs to the queenless hive let them make a queen, that way you keep both hives.

 

[MSbeekeeper]

Know any other beeks you could grab a frame of eggs from, if so add a frame of eggs to the queenless hive let them make a queen, that way you keep both hives.

Yeah I can take from another hive but I just didnt want to take away from that hive. In my swarm hive I still have a frame with a queen cell, if it has not uncapped yet Ill give it to them and see what happens. The queenless hive though has not had brood since mid april because I made a split from that hive and took that queen for the split. So Im affriad it will dwindle down to nothing.

 

[Fred Bee]

Newspaper combines have always worked well for me. Of course, you must decide if you want to combine or try to keep the two hives as separate.