The saga of the dying hive continues.
Last Saturday I gave the hive a good going over. No eggs or queen. So I shook the hive out and re-queened. She's dead. They didn't even let her out of her cage. Scratch 30-odd bucks and a queen. Maybe she wasn't viable.
I'd like to do a split to get another hive going before the year gets much older. I figure this Saturday I'll condense the hive down to one box and maybe use the other one for a split. I have a couple of questions for you more experienced beeks:
Last Saturday I gave the hive a good going over. No eggs or queen. So I shook the hive out and re-queened. She's dead. They didn't even let her out of her cage. Scratch 30-odd bucks and a queen. Maybe she wasn't viable.
I'd like to do a split to get another hive going before the year gets much older. I figure this Saturday I'll condense the hive down to one box and maybe use the other one for a split. I have a couple of questions for you more experienced beeks:
- Should I create a new hive or keep putting brood frames from my good hive into the dying hive?
- If I do keep on putting brood frames into the dying hive, should the nurse bees go with it? Or should I brush the frame off, first?