[dickensdoc]

I caught a swarm of bees that came out of one of my Russian hives. My question is can I remove the old queen from the swarm and then combined them back with the hive they came from using the news paper method of combining ?

 

[Beaver Dam]

How do you tell which is the old queen? Why not start another hive?

 

[RayMarler]

It is the old queen if she was marked or clipped, is one reason for doing those things. I don't see why you couldn't kill and join. I think I'd set them up as a separate hive though, for long enough to be sure I had a good mated and good pattern laying queen in the old hive, before offing the old queen and joining back though.

 

[Naturegoods]

I'm with Ray and I would set the swarm on top of the old hive just to make so they are oriented on that location later.
Possiblilities are many here but people are limited by time, equipment, and funds. An inner cover with screened over center hole could make a bottom on top of the old hive. When there is a q in the bottom hive, kill the upper q, wait a day or two and remove the screen.
Question - if a queen is clipped - do they know that she can't fly or do they do the whole swarm prep thing and THEN find out the old girl can't fly!
Sort of stumble off the front landing board and spiril crash to the ground - everybody back to the hive, the move is cancelled.
Still a lot of lost time on honey production even though the bees don't leave. Perhaps they wait for a q cell to hatch and then they leave - even more time lost.

 

[dickensdoc]

Good ideal about seeing new brood pattern. But it is my understanding that the old queen leaves with the swarm if this is so than she is with the swarm I caught right?

 

[RayMarler]

... But it is my understanding that the old queen leaves with the swarm if this is so than she is with the swarm I caught right?

Yes, if it is so, but maybe it's not always so? Everyone has their priorities, mine is checking queen laying time and pattern. Sounds to me like your priority is more for honey production, so in that case, I might do just as you say, kill the 'chances are good' old queen and join back to original hive and add supers. I'm sure many people have done just that, many times in the past.