[Bailey11]

I pulled some mated queens from my nucs this morning and would now like to combine the queenless nucs in order to free up some of my equipment. If I wait 24 hours, could I just stack the queenless nucs on top of eachother without the newspaper combine or will fighting occur? I would like to keep two nucs going and allow them to make another queen so I don't want to combine them with my queen right production hives at this time. Wondering if using newspaper in this situation is even necessary.

 

[bassbee]

With both being queen less and u waiting 24 hrs u should be able to just stack them and not worry about newspaper. The queen odor will be gone from both nucs by then so they shouldn't fight.

 

[Robbin]

I've done this and have had them fight. Could have been a laying worker or something. But I'm not likely to try it again unless some guys with more experience with it pipe up.
It's very depressing to have bees kill each other because of something I've done...

 

[Harley Craig]

it took longer to type the question than to lay down a couple of sheets of newspaper, why not just do it since it's a proven method.

 

[Bailey11]

it took longer to type the question than to lay down a couple of sheets of newspaper, why not just do it since it's a proven method.

I catch myself researching books and other sites for answers to my questions prior to posting here because of responses like this. Fortunately, for every disappointing response there are many others with some actual experience and sound advice to share. But since you took the time to repond, I will reluctantly explain myself to you Harley Craig.

It is getting very warm and humid here and I am concerned about ventilation while stacking my nucs 4 boxes high and separating them all with newspaper. If I were only stacking one on top of the other, then I can easily provide an upper entrance and utilize the newspaper with minimal concern. I might end up having to do it this way, but it will take a couple trips to the Apiary to get them all combined. Which is what I am trying to avoid. I don't want the two middle boxes to cook. Maybe my concern is silly and to some unwarranted, but I am who I am.

Does anyone else out there have any experience with this?

 

[rwurster]

You can't go wrong with a newspaper combine. It allows enough time for the queenless colonies to acclimate to each other. All my queenless combines were successful this spring thanks to the Pueblo Chieftain.

 

[Saltybee]

Could you treat them like a LW and just shake them out one a day?

PS; don't sweat the small stuff, if you want to try different methods expect people to find that odd.

 

[RayMarler]

The way I've done it is to make them queenless in the late morning or early afternoon, and then join them at sunset, or at least after four hours. If they've been queenless too long, they will have started their own queen cells and might be more protective of their own bloodlines. In this case I'd be using newspaper. And reguardless, the newspaper method is the safer way to go, but it's not always necessary.

 

[Harley Craig]

Didn't mean to sound rude, but I'm told I come off that way sometimes I was only trying to figure out what was going on that would make you question a proven method .....now that we know the full story it takes less than a day usually for them to chew through the paper, if you are worried about overheating do it in the evening and I bet you find pieces of paper in your yard by morning and for what its worth if you would have shared your concerns in the original post you would have gotten a better tailored answer quicker.

 

[ycitybz]

When we combine like this we don't waste time with the newspaper. We just stick them together and get it over with. There may be a little fight,but, overall they'll do fine.

 

[Wolfer]

The only time I use newspaper is when combining a weak queen right hive with a strong queen less one. Otherwise I just set them together.

If both hives have a queen I let the bees decide which one they keep.
I've done this several times without issue. Yes they fuss a little but there won't be but a handful of dead bees on the bottom board in the morning.

I never let a hive die anymore. At the first sign of decline I throw them on another hive or if their in a double deep I throw them on two hives.
I then start a nuc from my strongest hive in their equip.
Bees are easy for me to make. It's the equip that's expensive.

This is my experience with my bees. Your results may be different but I doubt it.
Woody Roberts

 

[rweakley]

Just stack them up and let the bees sort it out. Their queenless what's the worst that could happen? A few workers die? Who cares.

 

[Cloverdale]

The only time I use newspaper is when combining a weak queen right hive with a strong queen less one. Otherwise I just set them together.

If both hives have a queen I let the bees decide which one they keep.
I've done this several times without issue. Yes they fuss a little but there won't be but a handful of dead bees on the bottom board in the morning.

I never let a hive die anymore. At the first sign of decline I throw them on another hive or if their in a double deep I throw them on two hives.
I then start a nuc from my strongest hive in their equip.
Bees are easy for me to make. It's the equip that's expensive.

This is my experience with my bees. Your results may be different but I doubt it.
Woody Roberts

Does it matter how many hive bodies that are combined? I just put a small queen right nuc that was in a 10 frame deep on a queenless 2 deep brood box hive that had a drawn honey super on it...no honey in it just drawn wax. Used newspaper between them.