[Rick55]

I have 3 hives that were in double deeps and 3 nucs that over wintered but now are weak ( 1/2 frame of brood) some had new queens in July . They don't seem to be building up. Should I join 2 or 3 of them? Or just let them go to see what they do? Would a new queen help? Also had one strong overwintered hive and a nuc that was doing good and just obsconded. I am in upstate NY , long winter
Thanks for your help

 

[johnbeejohn]

like my buddy said dont waste your time on something thats prolly not worth it instead put it your time to the good hives you have unless you have the time to mess with

 

[Tenbears]

That is a rather caviler attitude John!
The problem is a bee hive grows exponentially, thus an extremely week hive cannot grow fast enough, a queen can only produce as many viable eggs as there is nurse bees to cover so even the best queen cannot expedite the growth rate of a week hive, I am not quite sure if all your hives are weak or just the nucs, it is not real clear, however if all are week I would take as many of the hives as necessary to create 4 frames of bees, and combine them. Obviously you will only want one queen, too bad you do not know someone who could use them, but if you must, Pinch them off. If the full hives are all doing well and about the same add the bees from the nucs to them, if one is behind add them all to it. If all goes well you may be able to split later! You could even bank the queens, but that is a whole different ball game.