Hi,
I have been given two packages of bees, but only have room for one more hive (really). I am thinking I can get rid of one of the queens and combine the two packages. My question is regarding queen acceptance. Do I need to do anything else to accommodate the bees with the eliminated queen. Can I just use the one queen and follow the regular 24 hour queen acclimation period for a single package.
Cheers,
Patrick
You will have to do a paper combine. Spray both packages with sugar water. Install package with queen in hive body, add a single sheet of newspaper on top after you have smoked them down between the frames. Add empty hive body on top, and smoke bees on bottom, shake bees into upper hive body, and smoke them also. After a day or two you can remove the upper hive body. Use other queen for swarm lure, or sell it to someone on this site, if possible.
The two packages have more than likely oriented to the scent of their queen, this is why you have to do the newspaper combine, or things could get ugly.
Make sure you have enough room for the combine. Are you using deeps or mediums?
Others will chime in.
...JP
Ok I get the idea. But I need more details. I am using deeps.
how many sheets of newspaper should I put between the deeps?
Should I feed while I do this as you would with a new package - inside or outside? (I usually feed inside with a top feeder)
Should the upper deep be empty or have frames in it too?
Should I let the bees release the queen or should I wait a bit and release her manually?
How long does this normally take?
Would it help to take one of the queens out of the package for a day ahead of time?
a lot of questions thanks.
Cheers,
Patrick
Why not run a two queen hive you have the resources at hand
I'd set up two hives until the flow and then combine. You might even get a crop that way from the packages. If it's an issue of room right now, then put one over the other.