Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: windfall on August 31, 2011, 03:58:40 PM

Title: combining weak hive with minor chalk and small but strong healthy hive;bad idea?
Post by: windfall on August 31, 2011, 03:58:40 PM
I have 1 hive that has had a rough go of it this year. It was reduced substantially by swarms and a split. Once it requeened itself she laid up a few frames quick. About the same time the hive was really overrun with drones (maybe as high as 50%), the girls gave them the boot, and a bad case of chalk set in. Perhaps the queen thought they had more pop then they did by counting drones???

They seem to be over it and mostly cleaned it up, although I still see a few mummies in the comb. After all that the hive is pretty darn weak. I packed them down into a single 8 deep a few weeks ago, but they really don't fill it out.

I was thinking I might kill this queen and combine with another hive, also single 8 frame. But the second hive is well populated and completely chalk-free.

Bad Idea?
Title: Re: combining weak hive with minor chalk and small but strong healthy hive...bad ide
Post by: caticind on August 31, 2011, 04:12:19 PM
No, excellent idea.  If you don't think this hive will make it through the winter on its own, the time to combine is now.

Best practice is to remove the queen from the weak hive at least 24 hours in advance of the combine, and not more than 3 days. 

I have sometimes removed the queen at the time of the combine, but only when the weaker hive was VERY weak and all bees were sprayed with vanilla-scented water.  Spraying with a mild scent or dilute syrup may make the combine go more smoothly.  Some insist on using newspaper, but I have never found it necessary when the bees are given time to realize that they are queenless.

The week after the combine, do a quick check to make sure there are eggs being laid.  Sometimes the queenless half will start one or two queen cells.  This is the only time when I ever cut out queen cells - check within the week after the combine so you get them before they are capped.
Title: Re: combining weak hive with minor chalk and small but strong healthy hive;bad idea?
Post by: Michael Bush on August 31, 2011, 09:07:31 PM
I think the whole "germ theory" of diseases is more obviously not true with certain diseases.  I don't see chalkbrood as a "germ" disease, although you can find a fungus is the symptom, I think the cause is weak genetics, high humidity, chilled brood or a stressed colony.  The presence of chalkbrood spores is not the root cause and actually displaces EHB.