I have one weak hive what can I do to strengthen it I have two strong hives. thanks
1.) You could add a frame or two of capped brood from a strong hive to boost the numbers in the weak hive.
2.) You could swap positions of the weak hive and a strong hive. The field bees from the strong hive would then be routed to the weak hive. This has the effect of adding bees to the weak hive allowing it to build up faster.
3.) You could just focus on your strong hives to maximize honey and let the weak ones fend for themselves. If you find swarm cells in one of the strong hives, that would be a great time to do a split and boost the weak hive.
Do you have a laying queen in the weak hive? Does the queen have comb to lay in?
.
Add a frame, where brood have been started to emerge.
Then follow that queen is able to lay clearly more.
Then add another frame of emerging bees.
Practically you are making a nuc from big hives.
When the hive is weak, the queen may be sick and laying capacity in bad.
That is why sacrifice with care brood frames because it weakens strong hives.
.
I have queen and she has comb to lay in it was very small swarm that was given to me maybe 3 thousand bees now playing catchup just would like to boost the hive but wasnt sure they would accept strange brood I think easiest way is to swap hive spots. is the warmer part of day the best time? will they accept bees that are not from there hive. thanks for the help.
Swapping hive locations sounds interesting...I don't think I would go that route. I am curious also as to whether or not the bees would accept returning bees from a different hive. I would think not.
Quote from: simmonds on May 17, 2012, 12:01:11 PM
Swapping hive locations sounds interesting...I don't think I would go that route. I am curious also as to whether or not the bees would accept returning bees from a different hive. I would think not.
It works, as long as returning bees have pollen/nectar, they are accepted I did it a few weeks ago.
It works very well.
A couple of years ago I swapped out a weak hive with a strong hive right next to it. I made two mistakes which I encourage you not to make.
- The strong hive was about five boxes tall and the weak hive was about 2 1/2. When I swapped positions I should have added a super to the weak hive to accommodate the large numbers of foragers returning to the position of their former hive and finding the small hive in its place
- I also failed to recognize that the food/stores in the weak hive would not be enough to support the numbers of bees returning to the strong hive position where the weak hive now was positioned. I should have given some frames of honey to the weak hive to add to their resources.
.
Result: The bees in the now-weak-hive position absconded.
I didn't find the above issues described in my bee books, so I pass my bad experience on to you in hopes that the information keeps you from losing a hive.
Linda T in Atlanta who hasn't attempted this again!