I caught a swarm 3 weeks ago about 1/4 mile from my house. I put it in a shallow super with some drawn comb untill I could decide what to do with them. My 5 hives were all in good shape. I put in the meds (apistan and menthol crystals) about 4 weeks ago in the 5. I thought they were all in good shape, all had eggs,etc. I remembered later I did not check the last one for eggs, but it had a lot of capped brood, so I guess I just didn't look close enough. I thought I would take a frame or 2 of brood out of that one and see if I could winter that little swarm. The last hive ,they had none, no eggs, larvae, capped, nothing but adults. They had plenty of honey and mature bees, but I couldn't find the queen, or laying worker, just empty cells or honey. I thought I would just graft that swarm onto them. The little swarm had a good queen, she had half filled that shallow in 2 wks. I had a double screen divider, so I put them over the queenless hive for a couple days.(gave them a little top entrance). The third day I took the screen out and put that super down next to the brood part. The one on top was solid honey. There was an immediate massacre. Within a couple hours there was a pile of dead bees out front . I will go in , in a couple days, to see but they probably killed the queen, too. Now what all did I do wrong? Could I get a queen and try again or is it too late? Thanks ahead for any input.
Even if I use a double screen I do a newspaper combine. Sometimes they still get violent with a newspaper combine, especially this time of year with no flow.
Mine haven't had any brood in them for a month now.
Thanks Michael, We have had above average temps. (80day, 50night)and the other 4 still had a lot of brood,eggs. Would it have been better to have left that super on top and is it to late to requeen?