I was wondering if combining two queen wright colonies and letting a little natural selection take place is considered to be a viable practice. Sure would reduce the time involved that requires finding the queen.
Althought you may end up with natural selection taking place, depending upon the size of the hive and where the queens are located, you may end up with co-existing queens as does some hives that supersede. Then again you may end up throwing one into swarm mode and her taking off with half of the hive's workers.
I think a lot of folks will say it's a crap shoot and you may end up with the inferior queen...I prefer to "believe" that Mother Nature steps in and plays a roll and things will work out for the best. :-D
Regardless, I've done it on more than one occasion! :)
Another option is to divide them for 2 to 3 weeks with a double screen board before doing a combine. I've been told that the pheromones will blend and the hive will support both queens...Worse case scenario, it doesn't work and your back to your natural selection approach. :)
I wasn't going to do a paper combine I would double screen them for a week. Sounds like I may need to consider opening up the brood nest on both colonies prior to joining them. I didn't consider the increased risk of forcing a swarm. Thanks.
Why do you want to combine? d2
Quote from: don2 on April 13, 2014, 11:12:49 PM
Why do you want to combine? d2
Reduce colony numbers and build large colonies for increased honey yeild. I'm not in a position, equipment wise, to support as many colonies as I have now. Some are in substandard enclosures. I want to consolidate what I have until I can build more stuff. I can always split after the flow.
RH - have you considered selling off some of the hives as nuc's. Could afford you the ability to get the equipment you need for later... just a thought..
I would try to find the less good queen. I would also try to acquire some more equipment boxes and frames try to keep none or two on hand for things like this. Put an empty box on a bottom board, place a queen excluder on that then put the box you the queen is in and put the fume board on, with bee go and wait 30 minutes or so. Take the fume board off then take the frames out one by one and shake the remainder of the onto the box. in the end you will have a small cluster of bees in a corner or on the side, that is where the queen will be. When I absolutely have to find the queen that is how I do it.d2
Quote from: RHBee on April 13, 2014, 10:58:30 PM
I was wondering if combining two queen wright colonies and letting a little natural selection take place is considered to be a viable practice. Sure would reduce the time involved that requires finding the queen.
It's always worked for me. The bees have a better idea of which queen is best than I do.
I don't use newspaper either. I just set one on top of the other.
Quote from: drlonzo on April 13, 2014, 11:29:32 PM
RH - have you considered selling off some of the hives as nuc's. Could afford you the ability to get the equipment you need for later... just a thought..
It's simply a matter of not enough me. Time to build. I'm kinda pickey about my building practices. The reason I'm in this fix is last years equipment is in a bad way because I choose not to paint the majority of it. In some places you may be able to get away with it but here it was a poor decision. Now I'm paying the price. The best lessons are the hard ones. I know that what I just said may sound contradictory but while I'm kinda meticulous I'm also looking for ways to save time. Lack of paint would probably work anywhere that the humidity wasn't so high. I gambled and lost. Paint or some other protective coating is a must do here.
While I was typing I missed some replies.
Jeff and Wolfer thanks for sharing your experience. It answers my concerns exactly.
D2, hadn't consisered a bee-go option. Sounds do able.
It's all about experience and tricks of the trade. I appreciate the help.