I have two hives and one is very strong. The other barely alive. Is it ok to take a frame from the stronger hive and put it in the weak one to give it a better chance? This spring had been cold and wet, so the bees have been struggling.
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Two hives - one very strong, the other very weak. It doesn't sound to me as if bad weather is the culprit - I could be wrong, of course.
Not 'looking over your shoulder', as it were, it's difficult to say for sure, but providing you've discounted disease within the weak colony, my money would be on the possibility of 'forager drift' - where one colony has become strong at the expense of the other.
Are your hives positioned in such a way that returning foragers are more likely to encounter one hive before the other ? That would do it. If so, then swapping the hive positions over for a while should initially sort out the problem, after which they'd need to be positioned more equally so that drifting doesn't occur in future.
If it's not that, could you describe just how weak the weaker colony is ? If it's down to a cupful of bees, for example, it might be better to just let them go and split the more powerful colony to replace it. There is a size limitation, below which it's almost impossible to recover a colony. Giving them a frame of bees may result in the weak colony being killed-off, whereas giving them a frame of capped brood without bees may not work either, as there won't be enough bees to cover that brood with, until it's emerged. So much depends on what you mean by 'weak'.
'best, LJ
How weak is the weak colony?
2-300 bees. They died off from hunger and cold. I have another post about it. I thought they were dead but they cleaned up the hive and started working again. I have a full jar of sugar water in there now. Going to check for a queen hopefully Thursday when it's nice again.
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Quote from: lilprincess on May 30, 2017, 04:45:02 PM
I have a full jar of sugar water in there now.
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I suspect the hive is dead and you are just feeding robbers from the strong hive. Which means you are adulterating the honey in the strong hive.
Definetly not from the other hive. I sat and watched. The bees in the weak hive almost never leave. They have been busy cleaning out the dead.
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2-300 ... pretty marginal ... Much depends on whether the queen has laid even a handful of eggs/larva - couldn't expect much more at this stage. If so, it might just be worth a shot.
If not, I'd certainly call it a day - and take a split from your strong colony, as one colony has proved itself under difficult conditions, but the other hasn't.
LJ
Find a queen ASAP or just forget about that hive. I am not sure if that is to low for it to make it. If you see them cleaning out the hive and if you find brood it will probably be good but I would cut them back to just one box for sure if you have not already done that.