I have read about different ways of combining hives (newspaper, etc.) so that each colony has time to adjust by scent before uniting. What about combining frames from different hives in order to make a nuc or new hive? Or giving a newly-hived swarm a couple frames of bees from an existing hive in order to help the first forgo swarming? No one has mentioned that fact that each frame may have a different scent. Is this an issue? Are house bees more inclined to get along with others when moved?
Amy
There are many post scattered through here about taking frames of brood and nurse bees and placing them into other hives to make them stronger. Just have to look for those post.
You are more apt to find a greater preponderence of such posts on the Queen Rearing page of this forum.
Thanks. I'll dig a little deeper into the other posts.
When combining frames, confusion is your friend. Get them from three or four different hives and you'll have less problems. Shake them in and there will be more confusion.
Thanks, Michael. I thought this was the case. However, I have only one hive and wanted to combine with a friend's next Russian swarm. I thought this might quell the urge to swarm in the first hive. Do you think I light dousing with sugar syrup would make a difference?
Amy
It might work for suppressing the swarm urge if ample room is provided at the same time. I would not look for another swarm until next spring unless your friends hive is hopelessly overcrowded in which case he should be adding supers.
My friend allows his hives to swarm freely without intervention. He will try to catch each one and either re-hive or give it away. His colonies are most likely finished swarming this year. I wanted to be prepared just in case, then thought about what I might do differently if I received a swarm in the Spring.