After losing one of my hives to moisture. Now I have two weak hives left. Should I put these two weak hives together or should I leave them like they are and help them though the rest of the winter. Now when I am talking weak, I mean like maybe three frames of bees in one hive and may be four in the other. I have Italian queen that I bought in one hive, and I have one wild queen in the other. The wild bees are alittle more testy than the bought queen hive. Your input is needed. Thanks :-\
Quote from: Myron Rotruck on February 06, 2007, 11:22:31 PM
After losing one of my hives to moisture. Now I have two weak hives left. Should I put these two weak hives together or should I leave them like they are and help them though the rest of the winter. Now when I am talking weak, I mean like maybe three frames of bees in one hive and may be four in the other. I have Italian queen that I bought in one hive, and I have one wild queen in the other. The wild bees are alittle more testy than the bought queen hive. Your input is needed. Thanks :-\
If it was me I would combine the wild hive with the other using newspaper and cage the wild queen. I would also feed 2:1 sugar syrup. Once the weather warms feed pollin paties for brood build up.
Combining in the cold is a pretty iffy situation. I'd leave them alone and see if they make it. What if they fight? What if a lot of them combine and some of them stay behind and freeze?
Fix your moisture problem! Bottom/top entrance on same side. Styrofoam on top of inner cover. Make sure they are not starving.
I would also put in divider-board, to make the hive smaller - more in tune to their size. (easier to keep warm)
Regards,
Trot