combining hives

octagon · July 29, 2008, 04:28:39 PM

I had one hive that was a new package in the middle of May, they never seemed to get going and had just a few frames of honey and brood, I got tired of looking at them and never improving their hives every week. I also had another weak hive that i picked up a few miles from here which could have just moved in the supers by them selves as the previous owner said there were no bees in it. this morning i used the news paper method and combined them. what are the chances of one queen emerging unhurt?ths

randydrivesabus · July 29, 2008, 05:16:31 PM

you should remove one of the queens. maybe the one from the package.

octagon · July 29, 2008, 06:31:48 PM

do you mean that i should have removed a queen ? as they are already together.

randydrivesabus · July 29, 2008, 09:01:01 PM

should be interesting to see what happens. i hope you're left with at least one of them.

JP · July 30, 2008, 12:32:52 AM

Quote from: octagon on July 29, 2008, 06:31:48 PM
do you mean that i should have removed a queen ? as they are already together.

You will wind up with one queen, The bees will probably ball and kill one of the queens or kick her out and she'll leave with some of your bees. Next time, remove one of them.

...JP

octagon · July 30, 2008, 08:10:52 AM

I just followed the directions in Beekeeping for dummies. I haven't been able to find any of my queens in over a yr.

JP · July 30, 2008, 10:14:04 AM

Quote from: octagon on July 30, 2008, 08:10:52 AM
I just followed the directions in Beekeeping for dummies. I haven't been able to find any of my queens in over a yr.

That's because Beekeeping For Dummies teaches you to be a dummy beekeeper! Just kidding, couldn't resist! :-D ;)

Would you like to talk about the issue of finding your queens?

...JP

octagon · August 05, 2008, 12:50:16 PM

It's been 7 days since i put the news paper on and combined the 2 weak hives, I watched from a distance as the pieces of paper were brought out the entrance. the last couple days they were acting just like a happy family, comming and going, collecting whatever.
today i opened the hives and removed one deep super, combined everything so that they have almost 2 deep supers full of brood and honey and added a medium super.
does anyone think i should add a top feeder now?