weak hive

rober · May 09, 2014, 09:45:19 AM

I have a hive that's not building up. there are 2 frames of brood that are little less than 1/2 full. I'm wondering whether the queen is holding back laying because there aren't enough bees to handle more brood or if she's just not up to the task. this hive shares a stand with a hive that's booming. they are about 18" apart. if I reverse the locations of these hives would that boost the population of the weak one or are they too close together for that to work. if that would work what happens to the stronger hive?

BeeMaster2 · May 10, 2014, 08:56:04 AM

Quote from: rober on May 09, 2014, 09:45:19 AM
I have a hive that's not building up. there are 2 frames of brood that are little less than 1/2 full. I'm wondering whether the queen is holding back laying because there aren't enough bees to handle more brood or if she's just not up to the task. this hive shares a stand with a hive that's booming. they are about 18" apart. if I reverse the locations of these hives would that boost the population of the weak one or are they too close together for that to work. if that would work what happens to the stronger hive?

The queen will not lay more eggs than the bees can cover unless she just started. One bee can cover 3 larvae. If the hives look pretty much the same, swapping will probably help. I have done it with hives that looked different and they just go to their old hive in the new location if it is close enough.
Jim

JackM · May 10, 2014, 09:14:39 AM

Same thing happening with one of my hives....but that hive came out of the winter with only a baseball sized ball. It is building, albeit slowly.

My philosophy is that if they survive, they are survivors, if not, they needed to be replaced completely.

My hive looks like it is finally coming around in time for the main flow in a month or so.

rober · May 10, 2014, 09:59:17 AM

I just caught a small & probably secondary swarm. maybe I should just combine this hive with the swarm.

asprince · May 10, 2014, 02:52:29 PM

I swap places with strong and weak hives all the time. Works great.

Steve

AliciaH · May 10, 2014, 03:02:24 PM

I, too, will swap hives around to boost the population in a lagging hive. Sometimes, they just need the extra population boost to provide some momentum. I'd keep an eye on the queen, though. If they just need more bees, she'll kick it up a notch. If she doesn't, maybe you need to requeen?

Steel Tiger · May 10, 2014, 08:26:07 PM

I think it would be a lot easier to put in a frame of emerging brood. This way you get natural nurse bees instead of forcing foragers to become nurse bees. After the brood emerges, if the queen doesn't kick it up and start filling out frames, it may be time to seriously consider requeening.

buzzbee · May 10, 2014, 08:38:55 PM

I go with swapping locations too if the hives are similar.

rober · May 12, 2014, 11:59:31 AM

I checked this hive again this morning. not much brood & this is the 3rd time I've found this queen on the division board feeder on the outer edge of the hive. she seems to spend a lot of time NOT on the frames laying so I've lost confidence in her. I caught & caged & banked her. I caught a small swarm a few days ago & took them out of lock-down this morning. I went thru the hive & found what looks to be a virgin queen. So-since neither hive had a lot of bees I did a newspaper combine. & now as I'm writing this I'm wondering whether I should have waited 24 hours after removing that queen before combining them? maybe since the swarm queen is likely a virgin & the fact that I used the newspaper it will be ok. I'll let y'all know how that works out. I also got call around 6:00 pm last night & caught a nice swarm just down the road. I'm guessing 3-4 #'s of bees. I hived & locked them down this morning.