Question related to my post "Need advice on several topics"..

[Hi-Tech]

Question related to my post "Need advice on several topics"..

I have never merged hives before where both hives had a living queen. If I decide to merge my Italian and Caucasian hives together, keeping the Caucasian queen, what is the best way to do this. Do I just find the Italian queen, kill her, wait a few days and merge them with the newspaper method? If I do it this way, how long do I wait before doing the merge?

I am hoping I don't have to merge these hives but am worried that with winter around the corner, neither hive will be strong enough to make it.

[Michael Bush]

> ...but am worried that with winter around the corner...

Well, yes, winter is coming, but in KY it won't be for several months yet... you can merge them then if you need to.  They may build up a lot before then.

[Hi-Tech]

That's my hope. How close to winter should I make that call? Is it ever too late to merge?

[Michael Bush]

>Is it ever too late to merge?

Probably.  But that isn't today and probably isn't next month or the month after...

[Eric Bosworth]

I would wait until after the golden rod bloom at least. I would also take a different approach then just combining them. I would make a double nucs box and put them together with a division. Then they will help keep each other warm