newspaper combine after queen cell removal ?

malabarchillin · March 22, 2008, 02:03:15 AM

When a hive is queenless and has made queen cells can you remove the queen cells and do a newspaper
combine of a queenrite nuc ? Will the queenless hive accept the new queen ?
Regards
Mike

bassman1977 · March 22, 2008, 03:12:45 AM

QuoteWhen a hive is queenless and has made queen cells can you remove the queen cells and do a newspaper
combine of a queenrite nuc ? Will the queenless hive accept the new queen ?

Well if there are queen cells, I don't know why you would want to combine. Am I missing something here?

If you have a queenless hive, yes you can combine it with a queenrite hive after getting rid of the queen cells. Once the bees from the queenless hive chew through the newspaper, they will be accepted. In my experience, it has only taken 24 hours for them to chomp through the newspaper. I use two sheets.

malabarchillin · March 22, 2008, 08:38:43 AM

I am just a new guy trying to understand my options if a hive may not have enough bees to survive until a new queen emerges, mates and starts laying. For example adding a temp work force from a swarm and possibly the swarms queen.
Thanks for your reply.
Mike

bassman1977 · March 22, 2008, 09:50:46 AM

QuoteI am just a new guy trying to understand my options if a hive may not have enough bees to survive until a new queen emerges, mates and starts laying.

Understood.

QuoteFor example adding a temp work force from a swarm and possibly the swarms queen.

You can always add a frame or two of brood and eggs from another hive to give the queenless hive a boost until the queen emerges.

Understudy · March 22, 2008, 10:02:46 AM

The answer to your question is Yes. If done right the bees will accept the queen and then destroy the queen cell larvae.

The reason to do a newspaper combine is if the hive is weak and not likely to be able to survive the duration of time for a new queen to emerge and start laying. That is a 30 day time period. That can be way to long if the hive is not in a very strong state.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

my-smokepole · March 22, 2008, 11:31:53 AM

Ok I did a search but did-see my answer. would someone go into a little bite more detail on what a newspaper combine is and the step in doing it.

JP · March 22, 2008, 11:43:44 AM

Quote from: my-smokepole on March 22, 2008, 11:31:53 AM
Ok I did a search but did-see my answer. would someone go into a little bite more detail on what a newspaper combine is and the step in doing it.

Its rather simple really. Say hypothetically, you have a queenless colony, #1 in a deep. You catch a swarm #2 that you want to combine with #1. You take another hive body, take a sheet of newspaper, some use two, I use one, place newspaper atop hive #1, place new hive body atop #1, and introduce the swarm. You can also place a little dab of lemongrass oil in each hive to help with the orientating. The bees from both hives will chew the newspaper and in so doing acclimate to each other to form one colony. After this is done, you can remove the second hive body, in a couple of days or so.

...JP

Understudy · March 22, 2008, 12:21:00 PM

Make sure you have both top and bottom entrances so as to not trap the bees. They will chew through the paper in a few days.

Sincerely,
Brendhan