Combine or wait and see ?

malabarchillin · May 04, 2008, 09:55:27 AM

I have essentially 4 nucs although 2 are in 10 frames and 2 in 5 frames. The overwintered colony that
I split a month ago is just holding on. Each half of the split has maybe 2.5 or 3 frames of bees. They each
have plenty of eggs and brood in all stages and some stored pollen and honey. There is a noticeable difference in the external activity of those 2 compared to 2 others right beside them. The other 2 nucs were bought in the last 3ish weeks and were packed full of bees (nice guy). The number of bees in the nucs in question are definitely not expanding and may have contracted some. It should be the spring flow right now, but the lack of rain is hampering things. They quit taking syrup long ago.
Do you think that I should let them alone or newspaper recombine them into one stronger hive? If I did recombine do I flip a coin as to which queen to keep or more likely just pinch the one that I can find :)
As always thanks very much for your input.
Mike

JP · May 04, 2008, 10:35:05 AM

Mike: The number of bees in the nucs in question are definitely not expanding and may have contracted some.

> Some What???

>You say they are all healthy otherwise, I don't see the rush, some will build faster than others. You say they have eggs, capped brood, honey, what more could one ask for? Perhaps try feeding the slow ones some they may take it. I would only do this if you are wanting them to build much faster, for whatever your reasons. What are your reasons?

...JP

malabarchillin · May 04, 2008, 10:57:07 AM

Thanks for the reply. A beek for maybe 9 months. I am not in a hurry, but I did not want to let them remain in what I feel/felt was a weakend state. I do not want to leave them open for SHB, mites or something else to attack them. I realize commercial beeks would let them sink or swim, but this is a growth year for me and I guess I may be a little impatient. I am not in a hurry for a honey crop. I just wanted to expand this year. I am in East Central Fla and I guess I expected the nucs to explode with the flow. I am surprised and disheartened with the lack of growth. If there is sufficient flow and brood I do not understand why they do not increase their number by perhaps 500 bees a day and maybe lose 100 per day. I understand that bees are unpredictable and each hive is unique, but these should be ideal conditions except for lack of rain.

JP · May 04, 2008, 11:02:32 AM

The bees just don't quite understand our needs, our time table. Silly bugs! ;)

...JP

qa33010 · May 04, 2008, 11:26:50 PM

Don't worry. I know what you mean. Whenever I think I have an inkling in to the bee. They again prove me wrong. Luck for me they do and for the most part hang around. :?

Michael Bush · May 07, 2008, 11:02:49 PM

It's May. There is a lot of year left. Did they have a queen when you split them or did they raise their own? You will see the impact of them raising their own as the new queen won't be laying for 24 days and those eggs won't emerge for another 21 days, so that's 45 days before the population STARTS to make it back up from the low from not having a queen.

malabarchillin · May 08, 2008, 04:47:01 PM

One half of the split had the original (6 month old) queen and the other raised their own. They are both
currently about the same strength and resources. In the last 24 days there has only been 0.24" of rain.
I hope the flow is postponed and not just lost.
My major concern is that if they remain weak they will become host to every parasite coming down the pike.
This is my first split and did not really want to waste the energy that the bees have put forth during the split. I will try to wait it out a little longer.
Thanks again for the replies.
Mike