What are my options for a queenless hive this time of year?

[John Adams]

While checking my hives yesterday i have one hive that has lost its queen somtime during the winter. I have no drones yet so puting a frame of eggs from another hive in there is not an option. No suppliers are going to have queens yet. I thought about combining them with another semi weak hive of mine and see if that queen will support both of them and then do a split later in the spring. What do you guys think?

[lenape13]

Sounds like a viable plan.  You could always split later when you find a queen.

[teezbees]

I'd combine them in a heartbeat. If you guys are having weather like we are (mid 70's today Woot! Woot!), they'll probably be all cozy with each other before the weekend's over.

Let us know how you come out.

Travis

[iddee]

Looks like you already know the correct answer. Newspaper or shakeout. I prefer the shake out, but am likely in the minority.

[Michael Bush]

How do you know for a fact they are queenless?

[John Adams]

How do you know for a fact they are queenless?

Only one frame of bees, couldn't find her, no brood.... I combined them this morning with the hive next to them. It was loaded with honey and had a small brood pattern, so I think both hives will benefit, as now they can move all that honey to the upper brood box. Later in the spring when i have drones flying i will split them back apart

[Acebird]

I prefer the shake out, but am likely in the minority.

Describ this please.  I don't know what he did but can he just add the frame of bees, frame and all, to the other hive or should he have shaken the bees into the other hive and not put the frame that the bees were on into the strong hive.

[Kathyp]

i like a shake out too, but not if it's cold.  window screen is my preferred method.  a couple of days with the screen between the boxes and then remove it.  done.

[John Adams]

All i did was place a sheet of newspaper on top of the strong hive and place the weak one one top of it.

[Kathyp]

it's a good idea to put a couple of small slits in the newspaper and to leave a little upper entrance.  that way they will mix smells better and with an upper entrance won't be trapped in the hive if it takes them time to chew through.

[T Beek]

I've only combined colonies using the newspaper method discrib ed.  Its easy enough, that's for sure.  Are there other methods???

thomas

[Kathyp]

sure.  you can shake them all out in front of your other hives.  remove old box so they don't go back, and they will join other hives.
  i use window screen instead of newspaper for a couple of reason.  1. if i'm wrong about a hive being queenless, i don't have two queens killing each other and 2. i have lots of old window screens  :-D  last year, for example, i had a hive that i was pretty sure had a virgin queen, but i could not find her.  enough time had gone by that i was concerned about developing laying workers if there was not a queen.  i put the hives together with window screen between and top box with it's own opening.  in a week, i checked back and found a laying queen.  no queen loss, no laying workers if she hadn't been there, and easy to pull them apart again.

[T Beek]

Great info Kathyp.  Thanks alot.  I can believe I'll be trying your screen method sometime in the future.  Seems it would work especially well if like your experience, one suspects laying workers.

thomas

[Acebird]

in a week, i checked back and found a laying queen.

In the top box or the bottom hive?