Newspaper combine

[RC]

I used the search feature and found some conversations about a newspaper combine, but can someone explain it? How to and why? Thanks, RC

[gunner7888]

  just a newbee but, you use a newspaper combine if one hive is weak, and you don't want to nurse it along. You make sure the weak hive doesn't have a queen, whether it died or you pinch it,  you place a sheet of newspaper over the strong hive. Put a couple small slits in paper. Place weak hive on top of strong hive. Within a couple days, hives will combine to make one strong hive. At least thats my take, more qualified may answer, but I saw no one answered your question so I gave it a go. Plus it will bump it to top  ;)

[AllenF]

How To Do A Newspaper Combine Of Two Beehives

[L Daxon]

I use a newspaper combine when I am using a swarm to bolster the population of a weak hive.  I do like the video above shows.  Just put the newspaper between the two boxes to keep the bees apart for a couple of days until they get used to each others' scents and can chew through the newspaper.  After a 3-4 days I usually take out any newspaper that is left.

If I think there is a chance that the weak hive had a queen and I am not sure if I got the queen with the swarm, I will also put a queen excluder on along with the newspaper and then wait to see if I have eggs in the swarm box.  If it turns out I have two queens, I can try and find one and pinch her or take off the excluder and let them fight it out.  If they kill each other, I at least have eggs so the new combined colony to make a new queen, if they need one.

I also did a combine last year just before the flow when I caught a swarm. I added the swarm to an already strong hive to increase the population so they would have more workers/foragers to collect nectar.

I like to collect swarms but don't have the space or equipment to keep adding more hives so I just do combines to use the swarms to help make my 3 hives stronger.