A tragic split

[Beagle23]

Well I still stand by what I said.... You had a queen with a few bees that had accepted her in a nuc with brood but not enough bees to cope with the brood. In my eyes the colony just needs more nurse bees. You could have added a two or three frames of bees with magic spray. It would have added enough strength to the colony to survive and build. But I accept that there are other solutions too.
E

Not an option I'm afraid, all I had to hand were some scented candles

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Well I still stand by what I said.... You had a queen with a few bees that had accepted her in a nuc with brood but not enough bees to cope with the brood. In my eyes the colony just needs more nurse bees. You could have added a two or three frames of bees with magic spray. It would have added enough strength to the colony to survive and build. But I accept that there are other solutions too.
E

If it was that easy, don't you think that the favoured method of introducing a queen to a colony would just entail a squirt of smells and chuck her in?

 

[enrico]

This isn't a colony.it is combing a small amount of bees with another small amount of bees....... But have you ever tried introducing a queen that way? It just might work!
I combined two small colonies last week with air freshener with no problem.

 

[enrico]

More thoughts..... One small amount of bees is queen right. The other small amount of bees is coming from a queen right colony. Neither are suddenly going to see a queen they didn't have. Therefore confusing the pheromones with a strong scent for a few minutes might be all it takes for them to end up feeling as though all is still the same!
E

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Take as many frames of bees as you like
E

I then took three frames from my hives with as much emerging brood as I could find

you are uniting a nuc to a queen and something not much larger than her entourage - different kettle of fish entirely.

I think the OP needs to find as safe a method as possible to try and resolve this, not some crackpot idea that

might work!

 

[enrico]

Quote )I think the OP needs to find as safe a method as possible to try and resolve this, not some crackpot idea that[/QUOTE]
...might work
Taken out of context. I was saying it might work if you introduce a queen that way. I have never tried it so I can't say if it will or it won't.
I know that combining two small groups of bees of which one has an accepted queen does work.
I understand that there are other ways and I accept that my idea has been pushed lower down the list because there are other better ideas. It doesn't make mine wrong.
But thanks for being so understanding

 

[Beagle23]

Despite the blunders the queen is installed and has been accepted and is currently walking the comb.
Whether things progressive positively from here remains to be seen, but at least something has finally gone right.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Take as many frames of bees as you like and add them with air freshener
E

In that case, leave well alone for a week - any fiddling around now could upset a fragile balance.

 

[Paula S]

I am relatively new, what’s all this talk about fabric softener? When? Why? What does it do?

 

[Erichalfbee]

I am relatively new, what’s all this talk about fabric softener? When? Why? What does it do?

Air freshener
The traditional way of uniting two colonies of bees is to do it through two layers of newspaper.
A quicker way is to quick spray( not deluge) the bottom bars of the top colony and the top bars of the bottom one and put them together without newspaper.
Really quick. No fighting. Works well

 

[pargyle]

I am relatively new, what’s all this talk about fabric softener? When? Why? What does it do?

Not fabric softener... air freshener ... it's an alternative way to combine two colonies instead of using the newspaper combine method you give both boxes a squirt of air freshener and put them together, I don't know what crackpot discovered this.... but - IT WORKS !!

Ahh... Dani beat me to it !

 

[Garry R]

Which air freshener?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I am relatively new, what’s all this talk about fabric softener? When? Why? What does it do?

If you drink too much of it, it gives you awful wind

 

[pargyle]

In that case, leave well alone for a week - any fiddling around now could upset a fragile balance.

Yes ... safest option now .. bit of a catalogue of errors to get to this stage but I do have some sympathy ... it's the old adage "When you are up to your arse in alligators the tendency is to forget that your original objective was to drain the swamp !'

Sometimes you have to cut your losses ....I would have squished the deformed virgin (Was that perhaps a case of DWV ?) combined the split back and given them as dose of OA to check the mite load.

You have some good advice previously, now it's time to sit back and hope ... but I would have a little worry about varroa ....

 

[Paula S]

What exactly do you recommend for the quick spray? I've seen suggestions of vanilla sugar and menthol candies. What is the mention of air freshener from Enrico, (see above), about?

 

[pargyle]

Which air freshener?

Whichever I can borrow off 'er indoors ! Glade lavender was the last one I used but I've heard that neutral ones are more commonly used ...

 

[Erichalfbee]

I don't know what crackpot discovered this.

It will be in his blog!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

but at least it smells nice

 

[Erichalfbee]

What exactly do you recommend for the quick spray? I've seen suggestions of vanilla sugar and menthol candies. What is the mention of air freshener from Enrico, (see above), about?

Anything. Whatever is handy. I have lavender

 

[pargyle]

What exactly do you recommend for the quick spray? I've seen suggestions of vanilla sugar and menthol candies. What is the mention of air freshener from Enrico, (see above), about?

Post #30 & 31 above ....