Combining Colonies

[DRam]

We have two hives that are about 3m apart.

We have just found that that the newer colony, which we got as a small swarm at the end of June has a drone laying queen, and she has now been removed from the hive. We are uniting the colonies using the newspaper method.

Having not done this before, how long is this process likely to take, and how long before we should move all the bees to the bottom brood box.

Also, is there any downside to leaving them for a week with one brood box on top of the other. There is a queen excluder between the two brood boxes.

Also, although we did this as late in the evening as we could, inevitably there were some bees flying from the second hive flying around their old hive location. Are they likely to find their way into the new combined colony?

 

[drex]

The errant flyers will beg their way into a nearby hive.
No great downside leaving it a week, but I would usually remove any remnants of paper and consolidate frames after 4-5 days. You might end up with one or two brood boxes depending what is on the frames and how many bees you have.

 

[DRam]

Thanks for the reply.
There are no other hives close by so hopefully the 'errant fliers' will get into the combined colony.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I put mine together as soon as there is a decent amount of newspaper underneath. Usually a couple of days.
Bees will be through overnight.

 

[DRam]

Erichalfbee,
Thanks for the reply.

 

[Cuckmere couple]

do you need to leave for longer if supers sit between united colonies?

reason i am asking is i united a QR colony over a Q- colony, above their supers and with a QE

7 days later i took the supers off and consolidated the brood boxes into one - newspaper was chewed through etc

i noticed some bees seeming to attack the queen but wasnt quite sure and was short of time so left them.

A further 7 days later, no queen, no eggs and queen cells.

where did i go wrong? (maybe should be its own post)

 

[Mandeville]

I put mine together as soon as there is a decent amount of newspaper underneath. Usually a couple of days.
Bees will be through overnight.

I've found that they quite often just make a hole through the newspaper without ripping it up. So I never get the shreds outside the hive to tell me they've united!

 

[Erichalfbee]

I've found that they quite often just make a hole through the newspaper without ripping it up. So I never get the shreds outside the hive to tell me they've united!

Yes that can happen
My floors are half solid half mesh but a quick movie on the phone up through the omf lets me see.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

if you've didpatched the dud queen you have to then start the unite immediately, otherwise you have to wait until the Q- colony is hopelessly queenless with no material to make new QC's

do you need to leave for longer if supers sit between united colonies?

reason i am asking is i united a QR colony over a Q- colony, above their supers and with a QE

7 days later i took the supers off and consolidated the brood boxes into one - newspaper was chewed through etc

i noticed some bees seeming to attack the queen but wasnt quite sure and was short of time so left them.

A further 7 days later, no queen, no eggs and queen cells.

where did i go wrong? (maybe should be its own post)

Not really, they're through the paper overnight, although as I usually time unites to coincide with apiary inspections so It's a week before I consolidate

 

[Cuckmere couple]

it was a week since uniting before consolidating

still went for her....maybe not enough interaction given shed been stuck 3 boxes from the bottom box...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

it was a week since uniting before consolidating

still went for her....maybe not enough interaction given shed been stuck 3 boxes from the bottom box...

the majority of my unites have been over multiple supers and never an issue.

 

[drex]

How do you know the Q- colony was actually Q- ? Was it by finding the queen and killing her, or was it a colony with no evidence of a queen? it could have had two queens and you only killed one, or it had a queen in waiting.
Like JBM never had a problem uniting with supers.

 

[Cuckmere couple]

thanks drex

it was a colony where i found a marked queen (she'd been in there for weeks and laying well but found her dead on the floor)

left for a week and removed q cells, no more eggs
united Q+ nuc (4 BIA) over the Q- colony, above its two supers
left for a week
went back and rather than leave two brood boxes i thought id put the frames from upper into lower and thats when i thought i saw them attacking
SINCE, they have drawn more Q cells so pretty clear no queen in there

 

[Hebeegeebee]

As we know as beekeepers, nothing is ever 100%. Occasionally unites will go wrong unfortunately. In the height of summer when there's no flow on is the danger period. Lots of older bees with nothing to do.

 

[thorn]

As we know as beekeepers, nothing is ever 100%. Occasionally unites will go wrong unfortunately. In the height of summer when there's no flow on is the danger period. Lots of older bees with nothing to do.

A bit like this forum in the winter. That's when we get vicious.

 

[Erichalfbee]

A bit like this forum in the winter. That's when we get vicious.

Not any more