failing hive....

[thurrock bees]

Hi all


Ive been given a hive to look after, they was not been looked at for over 3 years,so i cleaned the hive up and replace the old comb with foundation but two ( which had brood on ) they are very nice and carm bees not needing any smoke to inspect them, after a week from the comb change they swarmed leaving their brood behind and i managed to walk them into a spare hive i had around.
The next day i noticed that there was only one frame of bees so i place some sealed brood in with them in hope they they would help them with their numbers and allow the Queen to lay better/more. i checked them today and they is only one frame of brood/eggs and that the ''added'' frame has got chilled brood around the edges where the bee have not been able to cover them and keep them warm and the middle part has hatched.

I know this maybe a lost cause but i would like to keep them going as the queen is a very nice temper and dont want to risk losing her by adding her to a queenless hive.

Is there a way i can add adult bees to them, i.e. shake some in the hive without them fighting????

 

[newportbuzz]

you would have to double check this with someone with a lot more experiance but i have been told that more when makin nucs if i use more than 3 doner hives i wont get fighting cos theres no single group of bees that stands out. i presume this should also be true to shook bees.
ie shake bees from supers from 4-5 hives and dump them in the failing hive. or even brood with bees on.

but i havnt conformed this info yet .
so it might just be all out war.

you could always put the hive in the place of a strong hive to colect the flying bees. no fighting then as the returning bees have nectar and pollen

 

[RoseCottage]

We just combined a large number of bees together in a hive and we sprayed both sets first quite heavily with 1:1 sugar syrup. Hardly any fighting at all. Instead a lot of grooming of themselves and their neighbours. 24hrs later a happy family. We then added a couple of thousand more from a third colony and did the same again. Next day 10 bodies on landing board.

It worked for us...

All the best,
Sam