How to unite a with a hive with supers on – advice please!

[The Riviera Kid]

I need to unite a very full, very powerful Q- colony with four supers on it with a 2014 Q+ nuc.

What is the best way to do this?

There is no way I can clear the supers and have all the bees crammed in to a single brood box so as I see it the best options is to put the queen in a Butler cage closed up with fondant in the brood box and unite the rest of the nuc on top of the supers using the usual “newspaper” method.

Unless anyone can please suggest a better idea please?

 

[Tdf]

Could you put the four supers under hthe brood box/qx and then unite. Switch it around a few days later to brood on bottom supers on top

 

[Erichalfbee]

I've done it by putting small colony in a full size brood box then putting the rest on top with QE and newspaper between. Amalgamate a few days after newspaper is thrown out.
Pretty straightforward I would have thought.

 

[enrico]

Could you put the four supers under hthe brood box/qx and then unite. Switch it around a few days later to brood on bottom supers on top

Nice out of the box thinking, might try this one day! But erichalfbee states the obvious way!
E

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I've done it by putting small colony in a full size brood box then putting the rest on top with QE and newspaper between. Amalgamate a few days after newspaper is thrown out.
Pretty straightforward I would have thought.

 

[Arfermo]

I've done it by putting small colony in a full size brood box then putting the rest on top with QE and newspaper between. Amalgamate a few days after newspaper is thrown out.
Pretty straightforward I would have thought.

Ditto

 

[The Riviera Kid]

One detail that I didn’t include (sorry) is that both colonies are in the same field. If I put the nuc under the Q- colony, the flying bees will simply return to where the nuc was.

It’s not really an option to move the Q- hive to the nuc as shifting a full brood box, four supers and all the other hardware is the kind of disruption I’m trying to avoid!!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Prepare both colonies in the daytime. In the evening you can put nuc bees on top of the supers. Bottom box might make QCs but you'll be checking in a few days anyway.
Maybe clear two supers temporarily?

 

[The Riviera Kid]

That could work. It’s a variation on my first thought.
I need to get something sorted before I go on holiday tomorrow!!

This hive is heaving with bees. I’ve run out of supers to put on. The fourth was one taken from another colony that weren’t making much impact in filling it up so I moved it to make more space. They’re filling them faster than the honey is turning “ripe”!!

 

[Adie]

I would put the nuc frames into a brood box and then put it on top of newspaper directly above q- brood box having removed the queen excluder. Then put some newspaper on top of the nuc brood, then the queen excluder and then the supers.
Do this in the late afternoon when it is cooler and make some cuts in the single sheets of newspaper. The bees will have the cool of the night to chew through and start mingling.
Put an empty box on the old nuc site to collect any returns.

 

[Sammo]

Putting the newspaper above will make the supers "dirty" when the bees move about and chew through them. I would suggest using clean paper that hasn't been printed on.

 

[Ely]

Move the nuc closer over the next few days until it is right next to unite spot. Couple of feet at a time