I have 2 problem hives to sort out soon! Advice wanted please.

[CliffDale]

One hive is completely queenless and has no brood.

How do you go about sorting out a queen this late in the year?

I have a 5 frame nuc arriving later this week. Im thinking of uniting the queenless hive with the nuc.

The nuc will be about a mile away from the queenless hive. Will it be ok to unite the bees a mile away from the queenless site?

Hope this makes sense!

Any suggestions / advice to put this right before winter arrives.

Thanks

Cliff

 

[Hebeegeebee]

It's late in the year for a nuc....
One option is to move the queenless colony to the apiary where the nuc will be and hope you don't lose too many bees in the process - a mile is not far. . Then unite once the nuc has been on site in its own hive for a few days. There won't be a huge benefit in uniting as the queenless colony has oldish bees we assume but it will definitely help the nuc out. However you have other colonies - there are ther options to you.

Why is the nuc a 'problem' hive. You haven't received it yet!!!!???

 

[CliffDale]

I am picking up the nuc on Thursday.

I am moving my apiary a mile away from the site now. The current site is in woodland and is dark and gloomy.

The new site is in the open and closer to town and villages.

 

[VEG]

You will have lots of problems if only moving your site a mile. You will have to move the bees over three miles for a while then back to your intended site.