Laying workers

[stenibee]

Have shaken out a hive with laying workers about 100mts away. Replaced hive on original site. Can I now unite hive with a strong colony using the paper method? Opinions

 

[Tom Bick]

My experience with dealing with laying workers is to simply combine with a strong colony and save yourself all the trouble of creating a mess by shaking the bees out.

 

[oliver90owner]

So you shook all the bees out and expect them to do what?

They simply returned to the hive on the original site. Nett gain - zilch. Think again. Not opinion. Fact.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

So you shook all the bees out and expect them to do what?

They simply returned to the hive on the original site. Nett gain - zilch. Think again. Not opinion. Fact.

But then again - when some foolish people on here insist that laying workers can't fly - what do you expect

 

[thebeeman]

So you shook all the bees out and expect them to do what?

They simply returned to the hive on the original site. Nett gain - zilch. Think again. Not opinion. Fact.

But then again - when some foolish people on here insist that laying workers can't fly - what do you expect

Look in on this forum now and again and still the same old people ripping on people instead of give helpful advice at least Tom is constructive with his help.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Laying workers can fly. Just unite the colony to a strong one.

 

[stenibee]

Thanks to some and would rather others keep there sarcasm to themselves

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Thanks to some and would rather others keep there sarcasm to themselves

It's ok to ask but you really didn't achieve anything by putting the original hive back where it came from. Not sarcasm but a straight, honest response as far as I could see. Maybe you ought to ask BEFORE taking an action you are not sure about.
My solution would have been to shake out the problem hive, remove the old hive and let the workers beg their way into other hives. The guards would have denied entry to the laying workers as they would smell "wrong".

 

[Tomo]

My understanding is that if you unite a good colony with one that is Q- and has been for a while i.e. long enough for laying workers to lay, then there is a chance that the laying workers could kill the Queen. Is this correct?

 

[Tom Bick]

My understanding is that if you unite a good colony with one that is Q- and has been for a while i.e. long enough for laying workers to lay, then there is a chance that the laying workers could kill the Queen. Is this correct?

Not in my experience.

 

[Thymallus]

My solution would have been to shake out the problem hive, remove the old hive and let the workers beg their way into other hives. The guards would have denied entry to the laying workers as they would smell "wrong".

Not sure how well this "smell wrong" works in practice when you throw them out. Last week I threw out a medium sized colony of laying workers (about 5 frames worth of bees) about 100 yards from their original position. Removed original hive and stand, 10 minutes later they were all flying around the original site, within the next 20 minutes they had all entered the nearest hive. Not a flying bee left around the old site. I don't think the guard bees had a chance. The hive they entered was now a mixture of two different types of bees so it was quite obvious where they had gone. It will be interesting to see the result as the hive they entered had an unmated virgin queen.... currently outcome is unclear. Hopefully all will be well.
Yes they do enter other hives, but if there is enough of them I think they overwhelm the guards by sheer numbers.