never done a unite before ...

[citrus]

never done a unite before so had a question ready for lunchtime inspection tomorrow

so have two national brood boxes that I think I should unite.

1 hive had no sign of HM when inspected 14 days ago so donated some eggs to the hive to buy some time and last week we had emergency qc's but pretty feeble ones so left the biggest last week but think this hive needs to be merged.

the other hive does have a laying queen (saw eggs) as at last inspection and was hoping to leave this in situ - cover with newspaper and then plonk the queenless hive above it (will remove that last qc) and let them get on with it .... the 2nd brood box can stay on there assuming all goes well.


according to
https://www.trunchbeekeeping.co.uk/knowledge/hive-managing/merge-two-colonies/

they say its best to do this uniting in the evening when everyone is home ... but I have two other hives on site that are double brood and working well ... so could I not unite in the middle of the day ... and any fliers missing home just beg into one of the other hives on site ?

 

[Ian123]

Yes you can do it during the day get the q right hive ready and weight your paper down with a q-excluder on top it also prevents brace comb ripping any large holes and it blowing off as you lift the other hive. I’ve always made a couple of tiny nail/pin pricks to get them started. Destroy any q-cells in the queenless hive and move across. Try to keep disturbance to a minimum and any flying bees will return to the nearest hive. If you are inspecting other hives I would do the unite last.

 

[citrus]

thanks Ian ... and remove the queen excluder the following week .....and inspect as normal then ?

(ideally like to run as double brood so would be ideal if they could unite and work well)

 

[Ian123]

Correct and don’t leave it to long for inspection sometimes the q-less hive will start cells so about 5-6 days. Also keep the first inspection brief just check for eggs and cells in the top box.

 

[enrico]

Or a quick squirt of air freshener across the top of the bottom hive and the bottom of the one you are going to merge and bobs your uncle! I do hope you do not have a queen in both though!
E

 

[Curly green finger's]

Or a quick squirt of air freshener across the top of the bottom hive and the bottom of the one you are going to merge and bobs your uncle! I do hope you do not have a queen in both though!
E

I agree with enrico, if you use air freshener, the United process is quicker than paper.
And you can consolidate your colonys after a few days.

 

[Helen]

I tried newspaper merge a few times. Took ages, and bees didn't seem to want to go through the paper, even with big slashes across it. So tried the airwick method, and never had a problem. You could cage queen just in case, and release her a couple of days later.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

never had an issue with paper unites. If I've done it in the afternoon, they're through by the morning after.
Bit unnerving though, walking up the garden to be met by a bee coming the other way with a three inch strip of the torygraph flying behind it like the ITV World of Sport banner

 

[Curly green finger's]

never had an issue with paper unites. If I've done it in the afternoon, they're through by the morning after.
Bit unnerving though, walking up the garden to be met by a bee coming the other way with a three inch strip of the torygraph flying behind it like the ITV World of Sport banner

Funny that jbm good job it wasn't part of the Sunday sport.
Just a question jbm, have you ever used air freshener to unite colonys? If so how did you get on?
Cheers.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Just a question jbm, have you ever used air freshener to unite colonys? If so how did you get on?
Cheers.

No, have never seen the point, always have plenty of newspaper in the truck (various purposes - none connected to reading it ). If something ain't broke, why try to fix it.

 

[Curly green finger's]

No, have never seen the point, always have plenty of newspaper in the truck (various purposes - none connected to reading it ). If something ain't broke, why try to fix it.

Fair enough.. I don't really need to know what you do with your newspapers.. Paper airplanes are quiet fun!

I was wondering is there a ' bee' product on the market much the same as air freshener that is used for uniting colonys?

Sent from my YAL-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[drex]

Not seen one, but if there was it would be ten times the price of air freshener

 

[Curly green finger's]

Not seen one, but if there was it would be ten times the price of air freshener

You probably right drex, it would last a long time though.
One day someone will develop something instead of using air freshener.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You probably right drex, it would last a long time though.
One day someone will develop something instead of using air freshener.

They have
It's called a newspaper

 

[drex]

Just done a unite with paper, as is my preferred method. My bees are being slow to build this year. One colony just starting to go into super, one colony just had a second super. The rest are still in the double Bb. The unite was to free up a queen to make up a nuc for a newbie, since I lost all my overwintering , last years raised queens.
I do use air freshener for a quick fix, but only very occasionally