Options for a unmated queen hive

[Anthony.]

Hi all,

I have a hive (Hive 1) that in around sept / oct lost its queen. We were able to raise a new queen but we worried it was too late in the season to get mated. I think our fears are true as when we checked on tuesday although the queen is still around there are only what look like drone / queen cells.

We have another hive (Hive 2) that is doing well, queen is laying but probably only 1-2 frames of brood at the moment.

What are my options as presumably hive 1 has only so long before the overwinter bees die as does the queen? Normally i would pull a frame or two of BIAS from my stronger hive and move across but im worried about weakening both hives to try and save it?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I’d just let them dwindle.
Probably too few bees to be of any use to the other hive.

 

[Beefriendly]

I would suggest you combine the two together (after dispatching your drone laying queen) to make one strong colony and split later on in the season when there is a better chance of getting any new queen mated.

 

[Ian123]

I combined 2 yesterday 1 drone layer to a small nuc sized cut out I did the day before. The drone layer still had plenty of workers and although I suspect older bees they should increase the cluster size and allow a little more brood rearing from the nuc. It’s for you to judge if workers are few then it’s probably not worth it.