Problem uniting hives

[StephenT]

United 2 hives over paper last night. Stronger queenless on top of weaker queen right hive. Noticed a few bees looking for their home this morning which has now increased substantially. Put a box there for them to go into as per photo. I assume that quite a number of them have got through the paper already and headed off. Should I have used 2 sheets of paper instead of one? My plan is to collect as many as I can today and unite again tonight. First time at doing this and so any advice would be gratefully received.

 

[pargyle]

United 2 hives over paper last night. Stronger queenless on top of weaker queen right hive. Noticed a few bees looking for their home this morning which has now increased substantially. Put a box there for them to go into as per photo. I assume that quite a number of them have got through the paper already and headed off. Should I have used 2 sheets of paper instead of one? My plan is to collect as many as I can today and unite again tonight. First time at doing this and so any advice would be gratefully received.

If you are going to unite two colonies that close together - better to remove the kit from the old site altogether as they will then go and find somewhere else to go in ... by giving them a box to go to they are obviously going to go to it - foragers retain a memory unless they are forced to re-orientate.

 

[StephenT]

If you are going to unite two colonies that close together - better to remove the kit from the old site altogether as they will then go and find somewhere else to go in ... by giving them a box to go to they are obviously going to go to it - foragers retain a memory unless they are forced to re-orientate.

Thanks. Another first that I’ve not got right. I was expecting that it would take about 3 days for them to work their way through the paper by which time they would just reorientate to the hive I moved them to. Seems that they got through it overnight and are heading back to the original location. I’ve compounded the problem by putting a box back there for them to go into as I didn‘t want them begging into the other hives. Given the situation, should I just unite what bees end up in the box tonight on the top of the hive they were moved to last night?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It seldom takes more than a day for the bees to break through, even with two or more sheets of paper.
Personally I would have put the Q+ hive on top, but in the end it depends which colony needs to be moved

 

[enrico]

You only want t to take a short time for them to combine otherwise the top hive can overheat!

 

[ericbeaumont]

should I just unite what bees end up in the box tonight

No need, Stephen: go now, shake out the box and remove it; bees will orientate next door.

 

[StephenT]

No need, Stephen: go now, shake out the box and remove it; bees will orientate next door.

It’s not next door though. Ideally I should have moved the hives next to each other before uniting but didn’t as they're not that close to each other. Quite a few are begging their way into the closest hive but there is a lot of fanning going on at the combined hive which is good I guess.

 

[ericbeaumont]

Quite a few are begging their way into the closest hive

Good enough. Main thing is to remove the kit and stand from the area.

 

[Erichalfbee]

You only want t to take a short time for them to combine otherwise the top hive can overheat!

I lift the crownboard on matchsticks

 

[Erichalfbee]

It’s not next door though. Ideally I should have moved the hives next to each other before uniting but didn’t as they're not that close to each other. Quite a few are begging their way into the closest hive but there is a lot of fanning going on at the combined hive which is good I guess.

Don’t have to be near each other. Just the same apiary

 

[Swarm]

You only want t to take a short time for them to combine otherwise the top hive can overheat!

Yes, that can happen over night.

 

[StephenT]

It was amazing how quickly they completely demolished the paper. About 2 days. There was a bit of rucking at the hive closest to the hive I moved as some bees returned to try and find their old home but it seems to have settled down now.
Another first as part of this whole exercise was putting a small patch of eggs in one of the hives we later combined. After two days you could clearly see that they were making a number of queen cells and so were queenless.

 

[LeaBees]

Just to follow up this thread.
Have 2 hives, 1 a strong swarm settled in with a good laying queen, the other a small weak (in bee numbers) hive the result of a poor split but with a good laying queen (as far as she can with small number of bees). Temperament of the small hive is so calm but the swarm is not, to the extent they are skittish, defensive and bees ping and follow after inspections. Was thinking of knocking off the swarm queen and uniting with the small hive.

Do you think the small hive is calm simply due to it's size (The mother hive from the split is also super calm) ? Will the swarm bees take to this? Put the small hive on top ?