Strenthaning a weak hive

dpearce4 · Aug 1, 2011

Hiya

i have a hive that to me still seems a little weak, its in a commercial brood and has drawn out 7 of the 11 frames of which 5 have brood on. now i have another hive that was also new this year it has drawn out all frames with brood on 8 of them.

as its so late in the season i cannot see any point putting a super ontop for honey so wondered if it was worth swapping a couple of undrawn frames in the weak hive with 2 from the stronger hive so they both end up being strong enough to get through winter.

they were both new Q that started laying mid june but the bigger 1 had more bees to start with.

greatbritishhoney · Aug 1, 2011

I often swap the odd frames of drawn comb / stores between hives to "equalise" them, but, before you do this, the most important thing to work out is why one of your hives isn't building up properly. Could it be disease? Duff queen? Robbing? Etc.

dpearce4 · Aug 1, 2011

I think it is because it was such a small hive to start with. it was maybe 3 national frames drawn out and maybe 5000 bees, really really small. it was without brood from end april until mid june so was getting smaller due to natural wastage of bees. it has done well since june but im just concerned that it needs to be strong to make it through winter.

Tom Bick · Aug 1, 2011

dpearce4 said:
Hiya

i have a hive that to me still seems a little weak, its in a commercial brood and has drawn out 7 of the 11 frames of which 5 have brood on. now i have another hive that was also new this year it has drawn out all frames with brood on 8 of them.

as its so late in the season i cannot see any point putting a super ontop for honey so wondered if it was worth swapping a couple of undrawn frames in the weak hive with 2 from the stronger hive so they both end up being strong enough to get through winter.

they were both new Q that started laying mid june but the bigger 1 had more bees to start with.

This is more likely the answer as to the now different size of the two hives.

Also position can make a difference perhaps one hive gets more sun during the day?

If you are that concerned a frame of emerging bees from the stronger hive will boost the weaker hive.

You will have to be happy that the weaker hive has no disease issues before you transfer a frame in return.

dpearce4 · Aug 1, 2011

i can replace the comb from the stronger hive with a new frame with new foundation as i have spare and dispose of the other one just to be on the safe side.

Tom Bick · Aug 1, 2011

If you are worried its better to be safe than sorry.

Remember remove the bees from the frame you are transferring and check that the queen is not on it before you knock or brush the bees off.

How did the two hives start of in the first place, split / donated frames / nuc / as / swarm. Did they have drawn frames and brood before the queens started to lay.

dpearce4 · Aug 1, 2011

it started as 1 nuc bought very cheep from an auction, my mentor came and looked at it as it kept producing 1 QC he suggested to split it as they might swarm. so one had just 1 frame with the QC and bees knocked into it from the other frames. the other was 4 frames with Q (the now stronger 1) this was done by my mentor. they both ended up with no brood for about 3/4weeks b4 the new Q started laying.