Strong Colony Spilt & Rejuvinating Weak Colony

[tomtomhitter]

Hi all,

Edit - Full Story Below:

Did a quick inspection this evening during a brief spell of afternoon sun.

• Colony 1: Fine and growing well.

• Colony 2: Queen still not laying - only been almost 2 weeks. Low bee numbers.

• Colony 3: ONE CAPPED QC + 4 or 5 UNCAPPED QC's present in BB1. BB2 packed well with stores. Super is near enough full.

Obviously I now need to split to make my intended increases - albeit, not with the intended method!!

I have 4 empty BBs to use and 2 plastic self-build (green) nucs things. I would like to increase as much as possible whilst trying to rejuvinate desperate colony 2 - until the queen starts laying again.

What do people think is the best way to proceed?

To get my increases I was thinking I could make equal splits into the 4 BBs with 1 QC each, 1 or 2 brood frames each and some stores.

To rejuvinate colony 2 I could move one capped brood frame over, but I'm not sure there are enough bees in colony 2 to cover the brood and keep it warm... If I shake in bees I understand they are likely to fight, unless I add bees from 2 or more colonies? Should I add one frame of capped brood from colony 3 with one shake of bees PLUS and additional shake of bees from colony 1? Will this confuse the bees enough for it to work?



Here's the full story...

I would like some advice on how to proceed with splits from a very productive colony, including the rejuvination of a weak colony if possible. Following is a short briefing as to where I'm at with my 3 colonies.

I started keeping bees last year. Had a successful season with its ups and downs but I brought all three of my colonies over winter well.

Feb 2019:
We had 2 weeks of abnormally warm weather for North Staffs (>15 degrees) giving me chance to have a peek a couple of times.

• Colony 1 was bulding up a little slower, but getting on well.

• Colonies 2 & 3 growing EXTREMELY fast for this time of year, having brood across 5 frames with a >75% frame coverage and plenty of stores.

All colonies were fed with 1.4L 1:1 syrup when needed over the two weeks.

Immediately after the warm weather, we were hit with 3 weeks of colder weather with some snow and frosts.

My next check (Mid March) revealed the following:

• Colony 1: Still growing as expected. Slightly more brood.

• Colony 2: 90% LOSS due to starvation. Queen and 1.5 frames of bees remained. (Sprayed with 1:1 and fed immediately)

• Colony 3: Still growing FAST. 7 Frames of brood + lots of stores.

Since then we have had the weather to do multiple checks.

• Colony 1 was growing as expected.

• Colony 2 had begun to rebuild with E,L,B on two frames - good news!

• Colony 3 continued to grow.

Everything looked to be back to normal!

Given that I had decided that I would make some increases this year, I decided to experiment with the queen rearing process detail on pages 167/168 of Ted Hooper's "Bees & Honey" and set up colony 3 as detailed, with a 2nd BB and QE.

Fast forward to late April.

• Colony 1: Still continuinig to grow well.

• Colony 2: SWARMED, leaving 1 QC and low bee numbers! Very random behaviour?!

• Colony 3: Continuing to grow and now have stores in 2nd BB.

I performed my last inspection 2 weeks ago on Tuesday:

• Colony 2: Queen had hatched.

• Colony 3: Supered - as noted in "Bees & Honey".

I then went on holiday for a week.

Did a quick inspection this evening during a brief spell of afternoon sun.

• Colony 1: Fine and growing well.

• Colony 2: Queen still not laying - only been almost 2 weeks.

• Colony 3: ONE CAPPED QC + 4 or 5 UNCAPPED QC's present in BB1. BB2 packed well with stores. Super is near enough full.

Obviously I now need to split to make my intended increases - albeit, not with the intended method!!

I have 4 empty BBs to use and 2 plastic self-build (green) nucs things. I would like to increase as much as possible whilst trying to rejuvinate desperate colony 2 - until the queen starts laying again.

What do people think is the best way to proceed?

To get my increases I was thinking I could make equal splits into the 4 BBs with 1 QC each, 1 or 2 brood frames each and some stores.

To rejuvinate colony 2 I could move one capped brood frame over, but I'm not sure there are enough bees in colony 2 to cover the brood and keep it warm... If I shake in bees I understand they are likely to fight, unless I add bees from 2 or more colonies? Should I add one frame of capped brood from colony 3 with one shake of bees PLUS and additional shake of bees from colony 1? Will this confuse the bees enough for it to work?

Apologies for the long post, but any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks,

Tom

 

[simonforeman]

Now that's what I call a short briefing

 

[tomtomhitter]

Now that's what I call a short briefing

I've read too many posts of short, confusing information. With lots of subsequent posts trying to explain a given situation.

I figure it all helps in making a choice going forward and helps those I am asking to help me!

 

[madasafish]

Colony 2 should be in a poly nuc. If in a wooden hive, heat losss will kill it/keep it small..(weather forecats lousy for next week)


I

 

[tomtomhitter]

Colony 2 should be in a poly nuc. If in a wooden hive, heat losss will kill it/keep it small..(weather forecats lousy for next week)


I

I don't have a poly nuc, unfortunately. I could order one and I could reduce down with dummy boards and insulate inside BB in the meantime.

 

[mjt68]

1 seems fine.

What makes you think 2 swarmed? Not saying you're wrong, just asking why. My initial hunch is that they got congested due to brood nest backfill of feed.

My hunch is that 3 have also swarmed. I would reduce to one open QC.

Now, what else to do? Conservative or risky? I think you're running the risk of expanding beyond your experience. 3 colonies is plenty for your first full year, particularly until you get swarm control and prevnting starvation down. Conservative path is unite 2&3 once you have a laying queen in 2 (should happen before unsealed QC in 3 becomes virgin). Riskier path is leave 3 with one QC and try and nurse 2 through. Swap locations of 2 and 3 once 2 has laying queen and you might be ok, but will knock 1 back a bit. Put 2 in nuc as suggested by madasafish.

I would caution against it but conservative plan allows further split of 1 and 3 later in season (nucs first, hives if strong enough)