To unite or not / bees not drawing frames?

[ksjs]

Hello,

Haven't been on here for a while, gone from 1 to 3 hives this year, dealt with my first swarms but they've had a rubbish year as far as honey goes. Hope everyone has had more luck.

Anyway, I now have 3 colonies, 1 is very strong, 1 is above average and 1 is small - this was a cast swarm that was put in a nuc and then hived. They swarmed early June and they have pretty much managed to draw / use / fill a grand total of 4 frames since. Perhaps I kept them in a nuc for too long?

I'm not sure what the best way forward for them is now. I think my options are unite or I can take 2 frames say from the strong colony to give them a boost and some more drawn comb to work with. This may though be too little too late and could compromise a good colony going into winter.

My preference would be to go into winter with 3 colonies but I guess this is pointless if 1 of those is weak.

More generally, all 3 colonies have done very poorly at drawing out comb, even after having put supers of undrawn comb beneath BB. Do I have rubbish bees, was it too wet, was it too cold, did the wet reduce nectar available, did I not feed them enough or was it a combination of that lot? The strong colony have had a super for over a month and they haven't even touched it.

Any help much appreciated.

 

[VEG]

the weather has been weird this year which as you know has not helped the bees at all. You could put the small colony back into the nuc box for the winter and keep an eye on them.

 

[REDWOOD]

How small is small, did you use dummy boards when you put them in a hive

 

[oliver90owner]

If there is no clear reason for not expanding, you would likely be better to dispense with that queen and requeen with a better gene line, if you want to go into winter with three decent colonies.

 

[thepliedes]

Hi, I would combine the small and average in a hive and you will still have two colonies which may survive winter.

 

[Poly Hive]

I agree.

If a nuc cannot expand out of a nuc (it is being babied) then the queen is a poor un and you are better off with out the genes.

PH

 

[meidel]

last year my OH and I took our small nuc sized colonies through the winter - when I looked at our records they only had three and a half frames of brood and 3 frames of stores each at the last inspection before the winter set in. They were dummied and had insulation above the crown board We didn't treat with oxalic as they'd had 3 half trays of apigard each over the 6 week period in Aug/Sep. We gave them a spring feed of neopoll in March, took out the dummy boards and they really multiplied from that!

 

[ksjs]

How small is small, did you use dummy boards when you put them in a hive

They're on 4 frames, 5 if you're generous. And no, no dummy boards used.

 

[ksjs]

If there is no clear reason for not expanding, you would likely be better to dispense with that queen and requeen with a better gene line, if you want to go into winter with three decent colonies.

Is re-queening a viable / worthwhile option this late in the year with such a small colony?

I guess a clear reason is miserable and unpredictable summer weather?

 

[ksjs]

I agree.

If a nuc cannot expand out of a nuc (it is being babied) then the queen is a poor un and you are better off with out the genes.

PH

No real way to explain this but I feel she is good and just a bit hampered either by me (not hiving soon enough) or weather.

 

[ksjs]

last year my OH and I took our small nuc sized colonies through the winter - when I looked at our records they only had three and a half frames of brood and 3 frames of stores each at the last inspection before the winter set in. They were dummied and had insulation above the crown board We didn't treat with oxalic as they'd had 3 half trays of apigard each over the 6 week period in Aug/Sep. We gave them a spring feed of neopoll in March, took out the dummy boards and they really multiplied from that!

Right, you may have the casting vote! Think I'll proceed with a view to feeding them, adding 1 or 2 frames from the strong colony, see how they and winter in the hive dummied down or put them back in nuc box if necessary (prefer not to put them in nuc as possibly more damp / less ventilation [and we get plenty of rain in N Wales] ).

Thanks all for replies.