Two swarms to house today

[manek]

I'm about to take delivery of not one but two swarms.

Since I don't have two spare hives, I plan to put one swarm in a brood box, the other in a super on top, and leave them there with just a sheet of newspaper between them, hoping they will unite.

I guess the queens will fight it out for top dog status, then they'll get on with it.

What's wrong with this plan (if anything)?

Thanks.

 

[mjt68]

I'm about to take delivery of not one but two swarms.

Since I don't have two spare hives, I plan to put one swarm in a brood box, the other in a super on top, and leave them there with just a sheet of newspaper between them, hoping they will unite.

I guess the queens will fight it out for top dog status, then they'll get on with it.

What's wrong with this plan (if anything)?

Thanks.

Nothing wrong with it, provided they're not both enormous swarms. I think you can just bung two swarms into a hive if neither has been hived, no need for newspaper.

EDIT: is your intention to go for brood and a half? Are you happy for the shallow frames to be laid in?

 

[manek]

Thanks - I'm told they're small swarms, so I'll settle for a single brood box, so if I can just bung them both in the one box, that saves time and hassle further down the line. I was worried the workers themselves might fight if I threw them together and I'd end up with a load of dead bodies...

 

[mjt68]

Thanks - I'm told they're small swarms, so I'll settle for a single brood box, so if I can just bung them both in the one box, that saves time and hassle further down the line. I was worried the workers themselves might fight if I threw them together and I'd end up with a load of dead bodies...

Bees only fight to protect the hive or queen. If both sets are homeless (the theory goes) then no fighting. For belt and braces safety I've used a popular brand of air freshener and some smoke to confuse them at the moment of combining. Do it last thing in the evening as well so they all spend the night together before there's a chance to abscond (I think this is more paranoia than evidence-based though).

 

[manek]

Will do. They'll arrive about six this evening and by the time I get everything ready, it'll be about 7pm. Should I slip a queen excluder under the brood box?

 

[mjt68]

Will do. They'll arrive about six this evening and by the time I get everything ready, it'll be about 7pm. Should I slip a queen excluder under the brood box?

Your call. I never have. Have lost two or three swarms out of maybe 15-20?

 

[MartinL]

it.

What's wrong with this plan (if anything)?

Thanks.

Lots!

If they both chose not to abscond then there may well be a battle.

You're not dealing with two virgins from the same colony here, you'll have two different colonies!

Why don't you offer one of the swarms to a newbee from your local association?

 

[manek]

Why don't you offer one of the swarms to a newbee from your local association?

I guess I'm the newbee! Seriously, the association member who's bringing them to me has tried but not managed to get in touch with anyone else.

If they both chose not to abscond then there may well be a battle.

This is what I'm afraid of. In the absence of another recipient of the swarm (and I do want to start my second hive with a healthy number of bees so I want to keep them), how would you go about it?

 

[user 15607]

I guess I'm the newbee! Seriously, the association member who's bringing them to me has tried but not managed to get in touch with anyone else.


This is what I'm afraid of. In the absence of another recipient of the swarm (and I do want to start my second hive with a healthy number of bees so I want to keep them), how would you go about it?

Put the first swarm in the brood box, crown board on top with any holes covered over (gaffer tap ?) put the second swarm in supers on top, rig up some sort of temporary entrance for the supers the opposite side to the brood box entrance, maybe prop the roof open then go and buy a new hive tomorrow


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Zante]

Two supers should make a brood box if you're on national. That way you'll have them on brood frames from the word go, and you'll only need to move the frames from the double super to the brood box once you have one.

If you're on 12x14 then three supers IIRC.

 

[MartinL]

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . then go and buy a new hive tomorrow

Expensive this beekeeping?


How did you do??

 

[manek]

In the end, I flunked out of doing anything complex.

I already had a queenless nuc that I wanted to re-unite with my original (and then only) hive, so I did that using the newspaper method - probably unnecessary since they were returning home but what do I know? That worked fine.

Then, surrounded by clouds of highly inquisitive bees and feeling more than slightly nervous, I emptied both swarms (including presumably two queens) into the near-empty nuc (yes, there were some hangers-on from the uniting process). I figured I could let the bees sort it out. Then I closed up and left them to it.

Next day, I went back and took a look from the outside: no fighting outside the nuc, no piles of dead bees. Same story the next day so I added a rapid feeder with 1:1.

Yesterday, (which was a week on) I opened up the nuc so I could check firstly that the nuc was queen-right, to check the feed situation, and that the colony uniting had really worked.

All seems calm: I saw eggs so one of the queens has mated, pollen is coming in, and most of the feed was gone. I didn't find the queen but I have to assume that one of them is now dead though I didn't see the corpse. Still, I call that a result!

Once they've expanded a bit, I'll transfer the frames to a new hive.