Uniting colonies

[Griffo]

I united a queenless colony (national brood box about half full of bees) with a good colony on a brood and a half on Tuesday night. I put the newspaper on top of the brood and a half and the queenless box on top of that. The half brood contains mainly stores. I just did a walk past and everything appears pretty normal but I'm just planning my next step and would appreciate some guidance. eg can I expect the queenless box to have been vacated when I next inspect ? I do just want to get it back to brood and a half really, or might it be better to establish it as a double, considering there will be quite a lot of bees in there.

 

[Cazza]

When you say "vacated", do you mean there will be no bees in it? The answer is, "no", there may even be more than when you started, depends on colony size and what the bees are up to. If you want the box back, you can always bung a clearer under it.
C

 

[aidskywalker]

I united recently. They got through the newspaper in less than 24 hours, all was ok and queen was alive and laying, they will just colonise all boxes you place on. To see if they've got through the paper, look under the hive and you'll see it on the floor.

 

[alldigging]

To see if they've got through the paper, look under the hive and you'll see it on the floor.

Or just watch for them carrying huge long pieces of it about.
I spotted one carrying a huge bit trying to go over our garage roof but it oculdn't make it so swirled back into the garden and dropped it in some grass. I went and found it! Definitely paper from the hive

 

[enrico]

Depends what forage you have between now and winter. If there is not much I would put the super from the top onto the bottom. They will fill all they can with forage available, then, in winter they will start to eat from the bottom up, all you do is wait until they have vacated the bottom box and remove it. It really depends what is in the box now! If there is nothing at all then just clear it and remove it.
E

 

[Travelator]

There are lots of possible options. This is what I would choose to do next:

- Put the "half" at the bottom of the stack, in the hope that the stores will be cleaned out and the box left empty so that you can remove it before winter.

- Use the two brood boxes as double brood for the winter. Put the one with the oldest, dirtiest wax at the bottom, in the hope that it will be empty by the spring and you can recycle the wax. Doesn't matter whether this was originally the Q+ or Q- box.