Uniting with just smoke

[Curly green finger's]

Very late good evening! last Thursday I united 4 colonys into two with just my smoker ( lavender / orange peel) done in much the same way as using news paper but I smoked in between boxes quite a bit and at the entrance a little bit, weaker queenless colonys went on top.
Has anyone else done it? And if so what was the results?
Results : both now double brood colonys are good fresh eggs and both queen's looked fine.
The one colony had by the looks of it started to make qcs in the top box but they had been ripped down. The other was good.
Cheers
C. G. F

 

[fizzle]

Sounds like you got it right CGF. Unfortunately my efforts to boost an Apidea with donor brood frame and bees didn't work out so well. In hindsight I would have left the donor frame Queen less for 24 hours and smoked the flying bees off the frame.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Sounds like you got it right CGF. Unfortunately my efforts to boost an Apidea with donor brood frame and bees didn't work out so well. In hindsight I would have left the donor frame Queen less for 24 hours and smoked the flying bees off the frame.

More like luck maybe, It doesn't always work out but if you don't try things you will never learn.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Sounds like you got it right CGF. Unfortunately my efforts to boost an Apidea with donor brood frame and bees didn't work out so well. In hindsight I would have left the donor frame Queen less for 24 hours and smoked the flying bees off the frame.

I did see your thread was there more brood than that in the apidea?
Maybe she wasn't mated very well?
I think she should of been left longer to assess her brood pattern before doing anything with her.
My kieler Mating queen's are left in there until I know the eggs are worker brood not necessarily capped either.

 

[Nannysbees]

Very late good evening! last Thursday I united 4 colonys into two with just my smoker ( lavender / orange peel) done in much the same way as using news paper but I smoked in between boxes quite a bit and at the entrance a little bit, weaker queenless colonys went on top.
Has anyone else done it? And if so what was the results?
Results : both now double brood colonys are good fresh eggs and both queen's looked fine.
The one colony had by the looks of it started to make qcs in the top box but they had been ripped down. The other was good.
Cheers
C. G. F

I find that really interesting, was it just lavender and orange peel or did you use any other fuel with it (paper/cardboard) find the smoke from ours quite acrid, and burns my eyes is im not careful

 

[Erichalfbee]

Lavender and orange peel go on top of dry rotten wood in my smoker.
I like the smell even if the bees are ambivalent

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I like the smell even if the bees are ambivalent

I thought all your were Buckfasts?

 

[E&MBees]

I use to find the smoke from my smoker was very acrid when I used rolled cardboard. Since swapping to dried rotten wood mixed with egg box and dried lavender it has been much better. I also put a bundle of fresh grass on top of the burning fuel. That helps too.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I thought all your were Buckfasts?

No. I have some local ambivalents
Stan likes free bees

 

[madasafish]

I have used smoke - a LOT of smoke to unite.
But all that puffing is hard work.

Air freshener is a 10 second job and far less work - you can unite single frames with bees to another hive that way. I do it when boosting weak nucs with a frame of capped brood and bees.

I use newspaper AND air freshener if one hive/nuc is very aggressive.

 

[Beanwood]

Scientifically proven to be a good method - so maye you got lucky by 'doing it right'

LASI video here if anyone's interested:

 

[fizzle]

I did see your thread was there more brood than that in the apidea?
Maybe she wasn't mated very well?
I think she should of been left longer to assess her brood pattern before doing anything with her.
My kieler Mating queen's are left in there until I know the eggs are worker brood not necessarily capped either.

Not a whole lot more brood. Weirdly they had capped drone brood before she started laying.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Not a whole lot more brood. Weirdly they had capped drone brood before she started laying.


View attachment 27249

Laying worker?

 

[REDWOOD]

Glade air freshener works well

 

[fizzle]

Laying worker?

Yes, it must have been a laying worker with timings as the Queen would only have emerged within a few days of that photo.