Urban setting, worth uniting for late flow ?

[BrianO]

Hi

Have united three hives recently, inspected two others yesterday, going nowhere in supers, blackberry ( plenty of in parkland ) about halfway through flowering and good urban forage all around..

Could unite a strong 6 frame Polynuc with one of my lacklustre nationals.... Worth it to try get a super or two ?? ( terrible season so far for me anyway ) .

If worthwhile how could I unite a Polynuc with a timber national , it's the best way to combine these non compatible boxes that I cannot figure out

Thanks in anticipation

 

[dexter's shed]

don't take this the wrong way, but either your bees are wrong, or your doing something wrong, maybe chucking nucs into gether rather than giving them a chance, is what's holding yours back,
I've collected around 6 swarms this year, not overly big swarms either, maybe covering 3 frames, yet let them get on with it, and once the brood box is nearly filled, add a super, this one had been on for 15 days, all the other swarms are near to this too

https://youtu.be/C0B34S0OOfQ

 

[Finman]

.
Dublin forecast does not promise nectar. 15 C day temps.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Well hold on, Dex. I'm London not Dublin but outside blackberry it's been slim pickings for months. I don't know what the forage of the likes of JBM is but it's all about forage and urban is no bed of roses (and if it is they are multi-layered flowers with no nectar).

 

[Eyeman]

Could unite a strong 6 frame Polynuc with one of my lacklustre nationals.... Worth it to try get a super or two ?? ( terrible season so far for me anyway ) .

My numerous A/S's were all united a few weeks ago. You need strong hives if you want surplus honey and a strong colony in spring.
It's a messy job uniting, having to deal with redundant frames etc, and something most Beeks don't get round to!
A big colony need food so if the forage isn't there then they will need feeding.
My local bees make the best of our local forage, willow herb & balsam, even if the weather isn't great. Both these flowers seem to produce nectar even under suboptimal conditions.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Hi

Have united three hives recently, inspected two others yesterday, going nowhere in supers, blackberry ( plenty of in parkland ) about halfway through flowering and good urban forage all around..

Could unite a strong 6 frame Polynuc with one of my lacklustre nationals.... Worth it to try get a super or two ?? ( terrible season so far for me anyway ) .

If worthwhile how could I unite a Polynuc with a timber national , it's the best way to combine these non compatible boxes that I cannot figure out

Thanks in anticipation

I recently united a. Polynuc with a national by placing the Polynuc at the bottom, cutting a suitable hole centrally in an18" x 18" sheet of chipboard, placing this on top of the nuc,then a sheet of paper, queen excluder, and the national brood on top. Crown board on and strap together. Simple and keep the adapter board dry for future use.

 

[Finman]

. Both these flowers seem to produce nectar even under suboptimal conditions.

Optimism is more valuable than honey crop on these days. We have rain every second day.

 

[BrianO]

Thanks Guys, all taken on board.

Weather here been terrible for July, today rain and 15 degrees . Sun in short supply and windy most days. Forecast to stay the same for next week.

Depressing !

Though Blackberry is definitely strong, watching bees on it yesterday when eventually the wind died down and sun came out for a short period during that late evening respite we sometimes get.

 

[BrianO]

Question:

In uniting a two coonies, if i take one colony which is sited say 7/8 metres from the main colony I wish to unite to, when the bees get through the paper and unite , will a large proportion of the flying bees then not when leaving the newly united coony, not just fly back to the original site of their hive ?

I ask because told before they would not, but when i look at a previous similar unite , the polynuc i left the queen in with some bees in her original site seems now to have a large compliment of bees, I am assuming because when I unite the colonies , the flying bees from the moved colony exited and flew back to original site ?

Thanks

 

[enrico]

Probably because you gave them somewhere to go. If there was nowhere they would find a close hive hopefully.
E

 

[BrianO]

Ok. Thanks Enrico.

Knew I was to bloody generous ! Have to be more ruthless in my beekeeping endeavours !

That aside , is there another method of uniting two coonies from the same apiary to avoid this happening and have the bees stay in the target colony ?

 

[wessexmario]

Ok. Thanks Enrico.

Knew I was to bloody generous ! Have to be more ruthless in my beekeeping endeavours !

That aside , is there another method of uniting two coonies from the same apiary to avoid this happening and have the bees stay in the target colony ?

If they're not too far apart, then just move one or both a couple of yards closer to each other over a few visits.
Then when they're next to each other, unite.

 

[enrico]

I wouldn't worry too much. A hundred bees is nothing in the run of things.. There will nearly always be a group at the old hive site. Try and unite early evening after flying has stopped.
E

 

[Erichalfbee]

Try and unite early evening after flying has stopped.
E

That's the way to do it.
Prepare both colonies in the day and unite when all flying has stopped.
Better still if it rains the following day

 

[Roola]

Well hold on, Dex. I'm London not Dublin but outside blackberry it's been slim pickings for months. I don't know what the forage of the likes of JBM is but it's all about forage and urban is no bed of roses (and if it is they are multi-layered flowers with no nectar).

agreed, had a nice (yet brief) flow off the blackberry this year and now it is down to not much... probably just enough to keep the colony ticking over. This year has not been a great year in urban setting in my opinion, probably below average.

 

[BrianO]

Thanks Guys, great advice much appreciated.

On the flow , bit of a flow on here , blackberry, opened today to see good bit of fresh nectar yet to be capped , oh for a bit of sun and plus 18 degrees temps and slack winds to let them make the most of it before it goes over !

 

[biglongdarren]

it the same up here Brian, was very slow up until very recently, all we can hope for now is a good few weeks and an even better few months for the heather,

Darren