when to unite two colonies

[TonyPayne]

Hi all,

I have collected two swarms this year and they are both doing okay. One has built up to almost normal size and one is still quite young and drawing comb with no brood yet (been there about a week and a half and only 4 off 14x12 frames). Reading the books it says that the best time to unite them would be late in the season but I really want to do it now. What are the consequences of doing so and when would the earliest recommended time?

On the same note, most books recommend killing one of the queens but a few say that you can let them fight it out themselves. Is it really such a bad idea to leave it to nature as I'm not keen on doing it myself?

 

[Dadnlad]

If you unite a prime with a caste, and the unproven virgin kills the laying queen, then turns out to be badly mated or drone layer, you have a large colony with a useless queen

By allowing the virgin to mate and prove herself you can then judge which is the better queen to head your colony

It is not necessary to cull either of them by squishing or fighting. You can keep one back in a polynuc to overwinter and replace any winter losses

Bear in mind that prime swarms often supercede later in the year. If that fails (for whatever reason) you might be in need of a handy replacement

 

[enrico]

That is the way to go. A polynuc with the iffy queen and a frame or two of bees. Don't let them starve, on their old site. The rest get combined on the other site with the new bees going over the paper or they will just fly back to the poly nuc. That way you have the best of both worlds, you strengthen you good hive and have a small backup that may or may not survive the winter in a polynuc. They may surprise you and build up really quickly. If you really don't want a polynuc with bees in then just combine them whenever you want to but I would never leave queens to fight it out. I pick the best and quietest, improves my stock.
I don't like to take chances if I can avoid it
E