Beekeepers often want to combine two colonies, usually because one is weak or queenless. Because each colony has its own unique odor, combining colonies without an “introductory period” can cause fighting among the workers. Worse, the queen could be killed in the fray.
If the two colonies have a layer of newspaper between them, the bees must first tear through the paper before they interact. This process takes a while, but as soon as the paper gets holes in it, the colony odors begin to mix. By the time the bees can pass through the paper, the odors are substantially combined and fighting is avoided.
This method works surprisingly well and I have even used it in the dead of winter to save a queenless colony. Here are some simple guidelines:
- You should have only one queen. Keep the strongest queen and destroy the other. There is no point in letting them “fight it out” because you could end up losing both.
Note: Instead of killing a queen, you can keep her in a queen cage with some candy and a dozen nurse bees. If for some reason the colony combination goes awry and the queen is killed, you can introduce the remaining queen.
- Lay a sheet or two of newspaper over the top brood box of the bottom colony. One sheet is enough, although I frequently use two, just to slow the process a little.
Note: The bees don’t care whether you use sports, world news, op-eds, or classified. What they don’t like is columns that end with “continued on A6” when there is no A6.
- You can let the paper hang over the edge—or not. In wet areas, the paper may wick some rainwater into the hive although it’s usually not much since newspaper disintegrates quickly.
- Some folks make two or three slits in the newspaper with a blade or sharp knife to get the bees started. Other folks don’t bother with slits.
Note: Making slits is one of many practices that beekeepers spend hours arguing over while the bees just go about their business. Beekeepers really care about slits and bees really do not, so just do what makes you happy.
- Place the second colony on top of the newspaper. The bees should be happily combined in a few days—the larger the colonies the quicker it happens.You can remove the remaining paper if you want, or the bees will remove it by themselves.
Rusty
HoneyBeeSuite.com
What recommendations do you have of getting all of the bees out of the hive body you put on top of the hive you’re combining into? Will they mostly leave on their own? Should I use a fume board, etc?
George,
Once the evenings get cold and the bees start to cluster, they will all come together. Also, if there is room, move all the combs with honey and pollen into the lower box and remove any that aren’t full from the bottom box. Basically, the bees will move themselves.
To help introduce some queenless bees to a queenright hive, I used the newspaper method but I also added about two drops of lemongrass oil to make the entire hive smell the same. I have no idea as to whether it made a difference or not (versus newspaper alone), but there were no issues. The bees I added were pretty mad so I wanted to placate everyone as much as I could.
I have a weak nuc going into winter. I am contemplating about adding a couple frames of bees to the colony using the newspaper trick and then reduce them back down to a 10 frame box using a bee escape board. Then overwinter them on top of a strong colony to provide warmth over the winter. There are 9 frames of drawn/capped comb brood available.
Do you think this might work Rusty? I am wondernig if I should cut my losses and have 6 strong colonies or should I push for that nuc to survive? If I do not overwinter the nuc then I have some capped frames of honey for the spring to get queen rearing off to a start. Personal openion is greatly appreciated.
What to do….
Okay, Jeff, you asked for personal opinion. If it were me I would probably try to bring that nuc through the winter. Your plan is sound and you have a chance of succeeding. On the other hand, common sense tells me to go for the second, more conservative plan, and cut your losses.
At heart, I’m an experimenter and I’ve learned a lot by trying things that shouldn’t work. Sometimes they do, but often they don’t. I find that these little projects take a lot of time and mental effort, but I enjoy the challenge. If I succeed I learn. If I fail I learn. So, in the long run, what appears to be a loss is just an education. And education is never free.
Being a chemist and an engineer I like to experiment. Bringing a nuc through the the winter offers a lot of advantages here on the Island, especially in light of the short season. I’m looking at overwintering the nuc on top of another 20 frame standard colony with a really tight stainless steel mesh. So I think when I go home this evening I will move two frames from a really strong hive on top of the nuc and preform the newspaper trick. Then on Sunday I will remove the newspaper. The question is should I leave the nuc in a standard deep box or reduce down to 5 frame before winter. The 10 deep has most of the frames drawn out with honey and some brood so there would be ample food.
If it fails the strong colonies can clean up those frames in the spring.
Thanks Rusty
I would leave it in the 10-frame.
I checked today, it was 21°C. There was 4 frames covered pretty good with bees. So I placed a sheet of newspaper with two frames of bees from another colony. I know the two frames added above the 10 frames are queenless as I found the queen and placed her back in the box from the original hive on the frame next to where these frames came from. So by Sunday those bees should be acclimatized. Also there was a small amount of capped brood on one of the two frames to keep the nurse bees where they need to be.
So Sunday I will check to see if they have merged and reduce everything back to one box. Later in the fall after I feed the nuc up good I will place that on top of the 20 frame box using the duel-sided screened inner cover I made up. I’m hoping the heat from the bottom bees will support those top bees.
Also at what point will bees stop drawing comb, assuming carbohydrates are still available? is it temperature dependent or is it season dependent? I know there are still some bees to emerge yet.
My colonies did well. I had one colony from last year. Two splits plus original from last year and two nucs. Then last year’s colony swarmed and I caught it. Then the virgin left and the swarm didn’t make it. So I didn’t get a new mated queen until 10 days ago so the other colonies were supporting the queenless and nuc for a while until new queens arrived. So at the end of the season each colony has 19 frames drawn plus 10 in the nuc at present. That is why I’m asking if I feed some more is there any chance they will draw the last frame for each box.
Thanks Rusty. You are helping me a lot.
Also I pulled 11 frames of capped honey from the swarm, with another 8 frames partially drawn or open from last year’s queen that swarmed. So I still have that left on and am feeding sugar syrup so I can add that to the 10 frame box if I want. Many options. Many options.
I’ve been told that drawing of combs is related to availability of nectar and day length. I’m sure temperature is a factor as well. Heavy syrup resembles honey more than it resembles nectar. So feeding in the spring induces comb building more than feeding in the fall because the formulations are different.
I suspect you may have some comb building in the next few weeks but not much. I doubt they will draw out a whole frame. Be sure to let me know because now I’m curious.
Update. I pulled off the top hive feeder today to install a bee escape. In the partially drawn honey super where two frames were removed and a void space present there was drawn comb roughly 3″ by 5″ attached to the brood frames below. That was over the last 3.5 days. So as you mentioned, as along as nectar is available they will draw comb. Current daytime temperature is in the high 60′s to low 70′s cooling to high 40′s to low 50′s at night.
I plan to move the top hive feeder to a colony I removed two frames from in hope they will draw a little more comb and fill a bit of it up. I know a colony can get by the winter here with 18 frames as I discovered last year as there were only 17 frames drawn on the colony last year and not a lot of stores. The honey board was needed last year but I do not think this will be an issue this year. I only took those frames for the nuc.
Once again thanks for the feedback Rusty. It’s greatly appreciated.
I captured a small swarm earlier today. Should I combine it with another hive that contains a swarm capture from a few weeks ago or should I insert it into a new hive?
Jeremy,
You can do either. But if you decide to combine them, make sure to remove one of the queens. If you put the two queens together they could possibly kill each other so you may end up with no queen. Also, combine slowly, using newspaper works well.
Can I keep the captured swarm in a nuc box for a few days? If so, how long?
You can keep a captured swarm in a nuc box for weeks. But once it fills up the box, it will want to swarm again.