Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Two Bees on September 05, 2010, 08:31:45 pm
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I combined a very weak hive (less than one deep) with one of my strongest hives on Friday. I separated the hives with two sheets of newspaper (Gardening Section, I think) and put 5-6 slits in the newspaper.
I don't think the combination went very well though.........there was a PILE of dead bees in front of the hive the next day! :'(
Thoughts on what may have happened?
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Define a pile...hundreds? Thousands? It could have gotten hot and killed some of the bees off and that is what you saw. If it is a good bit of bees...then it is possible there was a fight inside the hive. If that is the case, I'd check to see if the queen wasn't killed. I've done a bunch of combines using this method, even using one sheet of newspaper, I never saw evidence of a war.
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Did you leave a top entrance too?
Scott
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were there queens in both hives?
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I had a similar experience in Spring - combined a weak hive with strong. I was fairly sure weak hive had no queen. The next day bees were being thrown out the front of the hive. Saw some still wrestling with each other. I thought maybe one sheet of newspaper wasn't enough and they didn't have time to adapt to each others smell before they combined. Maybe 5 or 6 slits in the paper was overdoing it? I'm about to combine two hives that were from a swarm and a cutout this summer. They both requeened, but when I checked them today one had apparently lost it's queen and is now very small. I'm going to make sure the top hive has a top entrance - I think that might also been part of the reason my Spring combine failed also.
JC
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you must have the top entrance. i do combinations now with a window screen. i like it better than the newspaper. the bees are kept apart, but the smells mix. in a couple of days i pull the screen and all is well. it's also insurance if you are not very sure that one hive is queenless. it gives you a last chance to check for the queen.
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I use 1 sheet and poke 1 hole with my hive tool. I may or may not leave a top entrance. If I do, it's when it is hot and I do so for ventilation.
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I removed the queen before I combined. Not hard to find her since I only had 2-3 frames to look through. Put her in a jar.
No top entrance; just the newspaper. Nothing that I have read about newspaper combining mentioned a top entrance. Thought about using a double screen board but decided against it.
Pile = several hundred.......maybe a thousand. Keeping a watch on what I see in front of my hives is something that I always check. You can get an idea as to what's going on inside based upon what they are throwing away!
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I have always combined with a single sheet of newspaper. I like to spray both sides with sugar water and I make several slits.
I smoke both colonies before combining.
99% go smoothly.
...JP
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I agree I'd smoke them both and make a small slit in the newspaper (not a large slit) and I'd make sure both halves have an entrance for ventilation. Sometimes a newspaper combine does go bad and they fight, but all of these will help.