Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: GSF on July 06, 2013, 07:52:05 pm
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Please allow me to advertise my ignorance..,
What the heck is it? I could only think that one may put two different weak colonies in two different supers separated only by a newspaper. It's either chewed through or yanked out later by the bee keeper. Am I close?
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Please allow me to advertise my ignorance..,
What the heck is it? I could only think that one may put two different weak colonies in two different supers separated only by a newspaper. It's either chewed through or yanked out later by the bee keeper. Am I close?
Yep! that's it! It doesn't necessarily have to be two weak hives, It can be combining a weak with a strong hive. Just as long as there is only one queen.
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Please allow me to advertise my ignorance..,
What the heck is it? I could only think that one may put two different weak colonies in two different supers separated only by a newspaper. It's either chewed through or yanked out later by the bee keeper. Am I close?
That's pretty much how it works, no need for the beek to remove, they will chew through it and carry it out the hive within a couple of days.
There are diffenent theories....some use multiple pages, some spray it down with sugar water, etc. etc.
I've done a few, I use just a single sheet of dry newspaper with a few slits made with a razor knife or hive tool. I've always cracked the top on the top box to give the bees in the top box a way to battle the heat until the colonies are joined....all have worked fine.
It's amazing to observe the piles of shreaded newspaper accumulate outside the entrance to the hive.
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Thanks yall
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Although its probably better if you pinch the worst queen but if you can't find her you can still combine. There will only be one when it's over.
I could be wrong, I often am. But I believe the bees will usually chose the right queen.
Recently I had a drone laying queen that I couldn't find. The girls were in a snot. I didn't have any newspaper with me so I put one box on one hive and the other box on a different hive.
Next morning there were a few dead bees on the landing boards, not many. A week later both hives were queen right. I guess they made the right choice.