Combining bees with other bees in cold temperatures?

[GDRankin]

First off . . . The temps have been down in the 40s here the last several days and even though it's been misting rain for most of yesterday and today, today is the first day my bees have been moving in almost a week.

Secondly, I do removals, but this is my first year doing so and haven't run into this situation before.

I received a call last night from a lady asking me if I'd come get some bees that are in a hollow limb which was cut from a tree a couple of days ago. Evidently the tree guys were able to take out a tree and removed the hollow bee filled limb by "spraying salty water" on them, or so she claimed she thought the guy said. (likely a language barrier - I think he likely said "soapy water", but with a Spanish accent may have sounded to her like "salty water")

At any rate, she now has a pile of brush on the curb which is to be picked up by the city tomorrow and thought it'd better to have someone like me remove the limb and bees vs having the city crew get stung and likely leave her brush pile there in front of her house.

Since the weather folks are saying the temps are expected to get lower again tonight and stay that way for a few more days, and the lady says there's not a whole lot of bees left, I'm a little concerned about their survival when I get them back to my place.

It's less than a half hour away, or I may not even mess with them, but hey . . . she an elderly lady and called looking for help, so I'm headed that way now.
I'm wondering what's the best method for keeping these bees healthy and if I should consider combining them with one of my hives under the current conditions?

I have a couple of smaller colonies that could be candidates for adding these onto. Maybe I should just keep them in a box and indoors for a couple of days until it warms up then use the newspaper method?
Or should I use the "air freshener" method and just add them to a box now? Which don't seem like the best idea, but thought I'd ask.
I'm not real crazy about the idea of opening one of my boxes in this cold weather, but I do have a couple with top feeder boxes in place with inner covers over a strong hive. So that may be the way to go?

Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks,
GD

[iddee]

I would pick them up just for the PR. Then leave them in the warmest place I could until it warms up. In S.A., that shouldn't be long. Assess what you have and make a decision then.

PS. Keep the limb in as close to it's original orientation as possible, and feed, if possible without causing robbing.

[GDRankin]

That's basically what I did Iddee. Since this didn't involve anything more than driving by and loading up a section of a log in a tub, I didn't charge the lady anything. When she called, she was more interested in saving what was left of the bees than anything, I figured it was the least I could do.

We've had unseasonably cold weather here the last week and it's not expected to get much better for a few more days. So I loaded the little log into a storage bin and brought it home and put it in my barn out of the wind and rain. We're down in the 30s tonight and won't get above the mid 50s until Wednesday afternoon, so they should be find where they are until then.

As you can see in the pics, there's not a whole heck of a lot of bees, so it's not like it will make or break a hive if I add them to it in a few days I don't suppose.
 

[derekm]

Cover the cut ends with a sheet of plastic then 3" of styrofoam taped sealed to plastic on all edges, leave an entrance at the BOTTOM ONLY.

[davmal]

Can you explain the "air freshener" method of adding bees to a colony? I have always wondered what the best way is to add bees to another hive without causing a big fight with lots of bees being killed.

[jayj200]

1 did you find the queen?
if you did give them a nuc
if not add them to a hive by placing them directly in front of it

[GDRankin]

Cover the cut ends with a sheet of plastic then 3" of styrofoam taped sealed to plastic on all edges, leave an entrance at the BOTTOM ONLY.

There is an entire side exposed as well as the top and bottom where the saw cuts were made. I ended up screening off the unnatural open areas with aluminum window screen and left only the knot hole open as an entrance, then placed the log back in the plastic storage bin - upright in the correct orientation - the put the bin on one end and replaced the lid, leaving only a small crack open for the bees to enter and exit the box. (see pics below) The temps will not get out if the 50s today, but the sun is shining full on and there is a lot of activity with most all the hives this afternoon.

1 did you find the queen?
if you did give them a nuc
if not add them to a hive by placing them directly in front of it

Since it's still pretty cool out and they seemed to be wanting to stay in a cluster, I didn't bother seeking out a queen today. I have my doubts that she survived the tree cutting and relocating of the limbs and logs, but we shall see in a few days when it warms back up a bit more.

Can you explain the "air freshener" method of adding bees to a colony? I have always wondered what the best way is to add bees to another hive without causing a big fight with lots of bees being killed.

A while back I was talking to an elder beek about a hot tempered hive that had rejected two prior attempts to requeen and one of the things he suggested to try to get them to make their own queen by placing a frame with open brood and eggs with nurse bees from another hive. I asked about them wanting to fight and he said to use some air freshener. I asked how that works and he said to spray a little down in the hive before putting the frame in and also spray a little on the frame, to basically mask the smells. He described it somewhat the same as putting a little smoke on a hive.

I didn't have any air freshener handy at the time, but I did have another queen in a cage, so I ended up trying one more attempt the next day. They accepted her - third times a charm I reckon. So I never actually used the air freshener method.

I have used the newspaper method successfully a few times when combining small colonies together. Take a single sheet of news paper and place it over the top of hive A with a couple of small slits in it to give the bees a head start making an opening. Then place hive B over the newspaper and cover as normal. It takes them a day or two to chew through the paper, but by the time they do, they are acclimated to the scent of each other and don't have any problems. At least that's been my experience. All seems fine when I check on them a couple of days later.

Here's the little log bee pics: