G'day from Oz again
I have never been particularly interested in swarms although this was the way I got into beekeeping 15 years ago.
However the small hive beetle knocked my 2 hives over late last year and I was left beeless for some months.
Eventually I caught a swarm and hived it into a full depth nuc box. To get a second hive I bought a nuc the other week and also put them into a nuc box but with a half height super on top.
Today I caught another swarm about the size of the first one and for the moment I have housed them in a half height nuc box. They seem to be quite happy in there at the moment but I thought I would combine the 2 swarms to give them a bit more space and to make a stronger nuc coming into what you guys call the fall (autumn in our speak)
The queen in the first swarm is going OK, laying and now the brood is hatching whereas the swarm that I collected today is pretty late in the season and it will be at least 3-4 weeks before it is hatching new bees.. well into the fall and maybe too late to build up for the cooler months.. it never gets below 45F here and there is winter blossom in the city where I live but it is diminished from spring and summer hence my thoughts to combine.
The questions are
1/ I thought it would be wise to allow the new swarm to settle in for a day or so before I attempt to combine. Is this good practice?
2/ I also thought I would use the paper method of combining (placing a sheet of paper between the 2 boxes) Should I provide an entry hole for the new swarm so that they can go about their business while the paper is in place or should they be confined to their own box for the time they are combining?
3/ What should I do with the queen that came with the second swarm?
Thanks for your thoughts
Mike
Topic: Combining swarms (Read 1311 times)