Author Topic: update on my laying worker hive (Read 7736 times)

newguy · « **on:** May 27, 2006, 07:07:27 am »

i picked up a nuc yesterday and did my best.
on the commercial beekeepers (the guy i got the nuc from, a pretty large operation) recomendation i dumped the laying worker hive out and brushed all the bees off on the ground about 70 yrds away. then i put the empty hive back in its place and put a peice of newspaper on top, and an empty deep with a couple of holes cut in for a top entrance on that. i moved the nuc frames into the top deep and closed it up. it was mayhem out there for a while but seemed to calm down petty quick. the guy i got them from was very confident that this would work, he said this is what he does with a laying worker hive except he doesnt dump them out first, he just comdines them and it works great.?? i was hoping i could lose a laying worker or two by dumping them out first, and maybe cause enough confusion to make them accept the nuc a little easier. we'll see! i will update on sunday or monday.

Michael Bush · « **Reply #1 on:** May 27, 2006, 11:24:47 am »

>i was hoping i could lose a laying worker or two by dumping them out first

You won't.

>, and maybe cause enough confusion to make them accept the nuc a little easier.

It will

TwT · « **Reply #2 on:** May 27, 2006, 12:35:44 pm »

Quote from: newguy

i picked up a nuc yesterday and did my best.
on the commercial beekeepers (the guy i got the nuc from, a pretty large operation) recomendation i dumped the laying worker hive out and brushed all the bees off on the ground about 70 yrds away. then i put the empty hive back in its place and put a peice of newspaper on top, and an empty deep with a couple of holes cut in for a top entrance on that. i moved the nuc frames into the top deep and closed it up. it was mayhem out there for a while but seemed to calm down petty quick. the guy i got them from was very confident that this would work,

why did he tell you to do it the above way and not the way he does it??

Quote from: newguy

he said this is what he does with a laying worker hive except he doesnt dump them out first, he just comdines them and it works great.??

now this is what I would like to hear more about, so if I have a laying worker hive, I could get a queen rite hive and combine the 2 with the newspaper method and they want kill my queen and what will happen to the laying worker or workers, will they just co-exists with the queen??? need more detailed info please!!!

Brian D. Bray · « **Reply #3 on:** May 27, 2006, 04:04:49 pm »

The beekeeper was obviously giving the newguy advice on the accepted method of doing a laying worker replacement. Mentioning the way he does it gives the newguy 2 options. I see nothing wrong with that scenario.

fcderosa · « **Reply #4 on:** May 27, 2006, 04:30:32 pm »

I just had the same problem. I split a strong hive and combined(newspaper technique) the the laying worker hive with the half hive with the queen. Problem seems to have been solved. The half split without the queen started making queen cells within three days, at which time I introduced a new queen. They accepted her. :lol:

newguy · « **Reply #5 on:** May 27, 2006, 04:32:24 pm »

i had to dump them because i only had a medium hive body and the nuc was five deeps. i had to get the laying worker hive to go into the medium and that freed up a deep for me put on top for the five nuc frames. he said that its not necessary to dump them because they readily accept the nuc and queen.

Brian D. Bray · « **Reply #6 on:** May 27, 2006, 04:50:02 pm »

Odd or varied sizes create their own problems, which is why I use the same size box and frames through out. Even my nuc boxes have been cut down to medium depth. Partly because of situations like this but mostly deeps are very difficult to handle from a wheelchair. Using a shallower depth now will save you a ton back problems later.
The solitary exception is a deep nuc I mounted to a migratory top that I use for feeding and introducing packages.

Michael Bush · « **Reply #7 on:** May 27, 2006, 11:07:47 pm »

I've done combines with laying workers and had it work. I've done them and had the laying worker bees kill the queen. You take your chances. It works more than half the time.

newguy · « **Reply #8 on:** May 28, 2006, 02:44:24 pm »

update: both colonies have accepted each other, they chewed through the newspaper and all moved into the deep. next week i will assess layer status.

Scott Derrick · « **Reply #9 on:** May 28, 2006, 10:56:14 pm »

I was wondering about this sort of method the other day when I had the problem that I had with my laying worker hive. I decided if they didn't accept the queen that I was going to combine the hive with another and hope for the best. I need to check on the new queen tomorrow to see if they accepted her.

Scott

Michael Bush · « **Reply #10 on:** May 29, 2006, 10:13:45 am »

To me it's just not worth risking the healthy hive by combining with a laying worker hive. It may work, but then again, it may not.

newguy · « **Reply #11 on:** May 29, 2006, 09:35:19 pm »

you're probably right micheal but im just one of those stubborn dip
@$#%! that has to learn for themselves. hopefully everything works out in my favor. if not, i guess ill start over and next time ill know just what to do(or rather, ill know what not to do) if something goes wrong. hopefully its a long time before i get another laying worker.

TwT · « **Reply #12 on:** May 29, 2006, 10:31:09 pm »

I will try MB's method but I like to shake mine out because it worked for me when I tried the shaking method, it might be like talked about alot of things with bee's, might work different at different times of the year.....

newguy · « **Reply #13 on:** May 29, 2006, 10:42:05 pm »

TwT
when you say you will try micheal bush's method what do you mean? in his last post he said "its just not worth risking the healthy hive by combining with a laying worker hive." is that what your talking about or does he mention another method?

TwT · « **Reply #14 on:** May 29, 2006, 11:12:36 pm »

Quote from: newguy

TwT
when you say you will try micheal bush's method what do you mean? in his last post he said "its just not worth risking the healthy hive by combining with a laying worker hive." is that what your talking about or does he mention another method?

I am a firm believer that different things work at different times of the year, I have seen this many times especially raising queens, the only time I had a laying worker was with a nuc, I took it about 100 feet away and shook it out then put it were it was and put a frame of brood with the nurse bee's still on it ( made sure the queen wasn't there) and the foragers from that nuc returned, after a month I had a laying queen from the frame of brood I put in the hive after shaking all the bee's from it, but I believe at different time's MB's method of combining will work better but I have never tried it but I will at least one time just to see,,, he's a old pro and I want to learn as much as I can, if I ever was to learn what MB,FINSKY,GOLFSYCHO,ROBO, (this is a few, cant name them all)and a few more on this site I know I would be the smartest beekeeper ever known,,, but Im getting there and not saying I want get there but the odds are against me :D

....

newguy · « **Reply #15 on:** May 30, 2006, 09:57:27 pm »

TwT

again, what is "MB's method of combining"?

Brian D. Bray · « **Reply #16 on:** May 31, 2006, 03:18:35 am »

newguy,

go to http://www.bushfarms.com and look it up.

Michael Bush · « **Reply #17 on:** May 31, 2006, 08:27:50 am »

I'm not sure what they mean either. My method of "combining" a laying worker hive is to move all the equipment, shake them out on the ground, put the equipment on the other hives and walk away.

TwT · « **Reply #18 on:** May 31, 2006, 11:15:17 am »

aw ok, I was under the impression that mb was saying just combine QUEEN RITE HIVE WITH THE LAYING WORKER HIVE and the queen rite hive would fix the laying worker hive by doing this combine and not shaking any bee's out.... I still like the way it worked for me by shaking out and returning the hive to the original location and adding a frame of brood.... I just misunderstood what he was saying... my fault...

newguy · « **Reply #19 on:** May 31, 2006, 01:19:31 pm »

TwT
that is what i suspected, that you just got confused as to who said what. i am the one who used that method (not my invention) and i still will not know if it worked untill this fri or sat when i peek in. my fingers are crossed. i will say though, its cool to see such activity as compared to last week when the hive had half the population.