Sweetaz 8 Posted November 20 I have a queenless hive that swarmed in October. It has now been four weeks and they still appear to be queenless. A split of a different hive I have made has produced a new queen and equally from that original swarm they swarmed a second time with a virgin. This Virgin swarm is also now laying. This leads me to believe that the swarmed hive has failed to produce a queen despite two cells being left, as its now been 30 days. I plan now to recombine the virgin swarm (now laying queen) with the larger queenless hive. The swarm is going well in 3/4 boxes with now 5 frames of Brood and honey stores. I want to reduce my hive numbers and that is why I want to combine over giving a frame of eggs. I know that it isn't normal to combine via the newspaper method (with a QE) with the QR hive on top however the swarm hive is in the wrong location and the Queenless hive is in the right location. Equally the population of the QR swarm is less than that of the queenless hive. Can anyone see something blaringly wrong with this plan? I was planning to do this tomorrow evening once all the field bees are inside. I dont read much about the time of day to do the combination, am I actually better to just combine and all the field bees will beg there way into one of the hives nearby? Thanks Scott Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M4tt 4833 Posted November 20 9 hours ago, Sweetaz said: I know that it isn't normal to combine via the newspaper method (with a QE) with the QR hive on top Who told you that ? It is a good plan, go for it . 😊 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trevor Gillbanks 6224 Posted November 20 When you do the newspaper joint, make sure you put a queen excluder on. Just in case there is a virgin in the lower box. I work my bees during the day. Not keen on an evening operation. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sweetaz 8 Posted November 20 38 minutes ago, M4tt said: Who told you that ? Haha true no one in particular, just reading explanations of the newspaper method. Glad to here I am on the right track. 40 minutes ago, Trevor Gillbanks said: When you do the newspaper joint, make sure you put a queen excluder on. Just in case there is a virgin in the lower box. I work my bees during the day. Not keen on an evening operation. Thanks Trev I will do it this afternoon then as agreed not great in the dark 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
