Hi. I'm in northern California and have 4 hives in my apiary. This year, I used a swarm box for the first time and collected a swarm about 2 months ago. I planned to add the swarm to one of my other colonies, however, before I was able to do this, the hive in the swarm box got established and is now flourishing with frames of brood and honey. One of my other colonies is a bit weaker than the other three, so I'm thinking of using this method (shown in the video), in June/July, to merge the colonies. Part of this is to help the weaker colony, but I'm also concerned that the swarm box will fill up and become honey bound creating other problems. Do you think that would be a good approach even though were still in late spring, early summer?
Why not use two woodbound queen excluders between the two blue chamber boxes? Maybe both Queens will survive, and the hive can easily be split in the spring.
I guess in Canada winters are very harsh that a small colony just simply has little chance to make it. If you want to boost the chance of wintering survival of a smaller hive, perhaps a double screen board is the answer. Although I know nothing about beekeeping in the north. I am in California where a hive with just a couple of frames will go through winter fine by themselves lol.
Hi Blackberry. I don't believe it would work in our conditions. The queens don't lay eggs this time of year so there is no advantage in having two. Only one queen would survive anyway. It is best if they join together as one colony and cluster through the cold months.
if the types of bees that exist in Indonesia, it is difficult to put together. especially the type of apis cerana... if you may know what type of bee is it?
You could possibly rig one by cutting out some of the wires (I'll call them) or cut them all out to have just the frame. Of course it depends on how many hives you have as you wouldn't want to do this to many. Perhaps making one just to hold it down and then slide it out once you have the edge of the top box on the news paper.
Do you have any math comparison results on when beekeepers don't unite colonies but on survival rates of where they are stacked next to each other for shared heat? It would be interesting to hear numbers on this comparing both survival rates and how many are stacked together, be it 2, 3, 4, etc.
I think the purpose is to merge the colonies to increase the overall population of one colony. One strong colony going into winter would be better than two dead outs in the springtime.
HI Noah I don't have any good data on what you are asking. Certainly there can be some advantages of keeping hives close together sharing heat. A good example of that is our double nucleus colonies. We have several videos on that method. I still have some weaker hives to deal with. You have given me the thought of putting these in double nucleus colonies. Thanks!
@@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre I look forward to seeing the video. I am trying to maximize the equipment I can get out of a sheet of plywood. You had mentioned you get extra out of a sheet of plywood by cutting it a little short in the front I can only get 10 bottoms out of a sheet. So looking forward to see how many you get per sheet and what you do with waste.
