Hoping someone can help me with a problem I’m m having with my split colony.
I split my hive back in the spring and everything had been going very well, the queen hatched, mated and was building the colony.
A month ago I couldn’t find her, and now there are no eggs or brood and she has disappeared.
My question is given it’s early Sept in southern Ontario Canada , should I buy a new queen or move over a frame with eggs from my original colony (which has had a bumper year), or is it to late to save the hive?
Thx
Probably too late to get a queen properly mated so I think your best options are either to buy a mated queen or combine the hive with a queen right hive and worry about splits in the spring.
I think recombining might be your best bet since it may be hard for the colony to re-establish before it gets cold.
Thanks for the advice.
Any special way to combine the hives, or just shake frames full of bees into the other hive?
I’d recommend the newspaper method - put a sheet or two of newspaper over the queen right hive and then place the other hive on top. Some people make slits in the paper but I haven’t seen the need - they won’t take long to chew through even without help.
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Thanks for the advice, I’m pulling the Flow frames off this weekend and will pop the smaller colony on top with the newspaper method
Derrick