REGARDING           RE>combining hives
 
Duane Bajema wrote:
>Last week, I had a hive tip over due to strong wind.  I lost some
bees and now the hive is is occupied by a relatively small bee
population.  I want to join the small population with an existing
strong hive since the small colony would have a difficult time
surviving the winter.
 
My question is, how do I proceed here in Northwest Iowa where the
temperatures are already below freezing?  Will the two queens do
battle till one survives or do I run the danger of losing both
queens if I join the colonies?
 
I have joined a queenless colony with a queenright colony many times
using the newspaper method, but I have never joined two queenright
colonies at this late time of the year.
 
Suggestions?<
 
This is certainly a difficult time of the year to have to deal with such a
problem.  The results of doing nothing would, as you surmise, probably lead to
the winter kill of the weak colony.  In this light, I would think that you
would join these colonies at this time of the year without using newspaper.
With temperatures as cold as they are getting now in the midwest US,  I doubt
that there would be any intra-hive battles between the workers.  The queens
would probably be OK too, for the most part.  If they should happen to come
upon each other they might fight, but that's a chance you will have to take.
The alternative would be to open a hive in the cold to go looking for the
queen when the colony would probably be in winter cluster!  Hive combining
might work or might not, but leaving it alone surely won't work at all.
 
Ted Fischer
Dexter, MI USA