Troy,

Yes they can.  I'm sure you'll get a varity of responses on how to combine
two hives, but as you used the original queen from hive #1 to capture the
queenless swarm and create hive #2, I would suggest the "newspaper method".
It has worked well for me many times.

Remove the cover off hive body #1 (now queenless) and lay a sheet of
newspaper over it.  Make a few small slits with the sharp end of your hive
tool in the newspaper between a couple frames that are covered, and place
the second hive body on top.  Put on your inner and outer covers and you're
done.

I think your bees will take to each other fairly quickly.  Usually, by the
next day the bees have merged and you can see them carrying bits and pieces
of newspaper out the entrance.  The bees are one with one queen, and you'll
have a stronger hive in the end.  The newspaper seems to slow the merging
down until the queen scent infiltrates both hive bodies of bees, preventing
most all of the fighting.

BTW, since you didn't leave your email address, would you email me?  The
reason is that I got my start in beekeeping in Midland back in '89.  I
bought my first hive (Buckfasts) from J.C. Brittingham, who was president of
PBBA at the time (which we joined).  I see Dean (his wife) is president now.
Is J.C. doing well?  How about the McIlroy's?  Jim gave me a swarm that
year, and together with a package of Starlines I hived, I had three colonies
that year and remained "hooked" for life.  We still think about them
often...

--David Scribner <[log in to unmask]> - Ballwin, MO, USA
  Niche on the Net! - <www.bigfoot.com/~dscribner>



>I took a bee hive out of a building last week ,put them in a brood box with
>3 frames of brood .the next evening they were back on the building in
>several swarms I determined that I destroyed the queen so I took another
>queen from another hive packed her into a cage and taped her to a wall
>under the larger swarm and finally got them all into the box happy.Now my
>question, can this old hive that the queen came from and the new hive that
>I caught with the old hives queen be combined without disrupting the scent?
>                                 thanks for any thoughts on scents.
>                                       Boy What A Mess, Troy C
>                                      Permian Basin Beekeepers
>