Mike,
 
Even if the uniting procedure has triggered an attack response from the
hives, they may still be able to pick up the pieces.  It would be
interesting to know however why the uniting was not peacefully accomplished
and you have not given enough detail for that.
Did you carry out the action when the bees were flying or at dusk?
 Were both hives queenright?
Did you smoke lightly or heavily?
Did you have to move one hive to another site in the same apiary?
Are you mixing black bees with other types (the black bees are said to have
a greater ability to distinguish their own queen)?
Did you open the hive after uniting them or leave for at least 7 days to settle?
Did you punch airholes through the newspaper to let hive odour mingle?
Was the newspaper thick enough to allow at least 24 hours before break-through?
 
Above all, do not give up on the uniting procedure.  It is too useful a tool
for strengthening weak hives and solving problems to abandon.  Beekeeping is
the art of working with the instinctive behaviour evolved by bees.  Bees
working in accordance with their instincts are easy to manage but they
cannot be forced to go against their own pattern without pain.
 
If you can list the steps and the bees response, experienced beekeepers may
be able to pinpoint where the bees detected everything was not as it should be.
 
I do not know your climate well enough to judge whether feeding would do
more good than harm.
 
Betty McAdam
 
 
>First of all, many thanks for reponding to my request for advice,
>I mulled it over and plucked up enough courage to have a go last
>Saturday - here's an update from Monday night's inspection.
>
>CARNAGE! - Absolute carnage, there must be at least one or two
>thousand dead bees lying on the ground in front of the hive along
>with the shredded newspaper.  A carpet 10" by 14" of little bodies,
>all with their tounges extended, stropping in submission? or a
>response to being stung to death?  What a sad sight - what did I
>do wrong?
>
>At it seems that I have just managed to wipe out half the entire
>population of one of my colonies, is there anything I can do to
>redress the loss?  How about feeding heavily to stimulate the
>queen to lay additional eggs as we still have 2 or 3 more weeks
>to go before the first frosts begin to bite.
>
>Cheers, Mike Pheysey.
>Oldbury-on-Severn, Bristol, UK
>(100 miles west of London)
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