How To Combine Two Bee Colonies Into One

[@5hivesohio]

Thanks Jason, I’m heading out this morning to figure out if I’m gonna combine any of my weaker hives before winter. Timely information! 😉

[@JCsBees]

Good luck!

[@davidchesbro4654]

My ideal bee hive is the two bottom boxes for brood then three boxes for framed honey and then two supers for comb honey

[@CastleHives]

Thanks so much for the shout out Jason, I really appreciate it. Enjoyed the video. This is definitely the time of year to combine and get the girls set for the winter. . And, hahaha, look at Ladybug looking at you towards the end.

[@JCsBees]

No problem! I knew when I seen your video I needed to mention it since I don't have colonies to actually combine right now. Ladybug is gets away with a lot due to the looks she give me. lol

[@anthonytroia1]

I like your videos. Streamline and informative. Thanks

[@JCsBees]

Glad you like them!

[@jackmckee8491]

I am new to your channel I appreciate the work that you do and the videos you share I am a subscriber from dirt rooster and he said you needed some help since somebody stole your account. I will certainly help out as much as I possibly can.

[@anepictree]

great thanks Jason

[@GrillSergeant]

Brian from Castle Hives rocks! Great video! 🍻

[@JCsBees]

Yes, Brain has a great channel. When I seen his combining video I knew I had to mention it.

[@strugglingbeekeepermarkcot9642]

Great information thanks for sharing I appreciate it.

[@JCsBees]

Thanks for watching!

[@TennesseeMountainBees]

Another awesome video Jason! Thank you!

[@JCsBees]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@ME_MeAndMyBees]

Wow Ladybird 🐞... You won that Circuit Race ! 😎 Howdy JC too. 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

[@JCsBees]

She can be fast when she wants to be, it just doesn't happen too often. lol Hello back at ya!

[@russellkoopman3004]

Sure glad to see ladybug enjoying the fall weather. Nice pup there. Two points I differ with you. First doing a paper combine with a strong hive, mine will chew through the paper overnight so after 12 hours there is a big wad of fine paper shreds sitting outside the hive entrance. I didn't even make any slits in the newspaper. I separated the hive boxes and all the newspaper was gone. Now I use 2 sheets if the hives are strong. Second point is that the bees memory is longer than 5 days for sure. I moved a hive 4 miles away and brought it back 5 days later and the foragers were still going to their old home. Maybe 10 days to 2 weeks would suffice since most of the foragers would be dead by then. Just my observations here in MN.

[@JCsBees]

I like your suggestion of doubling up on the newspaper but I haven't ever needed it this time of year. It's my experience that the bees in the stronger colony have no reason to move up to paper. It's not like they have supers on or anything. Some will chew at paper but not like they would mid to late summer. Temps are cooling off big time now. That said, doubling the paper will not hurt anything. Hmmmm.,..... Were the foragers still going to old location or did you move the hive after they were already out flying and they returned after hive was gone? Some people say bees can only fly 3 miles so I am curious how they flew 4 miles away? Then again I have heard others says bees can fly 5 miles, so who really knows. lol Thanks for sharing your input, Russell!

[@russellkoopman3004]

@@JCsBees On the second point, I moved them the home location to a offsite 4 miles away. 5 days later I brought them back to the home site but on a different spot and they kept going to their old spot that they were at 5 days earlier. I had used a double screen dividing board and the colony was going out the back side of the hive it was on top of. So 5 days was not enough time for them to forget where they had been.

[@JCsBees]

Oh now I understand. Yeah, now that I think about it I've done the samething. I wonder if 10 days is long enough?

[@russellkoopman3004]

@@JCsBees That is what I'm thinking also. Maybe even 2 weeks if you have the time. I had to hurry because they were getting packed and needed expansion. I asked a bee group on Facebook (Fred Dunn's group) and no one had an idea how long to wait. Some said just put some bushes in front of the hive but I've seen to many lost bees using that method.

[@RandomEveryday_Vids]

Just wondering what happens if you don’t remove either of the queens?

[@quees1521]

Ladybuy? Oops.😁 Great video as always. Thank you.

[@JCsBees]

Ladybug is always into something around here. I love editing my videos and learning what she was doing when I was recording. Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@ME_MeAndMyBees]

Is Lady 'Buy' (typo in beginning) Footage... A "JC" payment Plan, more affordable than BitCoin ! 🤣 Good Girl Ladybird 🐞 (UK) Happy Beekeeping 2021 ! 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

[@russellkoopman3004]

I planted a 50 ft by 4 foot patch of asters and goldenrod this spring for the bees. The New England Asters are just crazy with bees. I'm going to plant more this spring. The other asters were okay but not anywhere as popular.

[@JCsBees]

That's awesome! The New England Aster is one of my favorite too, love the colors.

[@beesandtractors]

Great video Jason. I need some of what ladybug had for breakfast! 😂

[@JCsBees]

Thanks! You and me both!

[@martinchanel4084]

Nice vidio ,always success and thank you for sharing

[@JCsBees]

So nice of you

[@randysturgeon9538]

I like your farm i like bee kipping

[@BlaineNay]

I use a double-screen (Snelgtove) board to merge colonies. Insert it between the two colonies, then remove after a couple of days.

[@JCsBees]

That's another option for sure! Thanks for sharing!

[@shegocrazy]

So how do you capture all the bees from the hive that was going on top? There must be many bees out foraging that weren't in the boxes when you move them across.

[@JCsBees]

The bees out in the fields working will noticed the smell coming from the hive entrance and know where to go. To help out usually there is some bees at the entrance fanning their wings to spread the hive smell to the foragers.

[@mustafababdullah2485]

Omg Jason doesn't sleep 😃 the golden rod is just starting to turn yellow

[@waynebecker314]

I had my hive nocked over 2 days ago put it back together and heard the queen piping and the workers are bringing pollen in once again

[@sigma_kappa]

Spray vinegar on weak hive and top of strong hive to conceal their smell too. Stops infighting even more

[@JCsBees]

Interesting. Never heard this before! Thanks!

[@sigma_kappa]

@@JCsBees dilution 1:1 and go easy on the spray

[@williambowers5994]

I might be in a combining situation, have you seen a colony queenless that when you observe them everything seems just fine. Inspection yesterday no eggs, larva. Just some emerging Brood. But bees are calm fanning at entrance ,bringing in pollen very strong hive guard bees on landing everything seems normal.

[@TheJapagu]

I had a similar situation. I checked it twice didn’t see Queen or eggs only emerging brood. I went ahead and combined it with a Queen right hive anyways. I figure the bees will sort it out.

[@JCsBees]

William, I would inspect again then if needed combine. Best of luck!

[@williambowers5994]

@@JCsBees thank you for taking the time to respond to me.

[@357lockdown]

Looks like Ladybug had a double expresso this morning!

[@JCsBees]

😂 That's funny, she did act like it. I don't know where those boost of energy come from but she get them every once in awhile. Must be that expensive Blue dogfood. lol

[@laurameno9595]

What happens to the foragers from the weak hive?

[@lewismeyer4452]

I dust both colonies with icing sugar. Keeps the occupied cleaning up, before they chew through the news paper and allows the hive smells time to mingle, avoiding fighting.

[@ayseaf]

what happens if you don’t remove either of the queens?

[@JCsBees]

Usually they fight until one dies but if both would die going into winter that would be bad.

[@Doxymeister]

I love fall, but it makes me a bit melancholy knowing my beekeeper videos will be slowing down--I love them. Can't keep bees myself but find them endlessly fascinating, and enjoy all the different styles and methods of the keepers themselves. Had to laugh at Ladybug zooming--my silly Chihuahua takes a mood and does the same thing, but the size difference is hilarious! Anyway, good video, Jason, thank you!

[@JCsBees]

You and me both are going miss all the bee videos. It's extremely hard to come up with content during the winter but I am sure I will still be able to provide. 😊 Funny your dog also gets a boost of energy. I had a good laugh trying to imagine a Chihuahua running full speed, I bet it was quite the site to see Ladybug doing it too. lol

[@Doxymeister]

@@JCsBees Oh it is! My son's Mastiff/Boxer cross Hooch comes to stay with me once in awhile if they're going out of town. The sight of her teasing Hooch to play, and both zooming around the yard, keeps me in stitches--he's the size of a small pony!

[@natserog]

Love your videos Jason...can you maybe do a video on breaking double deep boxes down to single deep for upcoming winter. :)

[@TSIRHCSEVAS]

I feel sorry for the frames that have to be removed because they have some resources. Few brood and pollen and honey. What should I do with them?

[@kevinogden4363]

After being trapped up top for a few days wouldn't they reorient anyway

[@russellkoopman3004]

My observation is they don't forget in 5 days. Ask me how I know. LOL If your combining on top of a strong hive they will chew through the paper overnight. Two small nucs combined that way will go slower like Jason described.

[@margmag-one]

How do you force bees to the bottom box?

[@tedjackson5272]

First! Got my cup of Joe and some bee videos!

[@JCsBees]

Awesome! Have a great day!

[@tedjackson5272]

@@JCsBees You too Jason. I did a newspaper combine just yesterday.

[@JCsBees]

Thanks and best of luck with the combine.

[@kvadrad1]

Hi Jason. Thank you for this informative video. I'v been doing this a bit differently, and would like you to comment on it, what you think. I'v been using 2 weak colonies in one chamber each, and stock them one on top of the other, there is a queen excluder in between and news paper. I don't poke any holes in paper. And when spring comes, some of them combined into 1 colony with 1 queen, others will keep two of those queen til mid Spring. Let me know what you think about it. Thank you

[@JCsBees]

Sounds interesting. Have you done this before and was it successful?

[@kvadrad1]

@@JCsBees iv done it 2 years ago with around 20 colonies, only 2 of them killed both queens, and if i remember correctly, 4 had 2 queen at the same time til mid April before i separated them

[@gregstickels5706]

Why do you not want eggs or larvae in the upper box?

[@keithinthemountains6450]

I done this last week I had a week colony with a few fresh eggs but could not find the queen so I combined anyway with newspaper. I looked today i have one queen but this was a big risk. Would you have waited or went ahead? Thanks JC !

[@JCsBees]

Either way you look at it there was a risk. If you left the weak colony alone or combined. I think I would have rolled the dice just like you did and made the combine. The bees have a better chance in a strong colony. Nice job!

[@GLuft3]

Jason, I have a stronger hive that is queenless. I want to combine with a smaller, queenright hive. Can I still put the smaller hive (with the queen) on top?

[@JCsBees]

@George Luft Yes, the order the colonies are placed when doing a combine makes no difference. If the strong colony is super strong you may want to add 2 sheets of paper so they don't combine too fast. They need to merge slowly or there will be fighting. Best of luck!

[@downunderfulla6001]

Awesome mate thanks. I was just about to ask about having an entrance with the top hive when doing this🍺🍺

[@JCsBees]

Any time! Glad I didn't miss you concern.

[@downunderfulla6001]

Haha thanks.

[@JCsBees]

I am always afraid of what I forgot to mention. The struggle is real! lol

[@timcaron9049]

Another great info video. My guess it that you snuck out those rolls of wax paper from your wife's kitchen, so you are best to get them back before she gets upset..lol Have a good one. Tim

[@JCsBees]

Thanks Tim. To be honest, I learned a long time ago to not use the wife's stuff, especially if I am recording it being used. lol I used the wax paper for the mountain camp method so I keep it instock.

[@wadebarnes6720]

Who can you order Queens from this time of year

[@JCsBees]

Depends where you are located. I don't usually promote Facebook but it's a great place to find queens in your state. Here in Ohio I would bet Dan Williams has queens still.

[@wadebarnes6720]

@@JCsBees does he ship I live in the south we don't get too many cold days in a row I kind of like the bees that goes brood list in the winter.

[@JCsBees]

Yes, Dan does ship. Here is his website www.williamshoneybees.com/new-products

[@martenapperloo1055]

Good information Jason ,always enjoy your talk ,very informative, I have a question, I live in northern British Columbia Canada ,we have had some night frost already, days are cooling off ,temperatures between highs of 5 to 9 or 10 this last week,I went to inspect a ladys hive yesterday, she is in Mexico for chemotherapy and her husband didnt know what to do ,she only has one hive,I inspected it and looks queen less ,no eggs and no brood ,you were saying I think that in order to resolve that at this late you could get a mated queen,I'm just wondering isnt it to late for a queen to get enough fat bodied bees to look after the hive for the long winter months ahead, there are no flowers left in our neck of the woods and 6 to 6 months of winter to go through, any suggestions would be welcome, I hate to see her bees just die off .

[@JCsBees]

Thanks! Glad you enjoy the videos and talks. Sometimes I feel like I am just rambling. lol It was very nice of you to inspect this ladies colonies while she is going through chemo, my hat is off to you. If my hive was in that situation I would indeed introduce another queen. I would just feel better going into winter that I did my part vs hoping for the best and not getting a new queen. I surely think the bees would go right to work making her fat for winter. Best of luck!!

[@janetharner5620]

I have 2 hives that were captured this past spring ( both were small swarms). Both have 1 deep brood box and appear to have lots and lots of bees; however, one doesn’t seem to have any brood at all, the other has only a small cluster of brood ( size of big softball). Have been feeding and both have lots of frames of capped honey. Admitting, I didn’t look for a queen in either as I was fighting daylight. If I can’t find a queen, should I combine these together? Or combine with 2 separate colonies that have queens?

[@JCsBees]

I would combine with a queen right colony. Best of luck!

[@janetharner5620]

@@JCsBees thank you!

[@makewithmegma]

💕👌👍

[@rd4469]

What if there's honey stores in the top box above the brood chamber? I have a single hive that's weak but my strongest hive has a bottom box full of bees and the top box is full of honey. What am I supposed to do with all the honey?

[@JCsBees]

@R Dy How weak is it? How many frames of bees would you guess? If it's not super weak I would almost risk trying to overwinter as is. But if it is super weak then I would combine and remove box of honey until after you combine the colonies. Once the colonies have become 1 then add box of food to top of colony. Best of luck!!

[@rd4469]

@@JCsBees THANK YOU for responding. I will take the risk to overwinter them on their own.

[@filipvernica258]

Hey Jason the my name is FILIP Beekeeper for five years I have a weak colony with a good queen but not too much honey on winter so I have helped with honey frames . Now is about 3 frames of brood , and I have a not so weak colony with the drone Laing queen so I want to combine those two but the one which has a bad queen is Laying Drone eggs what’s going on the bad one has few uncapped queen cells I wander if those cells have a good eggs to replace the queen from her own eggs? Or I should go ahead and combine them? Thank you.

[@JCsBees]

Hello Flip, Sorry for the delay getting back to you. I would combined that colony with another colony. Best of luck!!

[@tomasjosefvela1]

This may be a weird question and don't know that there would be any advantages to this but I'm curious. Over the years being a fan of beekeeping and swarm catching on KZbin i have seen a few times boxes with 2 queens and in a long established "wild" hive there was 2 queens. if you did this method but left both queens would it just turn into a battle between the 2 hives and queens or would they adopt the arrangement?

[@JCsBees]

Great question! I would bet there would be a fight to death situation if both queens were left in their hives.

[@cluelessbeekeeping1322]

There's a percentage of hives which have 2 queens (it's usually a mother daughter combo). You can also make a 2-queen hive (which I love to do), simply put a 'regular' queen excluder between the two boxes and some news paper. After a day or two, they'll munch away all the newspaper then the bees ~should merge into one while they'll accept both queens.

[@mague76]

New subscriber, DirtRooster sent me.

[@JCsBees]

Thanks for the sub!

[@jonathanswoboda]

Note combining or requeening can fail and you could end up losing both. Depending on the situation at this time of year it can be better to just shake them out, let the bees find new homes and give the boxes to another hive. Joining can work no doubt but is not without risk. If one is a drone layer its especially risky since you cant find the laying workers.

[@rstlr01]

Everything we do has risk, my method of smoking the hives and putting the weak hive on top without newspaper, is just a little more risky. That's whether I find the weak Queen or not, so far 10/10 combines the last 3 years have been positive. Combine hives are always significantly weaker. Drone layers get shook out and removed from the yard, I have had a terrible time requeening them.

[@jonathanswoboda]

@@rstlr01 Without using paper 10/10 is impressive. Yeah drone layers are a challenge. Next drone layer (if I have an extra queen) will get one in push in cage can she will be in the cage for two weeks or until drone laying stops.

[@rstlr01]

@@jonathanswoboda probably more like dumb luck. But that's how all the commercial guys do it and they all seem to be successful. When you wanted 4 hives going into winter but have 12. It allows for you to be more risky.

[@jonathanswoboda]

@@rstlr01 Well I sort of tried it today. Found a hive with queen cells during a final look between the boxes, no queen present. Removed the cells smoked it hard and merged in an extra 4 frame nuc I had. I did use a push in cage though just to make sure. No fighting or dead bees outside, which happened in the past.

[@rstlr01]

@@jonathanswoboda having resource nucs is a must for any hobbyists. Hopefully you have a positive outcome also.

[@beeginner3026]

Y don't cut the paper , but y youse news paper 📰 , it's not Soo hard like coking paper and bees cutting himself to find the air , and in this process she realizes it,s no queen in family , and accepted the only queen in the box

[@wadebarnes6720]

He lost Queens when he done his