One is Better Than Two—The Newspaper Method of Combining Hives
2/6/23: Weather: Temp 62 degrees and sunny.
Fully inspected hive. The Plan Bee hive is doing very well. The nucleus of bees that includes the queen has moved into the lower box to prepare for spring. There is a frame of brood, so they are making babies again. Took off the entrance reducer to give them more space to come and go in the hive. They are very active during these winter days of 60 degree temps, and they are bringing in pollen and water. Found their water source: a large sheet of plastic in the yard that is holding rain water.
Tolerable hive is not doing well. The queen has apparently died, as there is evidence the colony tried to make new queen cells. Since it’s not quite time yet to have new queens (because there are very few drones hatching in order for her to mate), my mentor has suggested that I combine the two hives using the newspaper method. Since the weather is somewhat warm, I will be doing that this week.
2/8/23: Weather: Temp 65 degrees and mostly cloudy with a little sun. Rain earlier in the day.
I used the newspaper method today to combine the two hives by placing a single sheet of newspaper between the strong hive (the two boxes on the bottom) and the weak hive (the upper box). Video of this procedure is below — did you catch how I manage to set the yard on fire with my smoker? 🙄
The book Beekeeping for Dummies, which easily describes the newspaper process is one of my favorites for beekeepers beyond the first year.
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