Uniting Hives

[sukis-dad]

Hi

I have two hives and so far both have survived the winter.
The bees were collecting pollen last week when we had a warm day.
I can only accommodate two hives so I would like to unite the two I have and then artificially swarm into the now spare hive.

My question is when and how do I unite and how do I select the Queen for culling (which I will hate to do)?

Thanks

 

[oliver90owner]

Bad idea. Particularly if both are strong colonies.

Get a couple of nucs (preferably 6 framers) and artificially swarm into those. Re-unite later, or supply someone with a colony?

RAB

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

May be worth considering a demaree, as Muswell Metro suggested a week back, handy form of AS for those without much space.

Link to Dave Cushman explanation

 

[Rosti]

May be worth considering a demaree, as Muswell Metro suggested a week back, handy form of AS for those without much space.

Link to Dave Cushman explanation

I prefer demaree. Along with lower space and kit advantages I think it also has the following going for it:
less manipulation stages / dead simple
maintains critical mass within a hive
best chance of swarm control and concurrent honey yield for the small scale hobbiest

 

[Midland Beek]

Beekeeping with just two hives will be made a whole lot easier if you were to get yourself a couple of nucs and use those for artificial swarming. Put the artificial swarm in the nuc and re-unite asap. If you are short of space the nuc could sit on top of the hive.

But if you really want to unite and stick with just one hive, uniting sooner is preferable to uniting later. Aiming to do it before the end of March is no bad thing.

I would cull the queen with the most unfriendly offspring. But you could go one better and sell the queen rather than killing her. Or you could get yourself about £130 if you sell the colony in a nuc box, assuming it could fit in one.