Subject: How do I reduce an over abundant hive?

From: [email-masked] (Teri Rhan {FMO})
Date: 20 Apr 1994 04:14:05 GMT

My packages bees from last year have increased in volume exponentally
They are already 6 hives high and full to the brim.  My buddy Jordan
Schwartz who lives 1 block away and just started 2 new hives with
package bees (initial setup this last weekend).  Can anyone recommend a
way(s) to pass some of this overflow onto him?  I would still like to
have a good honey harvest but just can't handle another hive in my urban
kingdom. 
(Last year was my first year for beekkeeping so I'm still a major 
novice.) 

Thanks
Teri

---

From: [email-masked] (Richard Hyde)
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 1994 01:17:34 GMT

Teri Rhan {FMO} ([email-masked]) wrote:
: My packages bees from last year have increased in volume exponentally
: They are already 6 hives high and full to the brim.  My buddy Jordan
: Schwartz who lives 1 block away and just started 2 new hives with
: package bees (initial setup this last weekend).  Can anyone recommend a
: way(s) to pass some of this overflow onto him?  I would still like to

Teri,

A standard way of joining hives is to remove the top from the recipient
hive and spread a sheet of newspaper over the top of the frames.
Make sure the frames are completely covered.  Poke a few tiny holes
in the newspaper and then place an empty super over the top.  This
will will give you an empty cavity over the top of the recipient hive
into which you can place the donor bees.  Take as many bees as you
wish from your existing hive and place them into the empty super.
Now replace the cover.

As the bees chew through the newspaper they should become used to 
each others scent and by the time they gain full access, the unification
should be peaceful.

You should keep watch while this is happening and immediately remove
the donor bees shoud signs of fighting occur.

As an alternate to shaking the bees into an empty super you can simply
take a full super from your hive and place it on the recipient hive, again
seperated by a sheet of paper.

Needless to say, you should *not* transfer your queen along with the
donor bees.

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|   Richard Hyde  |  [email-masked]  |  This space intentionally left blank  |  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---

From: [email-masked] (Michael Moroney)
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 1994 01:13:42 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, Teri Rhan {FMO} wrote:
> They are already 6 hives high and full to the brim.

By "6 hives full" do you mean full of what?  Honey? Bees? Brood?
By "6 hives" do you mean 6 full-sized hive bodies?  Regardless of the
answer, I'm impressed.  If you have mostly honey, harvest it and enjoy...
(if you can weigh it, I'm curious how much you have...)  If bees/brood
you'll either get the ultimate honey harvest or a swarm from hell..

>  My buddy Jordan

You may be onto some sort of "superbee" here, you definitely should try to
propogate this line.  One way is to have your friend start a new hive from
yours.  Take several frames of brood (including eggs but _not_ your queen) and
honey, place in a hive, add tons of your bees (since your friend is so close
you'll get most back) and start a new hive descended from your "superbees" 
Great if you can supply it with a queen cell.  Otherwise the bees in the new
colony will raise a new queen from one of the eggs. Or give him your queen
along with this, being sure _your_ hive has eggs or a queen cell, then your
hive will now be the decendent, this also reduces the chance of it swarming.
Check the beekeeping books on how to "split" a colony.

You can just give your friend frames of sealed brood to help his hives
build up quickly.  You can also add bees with the newspaper method but it will
be difficult to give your friends bees to bolster his hives since they'll drift
back.

They may want to swarm soon, so you may want to do do something soon.

-Mike

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 21 Apr 94 07:15:05 EST

> the donor bees shoud signs of fighting occur.

	With the hive closed and you outside, how do you figure out if it's
a peaceful unification or not?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave D. Cawley		   |	Where a social revolution is pending and,
University Of Scranton	   |	for whatever reason, is not accomplished,
[email-masked]	   |	reaction is the alternative.
ddc1@SCRANTON		   |				-Daniel De Leon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

---

From: [email-masked] (Teri Rhan {FMO})
Date: 22 Apr 1994 06:44:23 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
>By "6 hives full" do you mean full of what?  Honey? Bees? Brood?

Yes, there is a large quantity of nearly fully capped honey (as of last
sunday), bees covering every frame and across the top in every hive
body accept for the top one, brood thruout the bottom 3 hives, varying
in the 4th none in the 5th and 6th.

>By "6 hives" do you mean 6 full-sized hive bodies?  Regardless of the

The top 2 are not full-sized but are the shallower super size. That's
all I have left and frankly is all I expected to use for the season.

>you'll either get the ultimate honey harvest or a swarm from hell..

2nd, 3rd, and 4th hive bodies were running 50-80 lbs., the rest much 
lighter. It's the swarm part that I really want to avoid.  I put my city
lot neighbors thru 3 swarms last year (my year of learning the hard way)
and have had to bribe with mega quantities of Honey.

>They may want to swarm soon, so you may want to do do something soon.

Thanks for the tips Mike,
Jordan and I are scheduled to figure out something this weekend
primarily based on the advice from this newsgroup.  We'll let you know
how it goes if anyone is interested.

Thanks again,
Teri

TERI RHAN			
Communications Engineering	\Facilities Management Office
[email-masked]	 	 \Physical Plant Office FJ-10
Direct Dial: (206)543-7575 #336	  \Design Division (206)543-8200