Using the newspaper method to unite bees failed miserably - what could I have done wrong?

[BanburyBees]

Having performed a Pagden when I found swarming signs in my only hive I ended up with the old queen and some frames of brood and stores in a spare brood box.

As the spare brood box was a bit low on bees it was suggested to me that I move some bees from the original hive to the spare brood box. Following some advice I moved bees from a (full) super via a clearer board into a super with just a couple of frames in it. This super I then placed on top of a single sheet of newspaper on the spare brood box that had the old queen in it. I used a plastic queen excluder on top of the paper, and knocked a couple of small holes in the newspaper.

When I checked a couple of days later I found lots of dead bees on top of the newspaper, dead bees stuck in the queen excluder and no holes in the newspaper beyond those I had made. I made a few more holes and left them to it for another day or so. Again more dead bees and almost no paper chewed by the bees. By then I decided that if they hadn't adapted to the queen's pheromones by now they were never going to so removed the newspaper - at which point I saw yet more dead bees in the bottom of the brood box. I guesstimate that I lost at least 50% of the bees I was trying to unite.

Given that this is such a tried and trusted method and that I did it 'by the book' what could have gone wrong??

[Jim Norfolk]

Sorry to hear about the dead bees. Can I ask what was in the super in the way of food for the bees. Bees don't always do what we expect and I have had failures with the newspaper method, with bees staying above the newspaper.

There is another method (as always in beekeeping) and that is to put a mesh screen between the two colonies so that bees can communicate but not pass through. After a few days the mesh can be removed.

[BanburyBees]

Hi,

If I remember rightly there was just one frame from a super with some honey in it in the top brood box. When I did the first check (and found the dead bees) I added a tray with some water and a sponge in it as it was hot and I was aware that the bees could go nowhere so might be thirsty!

[AdamD]

I had always had good success with the newspaper uniting method, i.e. no failures at all until a couple of years ago when two failed miserably; killing the queens so by the time I checked - a week or so later - the two hives had sealed and nearly sealed queencells. I had carried out the process in June when there was no forage and possibly little in the way of liquid stores. It's also not the best time of year to do it - autumn and spring unites are perceived to be more reliable. I now ensure that colonies have liquid stores or have been fed as a precaution. Having liquid stores allows bees to give food to each other - trophallaxis - which is their way of communication in the hive. When did you do the unite and was there food in the super?
As Jim writes, nothing in beekeeping is guaranteed. I guess that's what makes it interesting!

[BanburyBees]

@AdamD - thanks for the feedback; I was concerned that I was doing something fundamentally wrong but as I'm rapidly learning, the bees don't always do what the book says!

[BanburyBees]

@AdamD - and to answer your questions (the reply box I've noticed hides the thread so you can't read the previous comments) I did the unite on 17th August and I think there was just one frame of honey in the super and that may have been one that I had extracted so not full by any means.

[Patrick]

Uniting is much easier between closely related bees.

If I am reuniting mother / daughter vertical swarm splits in autumn if they are relatively calm in temperament I often dispense with newspaper altogether and just remove the split board, give th some smoke and put one box back on top of the other and run them as doubles over winter. Rarely have any casualties.

I wouldn’t do this for more aggressive or very unevenly sized colonies.

[BanburyBees]

@Patrick as it happens all the bees I was trying to unite were from the queen in the lower brood box, and they are all (normally!) very calm bees. Looking at others comments I do wonder if I had enough food in the upper super for the bees to exchange in greeting and perhaps the middle of August wasn't an ideal time.

And I have to say it's somewhat 'reassuring' to know that the newspaper method has gone wrong for others as well!

[Steve (The Drone)]

Hi Banbury. Seems that you went to an awful lot of trouble.. .. Now the space in the brood chamber containing the old Queen must have been filled up with clean brood frames. Remove an empty frame from this box adjacent to the brood nest and give the gap a burst of lavender air freshener.
Now remove a frame of brood and nurse bees from the stronger colonel. Give this a dose of the lavender as well, shove it in the gap, and box up.
I've used this method many times when uniting colonies or strengthening weak ones and it always seem to work for me. The lavender masks the Pheremones, confuses the bees , and when it dissipates they are merged. Lavender also seems to calm the bees.
As I say- it works for me
Steve

[Steve (The Drone)]

Oh Yes- and when you box up you can add a rapid feeder on top with a week sugar syrup to give the little beggars something else to do!
Steve.