As we touched on in another Snippet, “Assessing Colony Size“, knowing what the size of your colony is AND what it means for its health and growth potential can make a huge difference in the future success of that colony.
It’s not just important to know how big or small your honeybee colony is, though, it’s also crucial to know what steps should be taken if they are too big or too small.
In this Snippet, we’ll mainly focus on how to handle a small and/or weak colony and how you can help aid in the survival of the bees that are currently remaining in that colony.
If you’ve got a honeybee colony that hasn’t progressed and grown as you’d hoped, especially if the season is nearing the end, they may be too small and weak to survive the winter months, even if they have ample food stores.
Before taking any steps to further help strengthen your colony, be sure you understand the health status of each colony and the reason they are small and/or weak. Check for things like an underperforming queen, lack of space to grow, a late split or swarm, or even diseases that are holding them back.
If only 2-4 frames are covered with bees (see our other Snippet on colony size here for more info on FOB), the colony will struggle to perform normal tasks like caring for brood, effectively guarding the entrance, fending off pests like varroa and being able to forage for resources. This will also limit their ability to remain warm in their cluster and to have the energy needed to access honey stores during the winter months.
Here’s a side-by-side example of a strong colony with many FOB covered next to a weak colony with very few:
This lack of ample bee population can decrease colony health and limit their chances of survival, often leading to colonies that perish once the weather turns cold.
How Can I Help Strengthen My Colony?
One practice that many beekeepers follow to strengthen colonies is to combine them, allowing a weak colony and a strong one to come together into one colony that has the population size needed for a better chance at survival. This can also be a useful technique if you have two smaller colonies, too, to combine them into one stronger unit.
You may also want to consider combining colonies if one is queenless and has been unable to raise a new queen (and you are unable or prefer not to purchase a replacement queen).
In the case of disease management, where one colony is weak because of disease and/or parasites, combining it with a healthy colony may help, but be careful to ensure the disease does not spread from the weak colony to the stronger one.
How Do You Actually Combine Two Colonies?
Since bees can recognize their own colony by the way the other bees smell and the pheromones released, won’t they consider the new colony to be a threat?
Well… sort of. If honeybee colonies are combined and introduced to one another too quickly, fighting can ensue, leaving the weaker or smaller colony even more susceptible to further issues.
The most common method for beekeepers who wish to combine two colonies but avoid fighting bees is to use a simple newspaper. The newspaper method involves placing a sheet of newspaper between the two colonies, in between hive bodies. This allows both colonies to smell one another as the scent permeates the paper but also requires that bees chew through the paper to reach one another. The time it takes for the paper to fully open up is ample enough for them to adjust to each other and reduces the chance of fighting.
Here’s how you go about completing a hive combination with the newspaper method:
- Open up the hive of the stronger colony so that you can access the brood nest boxes.
- On top of the uppermost brood box, place your sheet of newspaper. Add a few small slits to assist bees in beginning to chew through it.
- Place the box with the smaller/weaker colony and any brood frames directly above the newspaper. Ensure that there is ample ventilation and an exit/entrance for the uppermost box that has the new bees. They need a way to exit the box for defecation and to find food & water, but you can add a top entrance above the box with the new colony to allow for this. Place some grass or pine needles in front of the upper entrance to get bees to reorient themselves to the new hive entrance.
- After a few days, bees on both sides will have chewed through the paper and the colonies will merge.
- After combining your colonies, you’ll likely want to know how they’re doing… but do your best to give them some time to adjust to their new environment and new colony members. Allow at least 3-4 days before you inspect the new colony to ensure the combination went well.
Please note, in some circumstances, colonies can be directly combined without the addition of the newspaper, like when one has been queenless for quite some time or when both are very small. This does carry a higher risk of fighting, so do keep that in mind before giving it a try in your bee yard.
* Quick Tip – If a quick merge colony combination is necessary, smoke both colonies heavily and spray adult bees with light sugar syrup before combining. Bees will engorge in nectar and clean each other, mixing their smells. *
Keeping In Mind…
There are, as it almost always is with beekeeping, a few other things to keep in mind when combining colonies:
- Select a Queen – As you likely already know, honeybees are a one-queen-only type of operation. When a beekeeper combines two colonies (that both have queens), they must be the one to decide which queen should remain with the new colony. Generally, the younger and more productive queen is the preferred choice with the other queen being ‘pinched’ or dispatched by the beekeeper BEFORE combining the hives together. Though it’s a sad task to complete, it’s necessary for the survival of the new and hopefully stronger colony. Especially considering that if they’re both left inside the hive, they’ll fight to the death anyway and could both be injured or killed in this case.
- Consider Timing & Weather – To minimize stress on the bees, ensure you pick a day with calm and sunny weather to combine your colonies. Combining hives is typically done during the late summer or early fall months to help prepare bees for winter, but colonies can be combined during spring and summer months, too, to help build up colony strength early in the season. As far as time of day goes, late afternoon or early evening (when foragers have returned to the hive already) is the best time to combine hives.
- Avoid the Dearth! – A nectar dearth brings with it many other robbing insects searching for resources. They can easily smell it inside a beehive and will do all they can to fight their way inside. Adding this additional stress to a newly combined colony will only make the transition more difficult.
- Distribution of Frames/Resources – You may need to manually distribute frames that have brood and honey to ensure both colonies have an equal amount of resources as they are being combined. This prevents resource competition and encourages a smoother combination.
- Post-Combination: After combining colonies and taking notes on what you saw and moved around, keep a careful eye on the new colony. You’ll want to watch for things like fighting or stressed behaviors and ensure bees are settling in well together. Depending on the time of year, the new colony may need supplemental feed to help support the new population as well as better prepare for winter.
On the other hand… How do I handle a colony that’s too BIG?
When two colonies are small or not productive enough, combining them can help aid in the survival of the bees in both colonies. Just as combining can help two weaker colonies, there are ways to help manage a colony that’s just too big and strong (and is likely at risk for swarming).
Though we won’t jump into it right now, splitting one colony into two is a common way to help ensure you have two successful colonies working toward surviving the winter months. Learn more about performing a split in our article here.
Learn More
Check out some of our free articles and posts below related to managing colony size, combining hives, and the way two honeybee colonies work and behave together.
- Assessing Honeybee Colony Size – Find out more about determining whether your colony is large enough to support itself and thrive in this Snippet.
- How Bees Sense and React to Their World – As they do when two hives are combined, honeybees rely on their senses to determine whether another bee or colony of bees, is a threat. Learn more about how bees sense things in their world in this fascinating Academy lesson!
- The Big Issues to Check at the Hive Inspection – Knowing what you should be seeing inside your hive when you complete an inspection makes it much easier to identify when things are going wrong or if a colony isn’t progressing as you’d hoped much earlier. Then, you can help them sooner when needed.
- Managing Hive Capacity – Knowing the size of your honeybee colony also involves investigating how much space they have available for the number of bees and resources inside. Find out more about how beekeepers and honeybees can effectively manage hive capacity in this lesson.
- Effectively Managing Space in the Brood Nest – Sometimes honeybee colonies need a bit of help in moving resources and ensuring they have enough space in their brood nest for both resources AND brood to develop. This is especially the case after two colonies are combined. Learn more about effectively managing space in our article here.
Colony Member Resources
Member-Only Academy Lessons
Colony Members, check out some of our member-only Academy lessons below to learn more about managing colonies based on their size and some combining-related topics.
- How Bees Use Pheromones – This Academy lesson takes a deep dive into the way bees smell and react to each other, as they do through newspaper when combining colonies!
- Fat Bees and the Winter Cluster – Combining two weak or small colonies gives both colonies a greater chance to grow and expand, especially in preparation for the winter months. Find out more about how bees survive in the cold, if they have enough bees, with this lesson.
- An Introduction to the Beehive Inspection – This lesson covers what you need to know when you open up your beehive. Knowing what to look out for can help you easily identify when a colony isn’t thriving and may need to be combined with another.
- Tracking Beehive Progress and Keeping Records – This one goes hand in hand with completing thorough inspections… Noting your colonies’ data and information makes it much easier to keep track of how they’re progressing and take action to help when needed.
- Queenlessness in Your Hive – Queenlessness in a honeybee colony (especially when it’s a prolonged period) can be a big problem, but as mentioned above, combining colonies may help you solve it.
- Preparing for a Deep and Long Winter – Combining honeybee colonies can be a huge part of helping your bees in their winter preparations. Find out even more in this hands-on Academy lesson!
Colony Forum Posts
Colony Members, check out some of these colony size and combining hive questions and related discussion threads below from the Colony Forum.
- Combining hives – Patricia asks about helping a managing colony to survive and gets awesome input from our Ambassador Kate.
- Combining with a package? – An interesting question about combining a new package with a queenless hive gets some great Ambassador insights.
- Hive/Queen Conundrum – Jocelyn has a tricky situation with her bees but luckily Ambassador William was there to help share some thoughts and advice!
- Combining Colonies Question – Matthew asks about combining and overwinter colonies and gets some great advice from our Ambassadors and members.
- Old Queen = Lost Hive – PerfectBee Ambassador Ron shares some of his thoughts on how to manage one of his difficult colonies and answers member questions about combining and re-queening hives.
- Input needed for Queenless hive – Rosemary asks some great questions about combining a queenless hive and receives lots of great input from our Ambassadors.
- Helping out a friend – Ambassador William touches on what NOT to do when combining two colonies by sharing his experience (and a great photo).
- Struggling hive – Tina asks how she can help a struggling hive and our Ambassadors were there to walk her through combining two colonies.
- Dead Out in My Weakest Hive – Ambassador Joe has a colony that was just too small and weak to survive the winter, could combining them have helped in this case?
Do you wish you could participate in fascinating beekeeping discussions like the ones listed above (and had access to insights from other beekeepers and experienced Ambassadors)? Or maybe you want to dive even deeper into researching some of your favorite beekeeping topics?
If that sounds like you, consider joining our awesome Colony community of beekeepers, all learning more about beekeeping and helping each other! Head over to our Colony landing page here to learn more about what resources are included with membership and to sign up today.
