# What to do with this hive



## BeeGora (Oct 22, 2013)

I purchased two packages last spring from the same source and installed them into two identical top bar hives at the same time. Both hives started off well but then Hive #2 re-queened and fell behind. By mid-summer both hives were equally loaded up with bees and each was about half full of comb. I started offering them sugar syrup in September. Hive #2 has been all over the feeders. They’ve built out most of the rest of the hive and the combs are all full. Hive #1 has ignored the feeders. They’re bringing in pollen but nothing else that I can tell. No new comb has been built since last summer and there’s very little honey in what’s there. 

Both hives appear healthy. I’ve only seen a few SHB this year, all in Hive #2 (the good hive). I’m thinking that whatever they re-queened with must have given them an advantage. The bees there now are smaller and darker than the original ones. Maybe the queen mated with some of the local boys who are more adapted to this area. 

OK, now back to my question. Should I take honey from the hard working hive and give it to the struggling hive just to try and keep them going through the winter? If they make it I can get another queen next year or let them requeen themselves (that worked really well for the good hive). On the other hand I could be wasting time and honey trying to get them through the winter. If they don’t make it I could hopefully trap a swarm from Hive #2 next spring and be off to a good start with better bees. Thoughts?


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## dudelt (Mar 18, 2013)

I had a similar thing last year and would not recommend taking resources from the good hive this late in the year. I did and lost both hives to starvation. If you had 10 hives with resources you could pull one bar from each with no problem. My recommendation is to take one bar at a time out of the bad hive, tilt it back slightly and pour sugar into the comb. Lightly spray with water and return it to the hive. Then continue with the other available combs. Hopefully, this will keep the hive alive through winter and you can decide what to do with the queen at that time.


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

hive #2 is evidently cousins of a couple of mine. most are in good shape but the problem ones are not doing much with the feeders. wait till it cools down too much to feed and give them some sugar or sugar cake in a shim. you will likely have some drawn frames in the spring, but who knows?


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## Marysia2 (May 23, 2014)

dudelt said:


> My recommendation is to take one bar at a time out of the bad hive, tilt it back slightly and pour sugar into the comb. Lightly spray with water and return it to the hive.


Have you actually done this and brought a hive through the winter with it? I just did something similar, but I brushed on some leftover 2:1 syrup over the cells, sprinkled the dry sugar, then another coating of the syrup. I used a silicon (soft, rubbery) pastry brush for this. The sugar seemed to stick but I have no idea if it will work.


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

BeeGora said:


> If they don’t make it I could hopefully trap a swarm from Hive #2 next spring and be off to a good start with better bees. Thoughts?


i agree with don't disturb the good hive. artificially swarm them in the spring by removing the queen along with some brood and stores just before swarm season. you may have have some good survivor stock there.


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## dudelt (Mar 18, 2013)

Marysia2 said:


> Have you actually done this and brought a hive through the winter with it? I just did something similar, but I brushed on some leftover 2:1 syrup over the cells, sprinkled the dry sugar, then another coating of the syrup. I used a silicon (soft, rubbery) pastry brush for this. The sugar seemed to stick but I have no idea if it will work.


Yes I have. Unlike a Lang, there is no easy place to put a sugar block or winter patties in a TBH. This works really well and it is right where the bees are.


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## BobRagsdale (Nov 23, 2014)

If your strong hive can spare it I would recommend transferring some resources to the weak hive. I am north of you, in Virginia, and for my hives I want them to have about 60 lbs of honey at a minimum - that is roughly eight full bars of honey and 4 with good honey bands in the brood area. If your weak hive has that much, then it will probably be okay. If it doesn't, and your strong hive has more than that, I would transfer some bars to the weaker one. If that's not a possibility, then a comb of fondent in the weak one might be worth a try.


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