# Should I remove my robber screens for a newspaper combine?



## ursa_minor (Feb 13, 2020)

I did a newspaper combine on my deep hive today. I put a box on top of the hive I want to keep using with newspaper between and I put all the brood and bee frames from my combining hive in the top box. Researching this some say that the foragers out while this happens will beg their way into other hives ,or this one, but I have robber screens on them all. Should I remove them this evening so the foragers have a place to go?


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

ursa_minor said:


> .... Should I remove them this evening so the foragers have a place to go?


Good question.
I would.


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## ursa_minor (Feb 13, 2020)

Thanks, greg, will do it ASAP.


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

ursa_minor said:


> Thanks, greg, will do it ASAP.


Temporarily, of course.


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## ursa_minor (Feb 13, 2020)

Well I did remove them and put boards propped in front of the entrances because these hives are up high and the congestion was phenomenal. I reduced the disk entrances down so they still could defend. When all is settled I will put them back. They are strong colonies so I don't perceive a problem. Almost immediately the congestion eased on all the hives. 

These are very strong colonies but I don't want so many going into winter. I combined one that had two brood breaks this summer and I thought it needed boosting before winter even though it has a new queen that is laying well.

ETA: Thankfully I am not worried about mite bombs, they all had a OAD broodless dribble in mid/late July and are good.


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## ursa_minor (Feb 13, 2020)

Just to clarify the boards were propped not to block the entrances but as ramps for the clustering bees that were hanging off the bottom of the hive. 

By 8 pm the same day I had the cluster on one of my three hives all in and replaced the robbing screen and by 6 am today another and the only hold out with bees on the outside in a cluster, about a 300 bees, is the one I combined. This could be because of the internal disruption.

My first combine, and the first on a deep hive. I like how the small supers, idea taken from GregB's CV hives, work on these large hives. I build them so two side by side fit on one deep hive. Each holds 8 of my super frames, and 3 stacked is deep enough for a full sized brood frame or two langstroth rotated 90 degrees if I like. I could have just popped the frames right into the deep hive with a hanging piece of newspaper between and call it done but we are entering a dearth, the hive I was putting on top was strong with an old queen, that I found and subsequently lost ( long story), so I wanted to use a tight seal of 2 pieces of paper to slow down the process. 

Next up, to wait till all is OK and they are one hive and then take those brood frames in the upper box and relocate them down into the main long deep and dismantle the top box set up in time for the start of syrup feeding in the next few days.


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## ursa_minor (Feb 13, 2020)

Backstory--- While doing this combine I found the queen in the donor hive ( did not want to necessarily keep her) put her in a clip. I assembled the combine with newspaper between. It was hot and I wanted to take this queen away but wasn't sure if I should just let the two duke it out so I placed the clip to the side, out of the hive on a spare box. When all was arranged I picked up the clip, noted it had a few bees but did not look into it and placed it temporarily on the frames of the upper hive so I could grab something. I went to get her and take her away and she was gone!!!!! wiggled out, it was definitely faulty. I had no idea if she got out when the clip was outside the hive or inside the hive and I could not find her on the combs. B****gger it. Now I wished I had used an excluder between as probably it would have been better to nuc her incase the other queen was lost. Bees were annoyed chaos in the apiary so I closed it up and walked away hoping for the best.

Today I went in, they had not made it thru the paper after 3 days and she was waltzing around on the comb. I know it was her cause she was marked pink. I put a queen excluder between the hive bodies moved some of the brood frames down to the long hive, below the excluder, and closed it up so I could think.

--Should I leave it this way, take the excluder off once the colonies are playing nice and let the queens and hive decide who will rule for the winter? 

--Should I just nuc her with some bees in case a queen goes missing? Although at this late stage I am hesitant to tear apart a brood nest to do lots of checking. 

--Can I keep her up there temporarily as is, feed them and give them their own entrance or is this asking for trouble? If I feed them the lower bees can access it as well thru the excluder.


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## Tigger19687 (Dec 27, 2014)

ursa_minor said:


> Backstory--- While doing this combine I found the queen in the donor hive ( did not want to necessarily keep her) put her in a clip. I assembled the combine with newspaper between. It was hot and I wanted to take this queen away but wasn't sure if I should just let the two duke it out so I placed the clip to the side, out of the hive on a spare box. When all was arranged I picked up the clip, noted it had a few bees but did not look into it and placed it temporarily on the frames of the upper hive so I could grab something. I went to get her and take her away and she was gone!!!!! wiggled out, it was definitely faulty. I had no idea if she got out when the clip was outside the hive or inside the hive and I could not find her on the combs. B****gger it. Now I wished I had used an excluder between as probably it would have been better to nuc her incase the other queen was lost. Bees were annoyed chaos in the apiary so I closed it up and walked away hoping for the best.
> 
> Today I went in, they had not made it thru the paper after 3 days and she was waltzing around on the comb. I know it was her cause she was marked pink. I put a queen excluder between the hive bodies moved some of the brood frames down to the long hive, below the excluder, and closed it up so I could think.
> 
> ...


Curious what you ended up doing


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## ursa_minor (Feb 13, 2020)

On day 5 I decided to make the move to remove the upper box and finish the job. I took the frames of brood including the queen and put them down in the bottom hive but I put them at the edge of the existing frames, not in the middle. I sprayed them liberally with sugar water for insurance, more for my comfort than anything else.

Three weeks later I looked at some of the very outer frames of the brood nest, not wanting to disturb it too much at this late date in the year and found eggs. So one or the other( or both queens) still occupied the hive and maybe do till this day as I have not gone in to check any more.

ETA The spring "unboxing" will be like opening a Christmas present, who survived and who did not.


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