# Need some advice



## LarryBud (Jul 19, 2020)

I would suggest thinking about requeening if the populations are strong enough, it's not too late to get a strong mated queen and see what she does from now until frost. Also look at feeding heavily if conditions warrant and catch the fall flow. I have a weak swarm hive, wasn't doing much and so I threw on a top feeder with about a gallon of 2:1. The first week they hit the syrup pretty hard but really didn't drain it but it must have triggered something and a month later I have a lot of eggs, brood and they're building at least 6 full frames of stores. I don't expect any honey from them but I think they've got a chance, with some additional feed to make it through winter.


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## Muddy creek (Jun 25, 2019)

Robinhood said:


> Hey all,
> I have had three hives since spring, each having plenty of time to build/produce etc.
> 
> One hive is very strong and I have gotten honey from, no problems.
> ...


Feed and give them a reason to work


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## Robinhood (Jul 14, 2017)

Ok guess I'll be feeding them. 2:1? 2 parts sugar 1 part water?


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## Muddy creek (Jun 25, 2019)

Robinhood said:


> Ok guess I'll be feeding them. 2:1? 2 parts sugar 1 part water?


Yes.


Robinhood said:


> Ok guess I'll be feeding them. 2:1? 2 parts sugar 1 part water?


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## bakerjw (Jun 7, 2021)

A swarm dropped in on me back in May. Went gangbusters for a few months and almost completely filled a 10 frame deep hive body. I added another deep hive body on top without moving any from below and then nothing... They would hang out up there but didn't start adding to it. I swapped 2 middle frames between the hive bodies and those hatched out and still nothing. Lots of bees and nothing really happening.
It has been dry and hot here and I suspect in a dearth so I started feeding them. After a few days and a bit less than a gallon of syrup, they've been filling the frames that I brought to the top hive body.
First time beekeeper here too so I am on the learning curve as well.


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## Newbeek2021 (May 13, 2021)

Also dont hesitate to foam roller some melted beeswax on them bare foundation frames, will encourage them to draw it out


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## Muddy creek (Jun 25, 2019)

Robinhood said:


> Ok guess I'll be feeding them. 2:1? 2 parts sugar 1 part water?


I see your in Tennessee. You can use 1 to 1 and it stimulates them more to draw comb


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Muddy creek said:


> I see your in Tennessee. You can use 1 to 1 and it stimulates them more to draw comb


I don't think there's any evidence that suggests this to be the case 2:1 is always the way to go IMO. Less moisture for them to deal with, less spoilage possibilities... 

As far as the OP goes. I'd pop the small one into a nuc and feed it. Probably also buy a new queen for it as she sounds lousy.

The big one, good deal. The middle hive as long as they've still got a laying queen and what-not... I wouldn't do anything with other than eventually feeding them to winter weight if they need it. Maybe they superseded their queen and the other didn't. That could set them back just enough to be quite a bit less productive (assuming these are new this year). The three frame one... something definitely isn't right and needs to be corrected. Would also consider taking a frame of emerging brood or two from the big one and swapping it into the smaller one after the new queen starts laying.

It's tough to get a feel for what you can take and when from colonies, so it might not be a good idea to do that at all.


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## NUBE (May 24, 2009)

They’ll draw with 2:1 or 1:1. I go with 1:1 this time of year as they typically need to get water to cool the hive anyway, and moisture isn’t a problem until we get closer to winter.


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## Robinhood (Jul 14, 2017)

jwcarlson said:


> I don't think there's any evidence that suggests this to be the case 2:1 is always the way to go IMO. Less moisture for them to deal with, less spoilage possibilities...
> 
> As far as the OP goes. I'd pop the small one into a nuc and feed it. Probably also buy a new queen for it as she sounds lousy.
> 
> ...


The funny thing is about both smaller hives, they have tons of brood. I can see on the three frame, that where the brood has hatched out she has laid new ones in the empty cells. It seems like if she had more cells she would keep laying. The new laid brood looks good also.

I kinda expect things to screech to a halt in dry weather which it is now, but they was doing this before it set in.


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## Gma38059 (Sep 9, 2016)

I


LarryBud said:


> I would suggest thinking about requeening if the populations are strong enough, it's not too late to get a strong mated queen and see what she does from now until frost. Also look at feeding heavily if conditions warrant and catch the fall flow. I have a weak swarm hive, wasn't doing much and so I threw on a top feeder with about a gallon of 2:1. The first week they hit the syrup pretty hard but really didn't drain it but it must have triggered something and a month later I have a lot of eggs, brood and they're building at least 6 full frames of stores. I don't expect any honey from them but I think they've got a chance, with some additional feed to make it through winter.


I had a similar situation with my 2 hives... One really strong and growing. The other not doing much at all... On the advice of a more experienced beekeeper, I swapped 2 empty frames from the weak hive with 2 filled brood frames from the strong hive. Leave the nurse bees on the full frames to boost the weak hive... The weak hive really took off once that brood hatched.


Robinhood said:


> Ok guess I'll be feeding them. 2:1? 2 parts sugar 1 part water?


I would also swap some empty frames from the weak hive with brood frames out of the really strong hive. Move the nurse bees with the frames... And feed like crazy


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