How To Reunite Bee Families: All Methods

In the run-up to the wintering period, the beekeeper must ensure that the families about to face the cold season are strong enough to make it to spring in the best condition. At the end of the summer, in fact, families can be found orphaned or with a queen who is not doing her job well. The bees that are born in the autumn, called 'winter bees', have a great responsibility: they must enable the family to recover in the spring. It is therefore easy to understand how delicate this moment is for the success of the next production season.

It can happen thatafter the last anti-varroa treatments some families are orphaned. Drones begin to become scarce at this time and it is therefore very risky to rely solely on the strength of the bees to raise a new queen (who must then also be fertilised). At this point the beekeeper is left with only two avenues to pursue: if still available, he can purchase an already fertilised queen and proceed with the insertion. Alternatively, he can think about reuniting the families.

It must first be checked that neither royal cells nor egg-laying workers are present. If reunification is carried out, all royal cells must be removed to prevent the breeding of a new virgin. The presence of egg-laying workers, on the other hand, is more likely when the family has already been orphaned for a few weeks. Both situations, if not properly addressed, can jeopardise the success of the operation. In the event that egg-laying workers are present, they should be removed from the hive by shaking off the combs from the bees about twenty metres from the crate and removing frames with deformed brood. This, called 'gibbous' in jargon, is nothing more than kelp brood laid in worker cells. Once the other workers have returned to the orphaned hive, the frames of the orphaned family are removed and added directly to the strongest one with queen.

As a precaution, bees can be sprinkled with powdered sugar or flour to stun them, absorb odours and facilitate acceptance. However, this expedient is not always necessary. More important is the order in which the frames are placed. The frames of the strong family should be kept compact with the queen inside them while those of the orphan family should be added to the sides. In this way, the queen can be prevented from being attacked by the other bees. This is generally done in the middle hours of the day. A very important thing to bear in mind is to remove the hive of the orphan family from the apiary. In this way, the foragers will disperse to the other hives and will not be able to return to the hive of origin, thus thwarting the beekeeper's work.

Another situation that may prompt the beekeeper to join two or more families is to have a weak (old) or poorly fertilised queen, i.e. one that no longer lays optimally. If he does not want to increase the number of his hives, he can also proceed by joining two or more weak families, but with a queen. Obviously, the presence of more than one queen can lead to certain problems. The beekeeper, at this point, can decide whether to eliminate the weakest queen immediately or leave everything to the bees. Ideally, the confrontation between the two queens can result in a single winner or, more rarely, in a 'cohabitation' situation. However, to avoid unpleasant situations, the least performing queen is usually eliminated.

The presence of several swarms that are not particularly strong or of families affected by a severe varroa infestation may also lead to their joining. The choice depends somewhat on the contingent situation and the beekeeper's considerations. In the case of swarms or families that are not very large, one must understand the level of strength of the hive. If, as winter approaches, one realises that the family, although small, is vigorous and therefore mostly made up of young bees, it will be able to get through the cold season and get off to a good start in spring. In this case, one can also leave the family on 4-5 frames and then reduce it to 3 as soon as the queen starts laying again so as to avoid excessive heat loss leading to sub-optimal development of the new generations.

We have seen that one of the simplest methods of performing this beekeeping operation is to take combs from one hive and insert them into another. In certain cases, however, this approach may be too direct. For this reason, one of the most popular methods for reuniting two or more families is the Miller method, also known as the journal method. The procedure is quite simple. This technique is generally implemented at dusk, when the foraging bees are back inside the hive. The strongest hive is removed and the cover is removed and a sheet of newspaper is placed over the opening. If deemed appropriate, small holes can be put in it. Once the sheet is in place, the hive with the weakest family is placed on top. If the case does not have a movable bottom, a pair of honeycombs must be placed on top of the strong family. Next, the combs of the weak family must be placed in the double honeycomb box.

These, however, are situations that can occur throughout the beekeeping season. The only time of the year when hives are not manipulated in this way is in winter, when the bees are cramped in the glomeres. In early spring, but also in late summer, the beekeeper may be faced with this kind of choice: keep the families as they are or reunite them? To keep an eye on your hives at all times and get support in managing your families, you can rely on 3Bee's remote monitoring systems. Data on weight, internal temperature, humidity and sound give you a complete picture of the status of the family and its growth level. In this way, you can rely on the data collected to plan your apiary interventions and act promptly if needed. Write to us at info@3bee.it