# Bee Wars



## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Well, humans are not the ONLY creatures who fight wars! 

I opened up a hive yesterday to see why it wasn't very strong. As it turns out, they had no queen at all, and only 6 uncapped larvae. Obviously, if I didn't do something, the hive would be toast. 

So, while I was inside finding out the price of a new queen ($30, once you add in the shipping and handling! ), the other hives were realizing that he queenless hive was weak. Yes, I DID close up the hive, of course, but.... 

I came out a few hours later to see how the hives were settling down after being opened, and I discovered a war! The other hives were getting into the weak hive, and running off with the honey! The landing board was full of fighting bees. 

I stopped the robbing by dropping a wet towel across the opening, and this morning I combined the hive with another. Re-queening is great, but combining is much quicker! 

To combine the hives, you put a sheet of newspaper with a small slit in it across the top of one hive, and put the other hive on top of the newspaper. The bees will chew the paper up and remove it. By the time the paper is removed, though, the scents of the two hives will have mingled, and the bees will not be able to tell the bees from their hive from the bees from the other hive. 

Once the bees are combined, the new hive will be too strong to be attacked again. They should be able to kill any bee that tries it. 

Then, there will peace in the beeyard again.


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## kosh (Apr 6, 2004)

Terri, 

I just got a queen from Rossman apiaries for a split i did on friday. She only cost $15.50 with shipping. This was an Italian queen.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Thanks, I will make a note of that for future problems!


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