Uniting colonies

[honeylover]

I am in a quandary whether to unite in first week of April or not. Previous experience, which has all been successful has been in warmer summer months. What are the pros and cons of doing in April ?

Thanks

M

[lindsay s]

What's the reason for uniting your colonies?

[honeylover]

I have been offered some colonies of dark local bees. Currently I have some light coloured Queens which I want rid off. I thought if I removed the light Qs, gave the colonies a day without then did the usual S Times trick I would get my dark bees and minimum light Drones. Workable ?

M

[prakel]

We've already requeened a couple of colonies which had drone-layers and united the overwintered mating nucs that the replacement queens were taken from with similar sized units -there's nothing else to do with them at this time of year. In most years this is usual enough down here by the strt of April.

[lindsay s]

Pros. Given your location it’s unlikely there will be many if any newly hatched drones in your hives unless the yellow bees are very prolific. You could wait until late April or early May when the weather should be better and the colonies are stronger. I would remove any drone brood from the yellow hives in the meantime. Don’t kill the yellow queens somebody somewhere might want or need them.
Cons. The weather! I’m lucky if I can manage a few very quick inspections in April and I’m sure you’ll want to assess the colonies properly before uniting. Also you’ll want to have enough bees and stores in the hives to keep the brood warm and fed. If you lose your dark queens while uniting any emergency queens are unlikely to get mated so early in the season.
Remember the WEATHER; Jurassic Coast and North West Scotland are a long long way apart.

[prakel]

Jurassic Coast and North West Scotland are a long long way apart.

This is why I include location rather than something more generic. But, please don't be under any illusions about the subtropical nature of this area, there are a lot of local beekeepers who can't get into their hives before the end of April because of the weather...

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The earliest/latest successful unite we've done here was in early February which might have been as cold as early April in the far north -I mentioned this on the forum at the time -poss 2013 (from memory). Not a recommendation for other people in any way, just a comment on how tough bees can be.