The action from in front of the combined hive has increased from dribbles to more bees then the other swarm hive, so today I pulled the paper from between the hives. I had originally placed the lesser hive on top so the other hive would have little disturbance having new-comers in its presence. So today, because they had merged, I pulled all the boxes apart and inspected them and then replaced them with the lesser hive on the bottom. I did this because the other hive had almost a full box of filled comb for the winter stores and with their brood on the bottom, they would spend the fall moving all that honey up to the top as it should be. This way they can spend the fall gathering new nectar and fill more comb. I also placed the feeder back on just to give them more food to store now the two hives were one and had not enough stores for the upcoming winter.
In the whole process the bees were very gentle and I probably didn't need to suit up, but you can never tell this time of year.
Its kind of curious that when I inspected them, they had not merged as I might have expected, I think that both queens have survived the merge and just went on with their own place in the hive. Will have to monitor and see what transpires.
I also discovered a few beetles, but the inspection found them to be mite free, or should I say, no major infusion. I'll make up a mite traps and place inside all the hives just to be safe. Later in the fall, when I winterize, I plan to miticide with oxalic acid just to be safe. Later
Its later and I just finished installing the beetle traps. All three hive had a little more than a few beetles so the traps are just in time. The best hive had the most and I killed about 20 or so and five or six larvae also. Hope it was beetle larvae and not moth worms, will have to look that up, Later
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