????????

[brooksbeefarm]

A lot of good advice Mikey it's your call! The one thing i would do different  if i combine them? I would choose the queen that looked in good shape and had the biggest cluster and kill the other queen. The reason is, if you let them fight it out you might end up with no queen or a injured or crippled queen? I have put one colony over the other with a doubled screen between them, the doubled screen made with a deeper space on the bottom where i can slide a sugar cake or two if needed. The larger colony on the bottom will give some heat too the smaller colony on top. If i wanted to try and keep all the queens. JMHO. Jack

[Jen]

Hi Jack! I like your later suggestion too! I mean Why Not! It's so easy, especially for those of us who don't like to kill a perfectly good queen! Combine two hives with an excluder/newpaper or screened structure to keep both colonies separated, warm and productive over the winter.

Perfect! 

[Lburou]

I've posted this story before, but if no one minds I will post again about the Siberian beekeeper who visited my apiary a few years ago.  He reported that it is common practice, in fact the way the Russian gov't teaches, to combine colonies before storing them for the winter.  The colonies are combined as they are placed 10-12 feet below the surface in a kind of root cellar for the winter, (six months or more).  Combining the hives is done without regard for the queens involved.  He said something like, 'The bees  work it out.'  That is the way he does it in Kazakhstan.  HTH   

P.S.  It has been five years since his visit, and I haven't tried his method yet. 

[eltalia]

I've posted this story before,
(edit)
Combining the hives is done without regard for the queens involved. 
He said something like, 'The bees  work it out.'  That is the way he does it in Kazakhstan.  HTH   

P.S.  It has been five years since his visit, and I haven't tried his method yet. 

Having recently taken to some Skep investigations to build my own I
found much the same methodology practised by those old masters in
doing packages. Whilst they added a caged queen to the package it did
not seem so important to them to seperate queens out from the
communal Skep they used to shake colonies into and then scoop bees from.
In a foreign language (video) the scene did indeed reflect the bees working
it out.
Your description/story and the above are (though) an entirely different
scene to what Mikey.NC has sketchily conveyed, thusfar. 

Bill

[Mikey N.C.]

Bill,
The 4 hives were swarms i caught in may , put in 10 deeps with 3 drawn frames, 7 new foundations. Bees draw out 7 new frames and Q's were laying like this,



Added top boxes, bees never touched them,Q's worked left an right. 4 an 5 frames full of bees but Q's laying shotgun pattern on 2 frames. Some Q's on left side some on right side on box.
Hope that explains.

[Lburou]

Mikey, those frames of brood look healthy and promising to me.  How much capped honey does each hive have for the winter?  I suspect I could overwinter those bees with seven frames if I fed syrup as long as they'll take it and then provide sugar bricks for the balance of the winter.  Your winter is very similar to mine I think.  JMO

[Mikey N.C.]

Lee, that's when the Q's were laying good (July) very few new. Egg's that i seen now.

[Jen]

Same here Mikey, just brood left. They are ramping down for winter

[Lburou]

Lee, that's when the Q's were laying good (July) very few new. Egg's that i seen now.

Okay, seeing those frames threw me. 

[eltalia]

Lee, that's when the Q's were laying good (July) very few new. Egg's that i seen now.

Okay... that was an excellent brood pattern Mikey so by now those bees are your young
winterers, those cells should be partly backfilled with honey and some pollen, the pollen
from late foraging.
So with your thought on "weak"  - which I read as lower numbers for the infrastructure
you've given them - you could make a call safely around bringing the woodware back to
frames covered with bees and loaded with stores, plus maybe two capped frames.
Dividers in if necessary. Seeing as how you are keen on the fondant option it would be wise
to add a 70mm spacer with an observation port to check the fondant consumption, occassionly.
Assuming your roofs are sufficiently insulated to prevent condensation.
All as a way of sorting out a future winter preparation as a set method, allowing always for
the worst weather scenario.
Hope that all helps... cheers

Bill

[Jen]

This is how I do my sugar cake feed. We had a mild winter last year so I didn't insulate the lids, this year I will. It's real easy to lift the lid an inch or two real quick and see how much sugar cake is left.

[apisbees]

Mikey it is to late to do anything now WE ARE LESS THAN 7 DAYS TO WHEN THE DAYS ARE GETTING LONGER, and the bees will want to brood up on their own if the days are warm. On warm days they will take syrup if needed. Do not early feed to encourage brood development but do feed to keep them alive to when nectar and pollen is coming in.