Beekeepers have a hard time killing queens. I understand it — you’ve watched a colony, invested time, maybe even felt something like affection for a particular hive’s personality. Deciding to combine two struggling colonies, which means sacrificing one queen, feels like a failure. I’ve talked myself out of the right decision for this reason more than once. But the truth is that two weak colonies entering winter have a much lower combined survival rate than one strong colony does. The math is not sentimental.
The newspaper method is the standard way to combine two colonies because it works reliably without much drama. The mechanics are simple: the paper creates a barrier that forces the two populations to come together gradually, chewing through it over 24–48 hours while they exchange scents and gradually accept each other. By the time they meet, the pheromone gradient has equalized enough that the aggression is dramatically reduced.
When to Combine — and When Not To
Combining is the right call in several situations:
- Two weak colonies in fall: If either colony has fewer than four frames of bees going into September, combining gives you one colony with enough population to form a viable winter cluster.
- A queenless colony with no viable queen cell: Rather than waiting weeks for a new queen that may not materialize, combining the queenless bees into a queen-right colony is faster and more reliable.
- After a failed requeening: If an introduced queen was rejected and you’re out of replacement queens, the bees need to join a functional colony.
- A colony that has failed to build up after a long dearth: Some small colonies simply won’t recover. Combining early gives their surviving bees a productive home.
Combining is NOT the right call when one colony has a known disease problem. American foulbrood in particular — if you suspect it, isolate and consult your state apiarist before combining anything. Merging a diseased colony into a healthy one just destroys two colonies instead of one.
Choosing Which Queen to Keep
Before you combine, decide which queen survives. Generally, keep the younger, more productive queen. If one colony is queenless, the decision is made for you. If both have queens, look at:
- Age: Younger queens lay more consistently
- Brood pattern: A solid, tight pattern indicates a productive, healthy queen
- Temperament: If one colony is significantly more aggressive, their queen’s genetics will carry into the combined population
- Productivity: If one colony was outperforming the other, keep that queen
Find and remove the queen you’re not keeping before you start the combine. Don’t wait and hope the bees sort it out — they will, but the resulting fighting is stressful and you’ll lose worker bees in the process.
Step-by-Step: The Newspaper Combine
- On the evening before or morning of the combine, find and remove the unwanted queen. Dispatch her quickly and cleanly.
- Move the colony you’re absorbing to be adjacent to the queen-right colony, or move it directly on top of the queen-right colony’s stand the night before.
- Remove the outer cover and inner cover from the queen-right (bottom) colony.
- Place a single sheet of standard newspaper over the top bars of the queen-right hive. Make two or three small slits in the newspaper with your hive tool — these help the bees start chewing through, but slowly.
- Set the boxes from the second colony directly on top of the newspaper.
- Replace the inner cover and outer cover. Close up and leave alone for 48–72 hours.
- Return after three days to confirm the newspaper has been chewed away, bees are mingling normally, and there’s no fighting visible.
What to Do After Combining
Inspect three to five days after the combine. Look for:
- Paper removed (good sign)
- Bees calm and integrated (no fighting clusters)
- Queen laying in a normal pattern in the lower brood nest
- Total population stronger than either colony was separately
If you find fighting — bees locked together in balls, lots of dead bees — the combine wasn’t fully accepted. This is rare with the newspaper method but can happen if you accidentally left a queen in the absorbed colony, or if disease was present. Investigate the cause rather than assuming failure.
Common Mistakes When Combining
- Not removing one queen first: Two queens will fight and one will die anyway, but the process causes unnecessary losses.
- Combining during active robbing season: The disruption of a combine can attract robbers from neighboring hives. Do it in the evening when flying has slowed.
- Using wet or wrinkled newspaper: The newspaper needs to be intact enough to delay contact for 24–48 hours. Torn or already wet paper speeds the process too much.
- Combining a diseased hive: When in doubt about disease status, get a diagnosis before merging.
Combining two weak hives is a pragmatic decision that serves the bees more than it serves our attachment to having more colonies. One strong hive heading into fall is worth far more than two marginal ones. Make the call when the data tells you to, do it cleanly, and your combined colony will thank you with a healthy winter survival.