YorkshireNewbee · Yorkshire, UK · Beginners · Aug 26, 2026
Combine my two weak colonies or limp both into winter? Struggling with the "take your losses in the fall" thing
First year in Yorkshire, started with two nucs, and neither has done brilliantly. One's covering about four frames of bees with a laying queen and a mediocre pattern. The other is maybe three frames, queen present and laying but the colony just never built up all summer.
Everyone quotes 'take your losses in the fall' at me and says newspaper-combine them into one decent colony. But killing a laying queen feels drastic, and if I combine I go into my first winter with ONE hive and zero margin for error. If I keep both and feed hard, don't I at least have two lottery tickets? Or am I just choosing to watch two colonies die slowly instead of one live? What would you actually do — not the proverb, the actual decision.
The proverb survives because it is usually right. Two colonies of 3–4 frames in Yorkshire are two dead colonies in February; one colony of 7 frames, fed properly, is a real chance. But first answer WHY they are weak. If one has disease, combining spreads it. If both are just poorly mated queens that never got going, combine on the better queen, feed 2:1, and buy your margin back next spring with a split.
PerthshireBees · Aug 26, 2026
I'd combine, and I say that as someone who limped two weak hives into a Perthshire winter in my second year out of exactly your sentiment. Both were dead by January and I got no spring split from either. One strong colony IS your margin for error — it's the thing you split next May to get back to two.
DrentseBij · Aug 26, 2026
Small dissent: four frames of bees in late August with a laying queen isn't hopeless if it's healthy — I've wintered plenty of Drenthe colonies that size with good feeding and insulation. The THREE-frame one is the real doubt. An option nobody's mentioned: keep the 4-framer as is, and shake out or combine only the 3-framer. Half the proverb, half the lottery.
YorkshireNewbee · Aug 27, 2026
Genuinely torn but leaning towards ImkerinLena and PerthshireBees — no signs of disease in either, patterns just meh, so I think it's two duff queens. Newspaper combine this weekend on the better one, feed like mad, split in May. Wish me luck.