Combined hives fail

[crossroads]

I have a top bar hive that's doing pretty good and I removed a hive from a building about 2 months ago. While removing the hive, I never found the queen and there was no brood in the hive, so I gave them brood and honey with hopes they would make a queen. They never made any effort to make a queen, so I decided to combine the 2 hives in preparation for the winter. I made a 1" hole in the division board of the top bar hive and covered it with newspaper, then put the second hive in and sealed the top. A couple days later I found a few dead bees in front of the hive entrance and figured they had eaten through the paper and a few had done battle and were killed, but the rest had been accepted. Today I decided to put the bottom board on and it looked like a lot of dead bees in the screen. So, opened the hive up where the bees were introduced and sure enough, they were dead! They didn't eat through the paper and apparently starved. It's pretty disappointing, I thought I was helping them to get through the winter, but instead I killed them

[farmertrappe]

That sucks, But you made an good educated effort, thats bee keeping sometimes.

[histopicker]

You made a good effort. I have had some success combining hives by shaking the queenless bees onto the ground in front of the good hive. I think they beg their way in.

[hunt4it]

I'm not a bee keeper but with reading this and the other bee threads, I find this extremely educational.  Amazing how mother nature works.  As said before...you made an effort and gave them a better chance than if you hadn't. 

[bk]

You made a good educated choice, crossroads. Sometimes the bees just don't accept our help, even when it kills them.  Sure sounds like you didn't do anything other beeks wouldn't have done under the circumstances. Know it is disappointing, but keep your chin up and hang in there.   Next time, who knows the out come, but keep raising bees and keep doing your best with the info you have at the time.  Good luck on the journey. 

[crossroads]

Thanks guys, it seemed like the right think to do from everything I've read. Next time I'll try something different like shaking them in front of the hive or maybe trap them out so they try to join slow??