Proximity Check

italic63 · Mar 31, 2023

Hello,
as mentioned I want to attempt my first split in a couple of weeks. Question I have is due to space limitations, can I move the queen into a new hive literally next to the original one? I read all sorts of scary advice on the net including the need to move the queen and some stores 3-4 miles away! How big do people think my garden is???
Any advice very welcome

Newbeeneil · Mar 31, 2023

Yes!
Just make sure she has plenty of nurse bees with her and a good frame of stores and she will be fine.

Edit. I should have said the reason you may want to move a queen away is that you will lose all the foragers back to the original hive if they are in the same apiary. If you make sure the queen has lots of nurse bees the loss of foragers will not be a problem. And if you give them plenty of stores the nurse bees will not have to forage for a while.

Murox · Mar 31, 2023

Have you considered using a vertical split ? there is an excellent article in the stickies section about Demaree.

italic63 · Mar 31, 2023

Newbeeneil said:
Yes!
Just make sure she has plenty of nurse bees with her and a good frame of stores and she will be fine.

Edit. I should have said the reason you may want to move a queen away is that you will lose all the foragers back to the original hive if they are in the same apiary. If you make sure the queen has lots of nurse bees the loss of foragers will not be a problem. And if you give them plenty of stores the nurse bees will not have to forage for a while.

Fantastic. Thank you so much. Love this forum. Always manages to cheer me up!

.
Should I feed the smaller colony? Both?
Thanks again

italic63 · Mar 31, 2023

Murox said:
Have you considered using a vertical split ? there is an excellent article in the stickies section about Demaree.

Very scary

Newbeeneil · Mar 31, 2023

italic63 said:
Fantastic. Thank you so much. Love this forum. Always manages to cheer me up! .
Should I feed the smaller colony? Both?
Thanks again

Personally I wouldn't feed. If the hive/nuc is well stocked with bees and stores they should do fine,

jenkinsbrynmair · Mar 31, 2023

put the queen in a nuc with a frame or two of brood, some drawn comb and shake two or three more frames of bees in with her, just move them to the other side of the garden if you can, or a few feet away. You don't need to feed the hive you took her out of, and as long as you leave a frame of stores with the queen in the nuc, they won't need feeding