Splitting a Hive

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whizzwheels

House Bee
Joined
Jun 24, 2009
Messages
117
Reaction score
7
Location
Cheshire
Hive Type
WBC
Number of Hives
2
I got a nuc of bees last year and they seem to have come through the winter OK, in fact lots of activity outside the hive this morning with plenty of pollen coming in.
My question is I want a second hive this year it has been susgest to me to move my original hive a couple of meters to the side of where it currently is, then put a new hive with some frames of food on the original location. The bees that are currently out in the fields will come back to this new hive.
Then after a couple of days put a frame of uncapped eggs from the original hive in the new hive, the bees will then make some queen cells.
I know it is unlikely to get any honey out of the new hive this year, but I just want to increase my hive numbers.
Does this seem like a good idea?

Andrew

:grouphug:
 
IDoes this seem like a good idea?

:

Not at all.

Let the colony grow in peace and don't hesitate.

Get from somewhere a laying queen and make a 3 frame nuc when you hive is big enough. Enough means 4 boxes.

If the hive tryes to swarm, make a false swarm and you have 2 hives - like you told the method.
 
Waiting untill the colony is strong and then artificially swarming them is good advice but with my bees they swarm before filling 2 box's let alone 4. Keep an eye on them and split when they start buiding queen cells has to be better advice than setting an arbitary no.of box's or thinking of a specific date .
 
My first comment; When!?! Certainly not now!!

If you do as has been susgested, your queen will likely be a poor example - a scrub queen.

Wait until they are almost ready to swarm and do an artificial swarm. Split into three(?) if strong enough.

Regards, RAB
 
I was told to try splitting the hive towards the end of May.
It is a 2009 Queen is the current hive so hopefully they should not be too eager to swarm this year!

Andrew
 
I was told to try splitting the hive towards the end of May.
It is a 2009 Queen is the current hive so hopefully they should not be too eager to swarm this year!

Andrew

I suppose that the hive has 4 boxes at the en of may. If you get another laying queen, then you may have two 2 box hives. Those hives are ready to get honey yield in July - if you have there nectar flowers.
 
The colony will be ready to split when it is ready and not to a date.

The easiest way is to build them up to a double brood box, insert a queen excluder between the two boxes and depending on your abilities with in four days or less you will know where the queen is.

You can then take off the queenless part, leaving supers with the queen right brood box, and then you can either, a, buy in a new queen and introduce her, or allow your split to produce a queen, knocking out the most advanced cells so as to have one from a young larvae, or same as before but splitting it in two so as to double your chances of success.

Bees do nothing by the clock, it all depends on natural factors, and indeed by May's end it might be the right time and again it may well not be.

Patience.

PH
 
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