Splitting Hive Options For Beginner

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

judy12

New Bee
Joined
Jul 21, 2022
Messages
88
Reaction score
44
Location
Brompton Ralph
Number of Hives
5
I was told this method for swarm control by a more experienced beekeeper: Set up a new hive with broodbox and frames some way away. Move the empty brood box aside. Move the old brood box you want to split and set on new floor. 3. Move frames with brood from old brood box to new bb, being careful to brush the bees, and queen if you see her back into the old bb. Close and move new bb with brood to old site. The idea of this is to separate 1 from 3: the queen from fly]ing bees and brood. Does this sound sensible?
 
No. The queen and a frame of brood goes on the old site with supers and flyers
The brood goes away. Next to your new hive is ok.
Look up Pagden.
 
I was told this method for swarm control by a more experienced beekeeper: Set up a new hive with broodbox and frames some way away. Move the empty brood box aside. Move the old brood box you want to split and set on new floor. 3. Move frames with brood from old brood box to new bb, being careful to brush the bees, and queen if you see her back into the old bb. Close and move new bb with brood to old site. The idea of this is to separate 1 from 3: the queen from fly]ing bees and brood. Does this sound sensible?
This is a very old thread, you would have done better to start a new one. Got confused with your moving boxes around, are you suggesting a pagden as in swarm control?
 
I've done different iterations of a pagden, this is more like the 'ELTALIA' (brings back bad memories) school of swarm control @judy12 where he made out he had bumper crops. Moving the queen away from the flying bees does emulate something close to a leaving swarm, but, with only old worker bees looking after brood their hypopharyngeal glands would have to revert back to look after the brood. You would have to include nurse bees as well as the old workers. Stick to the normal pagden method it is less confusing.
 
I was told this method for swarm control by a more experienced beekeeper: Set up a new hive with broodbox and frames some way away. Move the empty brood box aside. Move the old brood box you want to split and set on new floor. 3. Move frames with brood from old brood box to new bb, being careful to brush the bees, and queen if you see her back into the old bb. Close and move new bb with brood to old site. The idea of this is to separate 1 from 3: the queen from fly]ing bees and brood. Does this sound sensible?

I guess the first question is: can you find the queen so you know for certain which box she will be in?

Or is this a case of a beginner finding charged queen cells and needing to deal with the situation without knowing where she is?

James
 
Think I'll stick to the Pagden method - ending up with a full brood box and only flying bees sounds too weird - you're right Anduril.
 
Back
Top