TaDa New Queens Are Here.

[Margaret Elisabeth]

Just had word that my ordered mated queen is ready and now I have brood in both hives from new queens. Last years new queen mated with the Fiesty Sheffield Mafia and did produce Fiesty offspring but the colony was dwindling and I put in bees and queen cells from the original colony. I am considering putting the small colony which now has new brood ( previously it was broodless for a time) into a nuc as insurance and splitting the good colony for when the mated queen arrives to provide her with the workers she needs. The only difficulty I can envisage would be finding the queen in the good colony as she was not seen today. My neighbour had a window open and I did not wish to have too many flying around for any length of time while I searched for her.
Opinions please

 

[Erichalfbee]

A little more info,please.
How many frames of brood in the "small" colony and how many in the "good" ?
No queen seen in the latter but did you spot eggs?
Any supers ?

 

[oliver90owner]

Err, splitting a colony into two parts and don't know where the queen is?

Think a tad. What would the bees do in the Q-part?

On a more subtle level. Which part would be quiet just a few minutes after the split and which part would be roaring?

Even if one part had no open brood, where do you think you might find eggs in a day or three (dependent on your bee acumen).

Not a difficult or insurmountable problem?

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

A little more info,please.
How many frames of brood in the "small" colony and how many in the "good" ?
No queen seen in the latter but did you spot eggs?
Any supers ?

The Good Colony has about four frames of Brood at the moment I don't doubt that the queen is there but I am not good at spotting eggs. There was some very young brood and I have another week before the new Queen arrives. There are Three supers on this hive with plenty of bees making and filling comb.

The small colony has some brood (open and sealed) on two frames in the super and a queen cell with a larva present. As I said before I had given this dwindling colony some brood and queen cells with some bees in attendance uniting them over paper. I have fed this hive for the last two weeks as it is a small colony and the weather has been very variable here. The object was to keep the colony going so there were bees to support the new queen when she arrived. Now I have a colony which has built up well in numbers with a new queen and I think will be ok to split. So I am thinking would it be a good idea to do this and move the small colony to a nuc in case something goes awrey with the Queen introduction?

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

Oliver 90 I can see the points you are making.
I know when the Queen will arrive so the plan would be to split the evening before so that I can introduce her to the roaring crowds and hope they become her ardent admiring servants.

 

[oliver90owner]

Another week and they could be hopelessly queenless. Time, if splits are close together, to rid the Q- part of flying bees to make the introduction safer.

Options, options.

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

Another week and they could be hopelessly queenless. Time, if splits are close together, to rid the Q- part of flying bees to make the introduction safer.

Options, options.

Would the flying bees return to their former hive if I split in the evening or should I do it in the afternoon to be safe? They do seem to be flying quite late on some days so I guess I would have to take weather conditions into account.

 

[Erichalfbee]

You have a colony with four frames of brood but with lots of bees that are bringing you in a crop.
A smaller colony on two frames
Do I understand correctly?

What I would do it let the good colony continue as is. I think 4 frames is far too small to split. You'll end up with three small colonies. Yes, they might build up and you will have three next spring but no honey this year.
Introduce the new queen to the small colony and bring them on.