Splits with Queen Cells

[Broke-T]

I am making splits this spring with queen cells from another beek. I was planning to move the splits to new yards away from the original hives. The beek I am getting the cells from said this may be a problem in that there may not be enough drones in the new yards to get the queens mated.

I could move the original hives off to the new yard leaving behind the drones.

Will it work to leave the splits in the original yard until the queens are mated if I shake plenty of young bees into the splits?

Johnny

[suttonbeeman]

I make several hundred splits and If I cant move them I do it this way. Take 2 or 3 frames brood (1 or 2 frames open brood...not yet capped) and a frame of honey and put in new box. Bees on open brood will be young nurse bees and will not drift very much. I seldom have any problem doing it this way. First take and shake off all bees on brood and place above queen excluder(this also eliminates the need to find queen) let sit for a couple of hours and the young nurse bees will come up to take care of brood. Remove and put split on new bottom and wait 24 hrs and then insert queen cell or use queen cell protector if you dont wait 24 hrs. THere may be enough drones from other hives in your area anyway. I have made up to as many as 100 and left in yard with less than 10% weak. good luck!

[jesuslives31548]

suttonbeeman..... Very intersting reading, I like you way of doing the splits.

[Allen Dick]

.. First take and shake off all bees on brood and place above queen excluder(this also eliminates the need to find queen) let sit for a couple of hours and the young nurse bees will come up to take care of brood. Remove and put split on new bottom and wait 24 hrs and then insert queen cell or use queen cell protector if you dont wait 24 hrs.


Yup. This is the easy way, and it works well.

Several other tips:

If you are short of floors or don't want to confuse the yard, just put the splits on top of existing hives (not necessarily the one from which they were assembled) using a division board or sheet of plastic under it.

Remember to either take them away before the queens start flying or after they are mated, or be careful to move them in the dark. (Of course such splits can be re-combined with the lower unit for requeening or used as a two-queen unit after the queen is mated and laying -- about three weeks).

For entrances we have 1" auger holes in every brood box. We found that makes for more even hives, and in this instance, some of the bees naturally drift up to the hole in the top box, since it looks the same as the one they have been using, only higher up.

If the weather is nice, leave the lids off on the new splits while you work. The bees come up faster.

Also, put any combs that are being added into the larger parent colonies and move combs that are warm and scented from use into the splits. The parent colonies will take to the cold combs just fine, but splits are inclined to shun them at first. This is especially important in cooler climates.

Make sure your cells never get over 95 degrees F. A few moments in hot sun can destroy them, since they cannot tolerate any overheating, but don't seem to be hurt by being a bit cool as long as it is not overdone.

[bleta12]

If you are not sure about the number of drones, don't get cells but matted queens.
If your queens don't get matted properly, you will lose more than what you think you are saving. Even if everything goes OK, the matting rate is never 100%. In a good weather around 80% plus.


Good luck Gilman

[Benton2569]

Sutton, why do you wait 24 hours before inserting the queen cell?

Can't you take a frame with a queen cell another frame of brood and a frame of honey and drop in a nuc box?

[Allen Dick]

No reply yet, so I'll say why most would wait or use a protector.

The delay gives the bees time to realise they are queenless. Otherwise in some cases, they may damage the cells.

The protector guarantees that the cell is safe even if it goes in early and saves a trip back.

[Ian]

you guys almost make this work sound easy ;)

[Allen Dick]

It is pretty easy if you put the new split on top of a neighbouring hive while you work so you don't have to bend over and lift too much. Of course you have to haul the extra boxes, excluders and lids or dividers into the yard and do some scraping, but if you are organised it goes quickly and and quite smoothly. There is not much inspection involved beyond a glance, and the shaking is quick.

I imagine you probably do this, don't you, Ian?

Of course, one thing a beginner might do that is destructive is leave frames in the sun rather than transferring direct to split -- even minutes in the sun can kill larvae if the sun is direct -- or they shake hard and dislodge the larvae. A quivering shake is what it takes and all the bees don't have to come off the frames. The queen is one of the first to fall.

[Ian]

>>I imagine you probably do this, don't you, Ian?

yup
well kind along the same lines,

I place a queen excluder between the two boxes of strong splitable hives, come back in a few days, open the hives, look for the side with eggs, and take away the side without the queen. I try to keep the parrent hive with a certain amount of brood all depending on the when the split is done in May.
My method involves two trips, and a bit more frame work,
a few weeks later I will skim off more brood from bigger hives to boost smaller hives splits. Helps relieve swarming and makes more honey,
I am interested in what you guys are saying,