I haven't split yet. Swarms about half go, so you shouldn't lose a colony, queen yeah. I want to plant basswood! Did you buy them in NY? Our area is lots of hay fields, forest, pasture & roadside weeds for the bees to forage. I am TF (treatment free). I like Michael Bush's thoughts on TF. My experience, the 1 ready for winter, made it through with no feeding or treatments. I believe bees from a local source that overwinters in my climate & is TF had a lot to do with it. The bees are acclimated. Since I had a choice, it wasn't ideal to buy bees that were medicated & expect them to survive without it. Without that choice available, I would have got my bees where I could. It is overwhelming sometimes, keep it simple as you want! For me, #1 keep my bees alive #2 get honey. If they swarm, lost some bees, annoying, not the end of the world, no harvest, honey isn't my living. Lose a hive in winter, very sad, but if 1 is left, I can make splits & try again. Hope all goes well for you!