help with split

[jessbee]

I want to split my one hive this year to make two but I have some questions.

I would like to put a new queen in the split.

How long do I wait to put in the new queen? Right away? After 24 hours?

Do I have to make sure there are no queen cells?

Thanks for your help.

[Jesse]

check out MB's website

www.bushfarms.com

lots of good stuff - including split advice

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm

[jessbee]

Thanks for the links - I've read MB's site and its been a great help, however, I think I read once that you have to wait a little while before introducing a new queen to a split so the bees don't kill her. If that is so, how long do you have to wait?

[Jesse]

If you have the time -
do the split in the morning
wait until dark or the next day to add the queen - if you ordered the queen from a breeder - then leave her in the cage
place the queen cage, candy side up - between two frames of brood
they should release her in a few days
if the candy seems real hard - you can poke through it with a thin nail - just enough to help the bees out


if there is no candy and just a plug - put her in the split and wait a few days, then release her yourself.

[Michael Bush]

>If that is so, how long do you have to wait?

I like overnight. You can get by with two hours if you had to drive a long ways to get there.

[Chrissy Shaw]

Hi, when i make up a split i usually do it two days before i put the caged queens in. I look for a couple things before i introduce the cage. I check to make sure i have a good cover of bees over the brood.

I often split in the same yard and stuff grass in the entrance, but sometimes i add to many older bees and they fly back home. To avoid that i usually make up the split when the bees are in heavy flight and try to use frames of emerging brood and sealed brood. Even still i might get a queen cell started, so i check for those when i check for the right amount of bees. I come back a week later, remove the queen cage and glance again for queen cells i might have missed. If the split is weak, then i sometimes will switch it with another hive in the yard. A week later i check for pollen being brought in the split. I don't need to see the queen if the pollen is heavily coming in.

It is important that there is a nectar flow coming in if you switch stands, one hive in the place of another. If a flow is on the bees will not fiddled with the bees coming in from the field.

Making a new colony this way is great fun. However you actually do yours i wish you the very best of success and may it grow real big for you.

Chrissy