timing of cut down splits?

[allrawpaul]

Thanks for the info about splitting on your website Michael Bush! The main flow here starts about june first. Some of my hives are getting pretty strong,(lots of sugar syrup) and I am running out of drawn comb for them to expand up into. It is still cool and wet here, very little flying weather. They dont seem enthusiastic about drawing new comb and I dont have new queens so I want to reduce the chance of swarming by splitting my largest colonys. Ive been reversing, but dont fully trust that a colony wont swarm without a capped honey reserve overhead. I dont want hives eight feet tall either, so I want to do cut down splits on my biggest hives on May first, and two weeks later cut down a few more hives(putting most of the honey and pollen, the queen and open brood in the new split, except one frame of eggs, of course.) Is that timing ok? Also, do you feed the new split? for how long? and how long does it usually take for the new split to get the point where they are ready to draw comb and to expand into a new box? Thanks! Paul.

[Chef Isaac]

Paul:

i would not split before the flow since we only have one flow. You wan to maximize your field force for our flow since we only have one. I would wait and then after the flow, make several late summer splits to go into winter.

Do you need queens?

You might or might not need to feed your splits depending on when you do them and how many bees went with the split.

[allrawpaul]

Thanks Isaac! Do you have extra queens this time of year? Probably I wont need queens, because the type of split I am scheming about is designed to leave the old hive queenless so it wont swarm. The goal is to leave all the foragers and capped brood in the old hive so they can consentrate entirely on wax and honey production, since they have no brood to raise except for one frame of eggs which will enable them to slowly raise an emergency queen. I like the concept, so I am gonna give it a shot. Will let you know how it works out!

[Michael Bush]

It's early for a cut down. I'd just do a split with the split right next door. Then two weeks before the flow you can do a cutdown and combine:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm#cutdowncombine