anyone making splits in the north

[tbb39]

Got to ask is anyone making any splits in Michigan? cold weather has been holding me back. nighttime temps still in the 30ts. and still no drones on my end. but i just had a major bee hatch and the hive is jammed with bees.

[the doc]

drones have hatched here but still a bit to cold. anyone in mich seen any swarm cells yet?

[Jeremy_K]

My hive is packed with bees. Lots of drones, no swarm cells yet. I'm in Upstate NY.

[GeeBee]

I'm from Lansing Michigan, I have tons of drones, but no swarm cells yet. Just the one possible supercedure at home, and no evidence of queen cells of any kind in my 3 hives at work. Most of my drones even are in the hive at home with the supercede cell. At work the drone population is lower and more normal looking. Also I haven't heard of any swarms in my local bee club yet, although the more experienced keepers are concerned about swarms starting up in the next week or two. I'm too inexperienced to accurately make a prediction myself however.

[Jon F]

Im in northern illinois. Tons of bees in my hives, lots of drones, have saw some swarm cells, and i have sucessfully made several splits already. These last couple nigts its been getting into the 20s ( it was in the 80s during the days a couple weeks ago, now its turning colder, but its warming again) but the splits are still doing fine. Just make sure to load it with tons of bees.

[Northwest PA Beekeeper]

Have seen drones in and out. I know I need to move my hive bodies around - the one hive which has 4 hive bodies on (I don't deal in small supers), the bees seem to be in the 3rd body. I need to move it down below so the bees feel like they got lots of room. We are having a cold spell right now, but due to warm up this weekend. I fully expect to start hearing about swarms either next week or the week of the 23rd.

[tbb39]

with that 2 weeks of 70 to 80 deg weather we had in march my queen went nuts. I got more bees in one hive then i would have in june or july

[AJ Farms]

I'm ready to field the questions and remarks on my crazt moves and unconventional ways. That said I frequent this site but for the most part live in my own little world and I'm not afraid to fail thinking different than others and setting my own rules based on what I see. I have had drone brood since March 10th. I waited until last weekend April 7th to make my first 3 splits to use as my nurse colonies for this season. I gave a real quick inspection this evening to judge their progress. 2 of the 3 have capped queen cells and the third will probably be capped either by now but defiantely by the morning. Lots of Drones crawling on the frames and lots more ready to emerge. They are calling for 4 days of rain starting Saturday so hopefully that will give the drones time to build the urge to get out and fly and get familiar in time for the queens to come out and find them. If not then I can always start over and try again. I also have 4 more douple deep colonies that are bulging at the seams that I hope to get a chance to go through and see what they have to offer.

[tandemrx]

If Wisconsin info is any help (very southern) . . . Had one local beekeeper already have a swarm, I almost didn't believe him because temps have gotten pretty cold again, but he caught it, so hard to dismiss it (doubt it was an absconding hive).

My observation hive has tried to swarm the last 2 days (temps barely up to 60), but either haven't had enough warmth to complete it or most likely they can't seem to convince the queen to leave. But this is an artificial situation because queen was able to quickly fill the entire hive with brood and population is exploding yet I feel obliged to feed it because they have no stores in such a small hive. I expect them to swarm in the next week but it is either going to be cold or raining for the next week. (2 queen cells, at least one of which I can see a larvae - just can't look in the other one, but they are at least 3 days from being capped).

I have a few drones around, but not in all hives yet and they are sparse.