Walk Away Split

[onefastroadking]

I have a couple of questions about doing a walk away split to get a third colony up and running.

First, is it a simple as it sounds and what are the chaces if any that the bees will fail to make a new queen?

Does it matter if the queen goes to the new hive or should she stay in the one that is being split?

When half of the frames are put in the new hive should they be pushed side by side or left apart with new frames put between them.

Thanks in advance

Richard

[scdw43]

Just make sure there are eggs in the one without the queen.

[Barry]

A week after splitting, I like to go back and find a frame with newly laid eggs and put it in the queenless hive.

[StevenG]

Yes, it is as easy as it sounds. Be sure there are several frames of eggs, young brood, honey and pollen in your queenless split. Also, add new frames to the outside, you need to keep the cluster together so the brood doesn't chill, gives them a better chance to cluster and survive if there's a cold snap. I usually feed them also, until they're as strong as I'd like.
Regards,
Steven

[hilreal]

If questions read up at Michael Bush's site. http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm

[Coach B]

First, is it a simple as it sounds and what are the chaces if any that the bees will fail to make a new queen?

There are others with more experience but I'll relate my attempt at it last spring as a brand new beek. Got two nucs last spring, both did well, one went gangbusters. Within seven or eight weeks one of them had nearly filled two deeps and I found a bunch of swarm cells late in the flow. I was about to go out of town for awhile and decided to walk away split it. Didn't move frames, didn't feed, simply picked up the top box with most of the swarm cells and plopped it down right next to the other one. The pair ended up being my two strogest colonies headed into this spring fwiw. It really was that easy, or maybe I was just lucky. Obviously, you would want to make sure that you find the queen or that at least both had eggs to make a new one plus some stores.