Need help..making splits???

**AJ Boss** · 07-15-2012, 05:07 PM

Hi, Checked My 2 hives today.... well the swarm i caught did not make it which i expected seeing I killed most of them, anyway;

both of my 10 frame Hives are doing very well, one seems a bit stronger though, I added a med hive body to each today, I think I'll give them a week or to again at the rate they are going now the meds should be at least 75% filled by then. I want to do as many splits as possible for the rest of the year, as our main flow starts around Feb and ends in May, i have been told. we have no winter here only dry and wet season, here is some info on our climate http://www.trinidad-and-tobago.climatemps.com/

Can I get an idea from you guys of options different methods etc that might be good for me?

Like do I have to move the nuc miles away?
How many could I make from each hive?
Which is the best method (no one here sells queens)?
Based on the climate here can I make '3 frame' Nucs?

**Vance G** · 07-15-2012, 08:55 PM

Go to Michael Bush'e website and he has excellent information on all manner of beekeeping questions. Splitting can be as simple as setting a new bottom board facing your existing hive. You probably are just running one hive body. Take half the bees and brood and put them in order in that new box and bottom board and fill in the empty half with foundation or drawn comb. In five days, inspect the bees and find which one has eggs. That one has the queen. Move her colony to their new location, it does not need to be very far at all. The queenless colony will need the workforce to build a new queen and colony and the one with the queen will be replenished by the eggs she keeps laying. Check the side without the queen carefully and make sure they have started queen cells. If they have stay out of it for most of a month and they should have their new queen raised any laying. If they didn't manage to raise a queen, they will probably have filled the box with honey as a consolation prize for you. Then you can recombine the remaining bees with a weak colony and try again.