Beesource Beekeeping Forums banner

Unsecessful split

2K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  Michael Bush 
#1 ·
Would like advice after unsuccessful split.

Current situation:

Hive A: this was the queen and several frames of brood from the hive that was split (originally a double brood box hive - now a single). It is very small now but growing (confirmed active queen/brood/etc)

Hive B: this was the other half of the split. Despite having eggs and lots of brood, having been moved from the original box into a box with no queen scent, they did not make a new queen (we are now 2.5 weeks post split, no eggs, no larvae, although there was a queen cell). LOTS of bees. The bottom "brood" box is not about 80% full of honey as is the one medium super that was left with them originally.

Hive C: This was a separate hive that at the time of the split attempt was a double brooder but apparently had re-queened themselves and was very weak at the time. It is now stronger and stronger than Hive A.

Hive B and C are sitting about 10 feet from each other. Hive A was removed to another location about 60 feet away (still is).

Based on this my thought was to go out around lunch one day and take Hive B and put on top of Hive A (newspaper in between) and merge the two. This strengthens Hive A. Then (and here is question 1) I want the foragers to return to Hive C, but will just having Hive B physically gone be enough or do I need to move Hive C over to the exact spot where Hive B was originally?? Or, will they go over to Hive A (which now has Hive B on top of it) even though it is 60 ft away??

Or maybe there is a better plan?? (I do not want to try buying a queen and these are the only hives that I have to work with)


thanks
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I have often split hives and let them raise their own queen. It can sometimes take four to five weeks before the new queen will start laying eggs. You need to give Hive B a few more weeks for the new queen to mate and get settled in to the hive. You'll also want to keep track of the weather during this time. If it is cold and rainy during this process the new queen will have difficulty mating. I have found that when this is the case I only have about a 70 percent success rate of the split getting a new queen.
 
#5 ·
When you split it will take about 12 days before the virgin will hatch. Then it takes her about 5days to mature in the hive 2days to mate then a few more days to start laying. That's if the weather cooperates and she mates on time. It could take a few more days if the weather is bad. So you still have a little while before you have eggs. If you want to know if they are queenless add a frame of eggs and young larva. If they start cells they were queenless. My bet is you still have a virgin that hasn't mated yet.
 
#6 ·
It seems to me if there is no brood and no larvae that is a good sign. It says to me that you have a queen otherwise there would be laying workers making drones. I wait 60 days which is about how long a bee will live in the season.

If there is a flow they will collect nectar. If there isn't a flow what will it matter?
 
#7 ·
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm

If you made the split 24 days ago, there is likely a queen just starting to lay right now, but she may take another 7 days at the most (31 days). If you are less than that, you probably have a virgin queen in the splits. You can put in a frame of eggs and open brood and confirm this. In 48 hours you'll see obvious queen cells if they are queenless.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beespanacea.htm
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top