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Splitting

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queens splits
2K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  Ravenseye 
#1 ·
I have a question regarding splitting. I over wintered 9 hives in 10 frame deeps , two high. On April 18 I split four hives simply by splitting stores and brood equally and added a new queen to the queenless box. They have already refilled the a new second deep and are starting to fill supers. The other hives were a little weaker and have now built up. I don't have ready access to bred queens and it would seem we are at the start of our best flow,(way early)
If I just split the hives equally and move the queenless ones to a different yard, will they make honey while they wait for a new queen of their own making. Am I better off to start some queen cells myself and delay the process till I have cells?
thanks
 
#2 ·
sounds like some great bees if they built that fast. I don't know why you would buy queens when you have stock like that. If you want to maximize honey production as well i'd split one box like you did before. but don't put in a queen. let them make their own. chances are you'll have several on several different frames that you can then put into nucs besides the one you leave in the original non queen box. This way you are making maximum honey on the rest of your hives. If you don't care about the honey this year you can do as described on all 18 of your hives. I wouldn't be surprised if you came out of it with over 50.
 
#3 ·
I Like what kaizen is saying. They'll make honey if they can. You have some time on your queens. If they can make their own, let them but don't let the year get away from you. Queenless hives often make a surplus of honey with no brood to mind.
 
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