Mapman - thanks for the help, you are near him then?
Sqkcrk- Yes , I strive for the same ideal. Get them at peak when the flow hits, Ours hit last Thursday in the afternoon, the flights in the yard got a purpose to them and there was slop in the brood nest. We manipulate frames alot to keep the brood nest clear for the queen.
No one ever mentions the "momentum factor". We believe that a hive that gets up to strength early looses that excitement of building population(do the field bees get old with nothing to do?), and sometimes does not do as well as the younger hive that hits the mark maybe a little late, but has a younger average age of the bees.
Yes, timing can be everything sometimes. Do you bet on a latter flow(now) and split, or play it safe and get the populations up in case the flow is early and almost done by now(like a couple years ago). We bet the farm on a later flow.
Roland