[EnormousPatio]

Hey guys,

I’m down in Florida and, as you can imagine, the bees have been doing really well and its been time for a split.

I set up a brood box about 2 feet away from the parent hive, and removed five frames from the parent hive, including the Queen and put them in the new brood box. Unfortunately, since I did that, I haven’t seen much, if any, activity out of the new split. All of that traffic seems to be going back-and-forth from the parent hive.
I tried using the method of putting some brush out front of those colonies to force a reorientation to no avail. So now I’m a little bit stuck - what should I do to get foragers to orientate to the new hive location?

Sidenote, I am urban beekeeping so moving the bees to another location is not an option.

Thanks guys!

 

[Johnnymms]

All your flying workforce returned to the parent hive. The nurse bees and Queen that remain in the split are not going to be flying which is why you don't see much activity. I would grab a frame or two of brood from the parent hive and shake the bees into the split so you know they will have enough workers to keep things going. At only 2ft away you aren't going to be able to do anything to keep the foragers from returning to the parent hive.

 

[NUBE]

You did fine for the most part. The only thing I would recommend is giving the new split with the queen in it another frame shake, or two or three, of bees from the original hive. At this point, the best frames to shake would be those with lots of festooning bees, trying to draw comb. Comb builders are young enough that they likely haven’t been out of the hive yet, but old enough that many of them could be flying in a matter of days. So long as the split has plenty of food in the comb, and enough bees to feed and cover brood, they will be good, and likely flying in a week or so.

 

[Gray Goose]

Hey guys,

I’m down in Florida and, as you can imagine, the bees have been doing really well and its been time for a split.

I set up a brood box about 2 feet away from the parent hive, and removed five frames from the parent hive, including the Queen and put them in the new brood box. Unfortunately, since I did that, I haven’t seen much, if any, activity out of the new split. All of that traffic seems to be going back-and-forth from the parent hive.
I tried using the method of putting some brush out front of those colonies to force a reorientation to no avail. So now I’m a little bit stuck - what should I do to get foragers to orientate to the new hive location?

Sidenote, I am urban beekeeping so moving the bees to another location is not an option.

Thanks guys!

you did fine.
realize the "oriented" bees go back to the old location.
Hence you want a frame of stores in the new split.
if you did that, the scene you describe is normal.
the new split will promote new foragers and in a few weeks seem more normal.

Now the "next" part
in the old location are several queen cells,
I would normally go in and split the remainder again.
leave them there side by side, some bees go left some go right.
then you should have 2 chances to get a good queen mated.
IF you prefer to not have 3 hives, sell one or wait until the new queens are laying.
dispatch the poorer on, and re combine. IF they both look good dispatch the old queen and keep the 2 new young ones, add 1/2 the bees and frmes from the dispatched queen to the other 2 hives.

GG

 

[William Bagwell]

Comb builders are young enough that they likely haven’t been out of the hive yet, but old enough that many of them could be flying in a matter of days.

Was not my experience. Idiots Apiary Nearly three years ago but do remember peeking in and swear that virtually every one flew back! That the hive being split had swarmed the previous day may have changed the age demographics a bit. Logically it should have been the other way...

 

[EnormousPatio]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Sounds like I pretty much did things right. I put a feeder on the new split (the one that has no traffic going to it) just to be sure they have some additional food.

 

[Gray Goose]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Sounds like I pretty much did things right. I put a feeder on the new split (the one that has no traffic going to it) just to be sure they have some additional food.

good plan
a frame of stores will also work

I would avoid scented and front entrance feeders.
bucket or in hive unscented is fine.
because also they have no guard bees.....
I also reduce the entrance to 1-2 inches, open when there is traffic jams. (3weeks or so)
easier to guard, less heat loss.

GG

 

[EnormousPatio]

good plan
a frame of stores will also work

I would avoid scented and front entrance feeders.
bucket or in hive unscented is fine.
because also they have no guard bees.....
I also reduce the entrance to 1-2 inches, open when there is traffic jams. (3weeks or so)
easier to guard, less heat loss.

GG

Good call on the entrance reduction. I use guardian entrances on my hives to help combat beetle issues down here.. they definitely help.

 

[RayMarler]

When pulling the queen away as a split, be sure she has stores frames yes, but also she needs a frame or frames of actively emerging sealed brood. This way she has nurse bees emerging immediately that will take care of her and any new brood she lays. Helps her get along even if most of the bees fly back to the original hive location.

 

[thill]

Just make sure you have enough food on the split, since it will be all nurse bees and the queen. I always put a quart of syrup on top of new splits, just to be safe. Seems to stimulate them to draw comb faster than just honey frames.

Hope it works out well for you.