[PaBill]

What is the preferred hive body for a split? deep, med or nuc? I have 2 hives, each with 2 deeps drawn from packages this spring. I have added med. supers with plastic frames hoping to get some honey this year but they aren't drawing the plastic frames worth anything so I'm contemplating building for numbers instead. I figured since I hived the packages in a 10 frame deep why cant I make a split using them? any thoughts or recommendations welcome..

 

[GaryG74]

I use the same size nuc or hive body that the frames are that I will be using. I haven't had much luck with plastic frames either. Needs to be a good nectar flow going for the bees to draw out plastic in my experience.

 

[Tenbears]

You can do splits from the hive if you like. since you are running deep hive bodies, I would use deep Nucs.
With that said, consider this. If the bees are drawing the frames no matter how slowly, leave the super on. When the dearth hits your area in about 3 weeks feed the heck out of them. 1 to1 syrup. they will continue to draw the comb. then when once the super is drawn stop feeding. the bees will move any stores down to the hive body or consume it through the remainder of the dearth. When the fall flow begins you will have a drawn super for the bees to fill. and a good strong hive to overwinter. IMHO far better to have one or two strong hives that will winter than a bunch of weak ones that won't