I just did and we are much farther North than you. At this time of year think I'll try and overwinter them on a deep and a medium and hopefully have a big spring build up.

 

Since i have two deeps and two supers pretty much loaded with bees I thought I would split it evenly 1 deep 1 super each. But I am not sure about how or when to incorporate an additional deep in each hive, this year or wait till spring. I dont want to give too much space too soon for fear of wax moths? But maybe now is the time?

 

I did 3 frame splits today of both deeps and mediums, should build up to decent single to overwinter.

 

I just split 8 hives in Louisville on Saturday.You may have to feed them some to get them ready for winter(depends on how much of a fall flow we get)but you should be alright.If they come up light you can always combine in the fall or stack your boxes on double screens.

 

Ok I am feeling more comfortable but have another question regarding drones. I plan on one of the splits making thier own queen which can take about 30 days for her to hatch if I remember correctly and Drones need to be flying for her to get impregnated. When do the drones go away? or in other words when would it be too late for this? I know there is alot of variables but I am somewhat assuming by splitting a large well stocked hive (2 deeps 2 medium supers) they should have sufficient stores. Correct me if i am wrong.

Thanks

 

Bee Math has a queen emerging 16 days after the egg was laid or 8 days after being capped. I think what you're referring to is that it takes about a month to get from egg to *laying* queen (hatched, hardened, mated & settled).

The drone population should be peaking just about now, so there should be plenty of eligible mates in any nearby DCAs. Around here, the workers generally don't kick them out until September/October.

I have a couple of mating nucs where the queens never returned, so I gave them each a frame of mixed brood yesterday so they can start all over again. Last year, I had an emergency queen develop & mate near the middle of September. She did just fine.

Still plenty of time yet. Just throw the feed to them when you're growing a queen.

 

Usually around 28 days from egg to laying eggs so you have plenty of time.We grafted some queens last year right up to the beginning of Sept. which is probably too late here in Kentucky but I planned on wintering them indoors so they didnt need as many bees.It worked out reasonably well,about 10 out of 14 survived.