[Goldenman]

What is your process for making splits or making nucs?

Do you move half the split to another physical location or is the fact that both hives have nurse bees enough to keep the bees separated even in close proximity. even if 1 is without a queen?The purpose for me would be to let them know for 24 hours they are queen less and I add a cell.

 

[My-smokepole]

People do it both ways. Seeing I have multiple yards that I visit. I move them to the next yard.

 

[tsmullins]

What is your process for making splits or making nucs?

Do you move half the split to another physical location or is the fact that both hives have nurse bees enough to keep the bees separated even in close proximity. even if 1 is without a queen?The purpose for me would be to let them know for 24 hours they are queen less and I add a cell.

Like Smoke said,

Some people move splits, some don't. I have done it both ways. Since I keep bees at two places, I move my splits. The reason I move my splits is, once all the bees from the split returned to the parent hive.

Shane

 

[Delta Bay]

If you are planning on keeping them in the same yard it would be best to place the queenless nucs in a dark room for 24 hours then place them on their stand and introduce the cell. Right around dusk may be helpful.

 

[Michael Bush]

You just need to account for drift in some way. If you make two hives out of one and both face the old location, you get bees having to decide where to go. If you shake extra bees into the new location probably half of those will stay and you can account in that way. These are the two most common methods. It also doesn't hurt to put a leafy branch in front of the new location to encourage more reorientation, but most field bees, even if they do reorient, will fly back to the old location on autopilot and when they see a hive there will forget all about the new location. If there is no hive there, then they tend to remember the new location...