[louborges]

I started beekeeping last year and I really enjoy working with the bees. They have done really well. I want to increase the number of hives I have. I currently have two that are doing well. I'm not too concerned about getting a lot of honey this fall so I would like to make some splits. I've read about splits but what I'm curious about is how many 5 frame nuc's could I make from one strong hive? I will stimulate by feeding to get them going even stronger. Here is what I'm thinking of doing. Take three sets frames of brood from my 10 frame hive and make three nuc's and add two empty frames each to make it a 5 frame nuc(2 empty plus 3 brood). I would do this just before swarm season. I would need two other queens or let them raise their own. After making the 3 nuc's I would continue to feed. Will this work?

 

[alpha6]

Well it would work IF you actually had 9 full frames of brood and more down below otherwise you would be setting your strong hive back too much. You would also need three queens not two to make three splits. You would IMHO be much better off making two stronger splits and building them up. This would give the two nucs a much better chance of building up well for the winter.

 

[louborges]

What if I give them a week or two between pulling frames?

 

[BEES4U]

What if I give them a week or two between pulling frames?

You could pull capped brood every 7 - 10 days
Ernie

 

[louborges]

I would think most of the frames would have capped brood. If I buy two queens plus the existing queen I should be able to split all at once, No??

 

[BEES4U]

I would think most of the frames would have capped brood. If I buy two queens plus the existing queen I should be able to split all at once, No??

If you can hit them at the right time, like just before they swarm you can pull out 4 easily.
Ernie

 

[louborges]

you can pull out 4 easily.
Ernie

I was thinking 3 but 4? I guess it all depends on how many bees I have. Just for the purpose of discussion If I made mini nucs with one frame in July and added a laying queen and fed heavily, what are the chances of growing the nuc to winter over successfully

 

[chillardbee]

Here's something I had done. All my hives are stimulated in early spring with supplement and are treated the same and are equalized so that by the last week in march they are pretty well all the same strength. there are a few that are always better then the others (go figure) and I picked out 4 hives that I would consider the best of the best. While my other hives were moved into pollination, I had kept back these 4 hives and (exploded) them towards the end of the maple/dandilion flow.

For each colony I layed out 5 nuc boxs and had an extra super with 6 frames set inside. I made up my nucs while looking for the queen. when i found the queen I set her into the super (she's on a brood frame) and give them 2 other frames from that hive that did not have brood on it. In each nuc, 3 frames of brood were given, with a least one frame capped brood and one frame with eggs (wether those eggs be few or many). the nucs were loaded up and took to another yard (that must be do to prevent bees from returning to original hive) and the super in which I put the queen was put back to the original place where the hive satto catch the feild force. (an impressive feild force it was, it equaled 4 frames of bees)

the nucs were allowed to rear there own queen. By the end of the first week in june they were transfered to singles, and about a month later they were given an excluder with a shallow which they had filled up nicely. A second brood chamber could be added instead if you wanted to overwinter a double. As it were, I overwintered them as singles and doubled them up the following spring, those were some pretty awsome hives.

So to sum it all up. it is possible to make 5 nucs from a hive with the sixth one kept back with the queen. Only, be sure that your colony is in a position that it looks like it could pop a swarm at any moment and where out of the 18 frames that are in the hive that 16 of them have brood.

 

[AmericasBeekeeper]

We did just as you described last year to make 15 hives.

 

[louborges]

When I make my first split pulling I will be letting them raise their own queen by providing them with one frame of fresh eggs. I never have done this before. Where will the queen cells be? where the eggs are or do they move them to the bottom of the frame? About how many queen cells will they make? Could I cut some out and move them to another nuc?

 

[devdog108]

Hey Lou,

What i did thanks to Ray Marler, was took 2 fresh framesof eggs out, and one honey and pollen/honey and then a new foundation one. I moved them into a Nuc, shook in some house bees from another frame and closed it up. I switched the 2 hive positions to let them pick up a little field force as well. Left them alone for 8 days and went back and this is what i found. There were a total of 8 queen cups with Larvae.

http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/nn270/devildog108/First Split/

When I found that, I took 2 frames that had 4 queen cells on them and put them in another Nuc. Grabbed another frame of fresh laid eggs and another one of honey/pollen and put it in the 2nd Nuc. They have been that way Since the 14th. Yesterday, they, along with the other Nuc and the big hive were all bringing in pollen and nectar. We are in the beginnings of the Dandelion flow. Good luck. I felt like a new man after doing my very first split.