I had 2, 10 frame hive boxes both with one super. Frames are wood with plastic foundation. Both hives had around 4 to 6 capped queen cells. All I did was split the hives in half, so each hive had about 2 queen cells each. The frames were divided up equally (brood, pollen, honey) between the 4 hives. I didn't even bother looking for the laying queens but there were day old eggs in both hives. I did the bee math and gave the unhatched queens an extra week to start laying. I inspected the hives, all the queens must have swarmed instead of one sticking around. There was no sign of a queen or eggs and the population was dwindling.
I recombined the hives and ordered 2 queens but I would still like to know what I did wrong. Is there a more sure fire method of doing spring splits.
I recombined the hives and ordered 2 queens but I would still like to know what I did wrong. Is there a more sure fire method of doing spring splits.