[kevin]

Hello all
Im a rookie beekeeper of about a year , I live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mtns of California. Been very warm here & bees are very busy ,I was told to split my hive so they didnt swarm , never done this before but I did it anyway. I am very nervous that I dont see bees coming and going from the new hive , it has only been a few days . Am I just paranoid ? I have lost sleep over this split , read what I was supposed to do , opened the hive , got intimadated with all I was looking at and for . Forgot most of what I was looking for in the process . I think I made a bunch of mistakes.
Thanks

Kevin

 

[johng]

That is pretty normal the foragers flew back to the parent hive. Once the split notices that nothing is coming in the older bees will start to forage. The only thing you need to worry about is that there is still plenty of bees in the split. Other than that it just a waiting game now.

 

[David LaFerney]

They will start foraging in a few days - although if there is really no activity at all you might have included too few nurse bees. Pop the top and see. If it is weak you need to shake in some more nurse bees - off of frames of open brood. Don't get the queen though! Other than that give it a frame of brood from the other hive every week or so until you have a laying queen and success is almost a sure thing.