Well, just got done trying to a split, and ugh, nightmare and its still not done.
Ok, for those of you who don't know my story, here goes. About a month ago I purchased a 2 week old established swarm, came with some built comb, laying queen and a whole lot of bees. Wasnt a nuc but not priced as one either. Took it home, set it up and took a peek way too often. After a week however I was afraid I was dealing with a supercedure and let them do as they pleased. Problem was I dropped the frames of brood they had, and was convinced I had killed the queen
inch:
Well, fast forward to last week, I went to look at the bees more closely and brother was I wrong, a ten frame deep is just filled with bees, and turns out I have a Carniolan, most likely a mutt (dark and light banded bees) cause I had seen her prior to dropping the frames and then again (shes also slippery to catch) while I had one of the bars out (I placed two top bars in prep to move them, wish in hindsight I had done 4). Turns out that carnie trait for swarming kicked in too, two queen cells on one frame, not cups, cells.
Ok.... moving not an option anymore. Consulted a veteran beek in the area and he said split... sooooo thats what I did. took the two top bars out, cut them to size and placed them in the new hive (along with the queen) and took out another frame of brood, used masking tape to make a cradle (difficult without a helper) and got a third bar, after that it was over.... the original hive with the queen missing was PO'ed, I had honey all over my hands. The original hive still has way too many bees and will try taking another frame of bees (or two) and shaking them into the split and get the spacing right, after they have had the chance to calm down, after that, not messing with them for another three weeks.... minimum. After that its probably on to feeding both hives to get their numbers and stores up for two hives to go into winter.
FYI, Wired foundation lang to top bar is NOT fun.
Ok, for those of you who don't know my story, here goes. About a month ago I purchased a 2 week old established swarm, came with some built comb, laying queen and a whole lot of bees. Wasnt a nuc but not priced as one either. Took it home, set it up and took a peek way too often. After a week however I was afraid I was dealing with a supercedure and let them do as they pleased. Problem was I dropped the frames of brood they had, and was convinced I had killed the queen
inch:Well, fast forward to last week, I went to look at the bees more closely and brother was I wrong, a ten frame deep is just filled with bees, and turns out I have a Carniolan, most likely a mutt (dark and light banded bees) cause I had seen her prior to dropping the frames and then again (shes also slippery to catch) while I had one of the bars out (I placed two top bars in prep to move them, wish in hindsight I had done 4). Turns out that carnie trait for swarming kicked in too, two queen cells on one frame, not cups, cells.
Ok.... moving not an option anymore. Consulted a veteran beek in the area and he said split... sooooo thats what I did. took the two top bars out, cut them to size and placed them in the new hive (along with the queen) and took out another frame of brood, used masking tape to make a cradle (difficult without a helper) and got a third bar, after that it was over.... the original hive with the queen missing was PO'ed, I had honey all over my hands. The original hive still has way too many bees and will try taking another frame of bees (or two) and shaking them into the split and get the spacing right, after they have had the chance to calm down, after that, not messing with them for another three weeks.... minimum. After that its probably on to feeding both hives to get their numbers and stores up for two hives to go into winter.
FYI, Wired foundation lang to top bar is NOT fun.
