queenless splits

2331 Views 5 Replies 6 Participants Last post by StevenG, Apr 12, 2010

olky

Discussion Starter · Apr 11, 2010

is it best to make a queenless split in the evening after the foragers come back in and then remove the nuc. its going to a different yard about 1/2 mile away. thought i would put grass in the exit so they would reorient.
also should i start feeding right away or wait till the new queen has arrived and started laying? first time, just want to get it right,
thanks

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KQ6AR

· #2 · Apr 11, 2010

I would think as long as you keep one hive in the old location to collect the foragers, it wouldn't really mater what time you do it.

Put lots off bees & brood in the queenless box, & haul it to the new location. The queenright box will recover faster, than the other one.

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Brent Bean

· #3 · Apr 11, 2010

All the forger bees will return to the parent hive if you are only a ½ mile away. Just be sure to shake enough bees into the split. If you shake bees from frames with uncapped brood the majority of bees will be nurse bees (making sure the queen in not among them) tending brood and have never left the hive so they will stay put in the nuc.

So the time of day is not very important.

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jmgi

· #4 · Apr 12, 2010

Brent Bean said:
All the forger bees will return to the parent hive if you are only a ½ mile away. Just be sure to shake enough bees into the split. If you shake bees from frames with uncapped brood the majority of bees will be nurse bees (making sure the queen in not among them) tending brood and have never left the hive so they will stay put in the nuc.

You make a very good point about shaking adhering bees from UNCAPPED brood frames(checking for queen first). The majority would be nurse bees as you say, that would greatly limit the amount of field bees that would return to the old location. I think that by doing the split during the middle of a real nice day, when a large portion of the field bees are gone from the hive would be my choice of when to do it.

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Pablo

· #5 · Apr 12, 2010

can you do a split if the hives are right next to each other ( 5 feet ), if the nurse bees never leave than distance wouldnt matter to much right? If i swapped out a full brood frame or two ( without the queen) would that work? Just curious as i am going to try a couple splits this year.

Pablo

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StevenG

· #6 · Apr 12, 2010

Yes, Pablo, that will work just fine. Be sure to shake extra bees into your split, and when I do it like that, I toss some grass over the reduced entrance of the split to encourage any foragers to reorient to their new location.

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