This will cover a part of your question:
https://www.theabk.com.au/articles/2016/8/4/splitting-hives
https://www.theabk.com.au/articles/2016/8/4/splitting-hives
Splitting before springtime
Here in Australia, spring time is coming very soon, the weather is starting to become warm for it. I have been out of town during the last two months, and have only recently gotten home to do beekeeping.
I am aware that honeybees are prone to swarming during spring. A number of my hives are quite full of honey currently and I expect at least a few will want to swarm.
I checked my hives, and I expected that I'd be able to find queen cells, or some sign that the bees are going to swarm. However I haven't been able to find any obvious sign. In some of the hives, I have noticed that there's a lot of drone cells, alongside being quite a bit higher number of drones in general. Is this a sign that the hives are planning on swarming?
I'm unsure what I should do to prevent the hives from swarming. I'm under the impression that, if the bees want to swarm, they're going to do so, so the best thing I can do is create a split.
Should I be splitting the hives that are quite full, with lots of drone and drone cells, because they're likely to swarm? I presume if they're going to swarm, the hives will already have extra queens in it, so will I need to find a queen in the hive, and put it in with the split, or will it be fine to split a hive and leave them with extra queens?
When splitting a hive, how many frames of brood and eggs(with nurse bees covering it), will I need to provide the new split with? How many frames of honey would I need to provide the split with, and how much pollen do they need?
I am aware that honeybees are prone to swarming during spring. A number of my hives are quite full of honey currently and I expect at least a few will want to swarm.
I checked my hives, and I expected that I'd be able to find queen cells, or some sign that the bees are going to swarm. However I haven't been able to find any obvious sign. In some of the hives, I have noticed that there's a lot of drone cells, alongside being quite a bit higher number of drones in general. Is this a sign that the hives are planning on swarming?
I'm unsure what I should do to prevent the hives from swarming. I'm under the impression that, if the bees want to swarm, they're going to do so, so the best thing I can do is create a split.
Should I be splitting the hives that are quite full, with lots of drone and drone cells, because they're likely to swarm? I presume if they're going to swarm, the hives will already have extra queens in it, so will I need to find a queen in the hive, and put it in with the split, or will it be fine to split a hive and leave them with extra queens?
When splitting a hive, how many frames of brood and eggs(with nurse bees covering it), will I need to provide the new split with? How many frames of honey would I need to provide the split with, and how much pollen do they need?
1 - 3 of 3 Posts
I'm in southern u.s. id say if You have drones, your in good shape for splits in early spring. If doing in a 5 frame nuc. 2 frames honey or nectar on outside 2 frames with brood and eggs, and a very good population of bees covering frames of brood, and a few shakes of bees added. And 1 frame of drawn comb, so a queen returning has a place to lay eggs. I like to move the old queen into the split, and let the original, strong hive make a queen or queen cells. As being stronger, they have a better work force, and more brood and eggs to build cells with. And a healthier queen in the end result. Also, you can make more splits with the extra queen cells if needed.
1 - 3 of 3 Posts
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