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I have one hive that is pretty strong - 3 medium brood chamber with some brood up into the fourth box. I'd like to do a split or two but have a couple questions.
1) I have 3 honey supers on (2 full, 3rd one is being drawn out - nectar flow is pretty good right now). Is it OK to do splits with honey supers on, or should I have done the split(s) sooner?
2) What is a good rule of thumb to determine how many splits are acceptable? I would like to split it 2 or 3 times if possible, but I don't want to kill my honey crop.
I was hoping to catch 5-10 feral swarms this spring, but haven't got one yet. They just aren't swarming in this area this year due to hard winter. So I would like to increase my colonies to have more to go into next winter with, but don't want to decimate the only one I have.
Thoughts??? Thanks in advance!
1) I have 3 honey supers on (2 full, 3rd one is being drawn out - nectar flow is pretty good right now). Is it OK to do splits with honey supers on, or should I have done the split(s) sooner?
2) What is a good rule of thumb to determine how many splits are acceptable? I would like to split it 2 or 3 times if possible, but I don't want to kill my honey crop.
I was hoping to catch 5-10 feral swarms this spring, but haven't got one yet. They just aren't swarming in this area this year due to hard winter. So I would like to increase my colonies to have more to go into next winter with, but don't want to decimate the only one I have.
Thoughts??? Thanks in advance!