[JMP]

Hello all. I have a super productive hive that is going gangbusters. Am considering splitting it and letting it requeen itself since the current queen is excellent. Want new queen to have same traits. Think it is too late in the season? I am in western MA. Thanks for the input. -John

 

[mathesonequip]

it is getting late. if you have lots of bees and drawn comb put your existing queen into a 2 story nuc box with about 5 frames of bees and brood. a frame of honey/pollen and 4 drawn out frames on top and feed slow and steady [mason jar on top], be ready to go to 2 deeps soon. let the strong hive raise a new queen... the 2 deeps for the new hive will be needed in 2 or3 weeks and should include 10 more drawn out frames. of course you can convert to deep equivelents, but I bet deep frames would work better here. winter is coming and you want at least 2 full deeps for winter. later go to a tank type top feeder to fill up for winter. it is late to raise a queen in a new nuc and be ready for winter...if you have a tons and tons of bees and brood, then start a smaller second queenless nuc just as a back up plan for a queen for the main hive. you are not going to have much luck trying to start a queen in sept. where you are if things do not go well.

 

[JMP]

I sort of knew in my gut it was getting too late. I will let the girls be until the spring. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Michael Bush]

It's getting late... unless you think they are going to swarm I would wait. If you see swarm cells, I might split and plan to recombine later if they don't build up enough.