Dividing a hive

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deerhunter

Dividing a hive

Unread post by deerhunter »

Hello all,

Whats the best way to divide a strong colony. I have an extra queen and would like to know on how I should go about this.
Allen Dick
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Unread post by Allen Dick »

This covered under spring management at http://www.honeybeeworld.com/ and in May pages from 2001. 2002, & 2003 at http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/

Of course, there are many approaches and the best one depends on where you are, what you have, what you want, and what you know...

allen
deerhunter

splitting

Unread post by deerhunter »

Allen,

I live in NYC. I have a summer home up north near Albany, thats where I keep me bees. I am leaving tomorrow to hive two 2lb packages. This will leave me with an extra queen since I am uniting both packages. I would like to take 5 frames of brood with bees from my strongest hive and introduce the queen. This hive has 2 brood chambers and is very strong. Do you recommend a side by side split? I read your notes on splitting and I am alittle confused on which method I should follow. I've been reading a lot of articles on this and it seems everyone has there own method of splitting a hive. I would just like to start another hive and not loose this queen. The reason I am uniting the 2 packages is that I was told a one 2lb pakage is insufficient to start a colony.
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Tim
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Unread post by Tim »

Are you sure that five frames with brood will have enough bees to warm and nurture the new colony? Shouldn't you consider, say, 3 frames with brood and bees, and one with bees an honey, and another with bees and pollen?

Best regards
Tim
Deerhunter

spliting

Unread post by Deerhunter »

Tim,

Thanks for the info. I will do that. I do have a deep super filled with honey left over from the winter stores I left on one of my hives. I'll give it a shot with 3 frames of brood and a few frames of honey and pollen. I also have some frames of plastic cell which is uncoated and I have to use them, being that my shipment from Mannlake was on backorder. I hope I don't have problems with the bees accepting this to build on.

Thanks Paul
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Tim
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Unread post by Tim »

My pleasure. I'm just a little guy who runs 100 more or less, but I've been doing it for about 20 years, and have learned a few tricks. I hope you post more often, there is tremendous potential on a board like this for all of us to reach levels that can really push our industry to the very highest level, and it can't be done if nobody posts. That goes for all those lurkers out there!
Deerhunter

Thank You

Unread post by Deerhunter »

Tim,

Thanks again... I only have four hives, and a ton of questions. So I would gradly post on here. I just don't want to be a pain in the you know what. Its hard on me to keep records from my hives being that i live in the city and my hives are 3 hours north from here. But I try to do my best. From what I read its not good pratice to constantly be looking and opening up the hives. So I do my spring inspections and if all is ok I leave them be. I wish I could be there more. I probably would be learning more. Theres only so much you can get out of reading beekeeping books and they never seem to have the answers to my questions. I'm thinking about getting some beekeeping videos. Atleast I can see how beekeepers manage there hives from season to season. I'm basically on my own with this hobby and trying to do my best with what resources I have.
Allen Dick
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Unread post by Allen Dick »

There are beekeepers in the Albany area. Aaron Morris, owner of BEE-L http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/ is at Round Lake, not far from Sarasota. Llloyd Spear, owner of Ross Rounds, is at Guilderland. Both are very helful. FWIW, I may just be passing thru there in Mid-July on the way to see my son in RI, and on the way to EAS.

My recommendation would be to install the packages as nucs and not expect much the first year, but to get lots of supers on the strong hive. I am not sure when the flows are around there, but I think they are coming up soon.

All beekeeping is local, and recommendations for one place may be inappropriate even 100 miles away. Ask the local guys. I'll send their addresses in a private email. (email addresses posted to the web tend to attract SPAM).

allen
Allen Dick
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Posts: 1824
Joined: February 25th, 2003, 10:09 pm
Location: Swalwell, Alberta
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Unread post by Allen Dick »

I guess I can't email you, since you are logged in as 'guest' and have no profile. Setting up a profile lets us send you private messages, etc. , and you can add a picture of yourself or an icon.

If you register with the board, You may get some private replies, as well as the public info we post here.

allen
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