I checked my hives last week and they all ( all but one had ) very good stores left - good #s of bees and no early signs of swarm readiness. I had left a full super of honey on each hive going into the winter and we've had a pretty mild winter so far.
I'm wanting to split most of my hives to get more #'s and to avoid the swarm issues I had last yr... In the fall and winter of 06' I had fed the bees heavy and in the 2nd week of March 07' I had swarms everyday. I didn't feed the bees this past fall or winter and it seems by their stores they didn't need it anyway.
I'm wanting to split the hives this week. Would there be a problem splitting right now....? I guess I'm concerned about the weather turning very cold but if they have plenty to eat and the #s to stay warm there shouldn't be a problem.....
What do y'all think about splitting right now....?
Are you providing a queen or letting them raise one?
If you are providing a queen, then you can split almost anytime that the temps are warm enough provided that they have enough honey and pollen available.
If you are letting them raise one...then you have to wait until there are plenty of drones flying everyday, the dandelion bloom has been used by others as an earliest split marker date.
If on average March is a swarm month for you, I'd say you are about to that point.
Rick
They'll be raising the new queens. I think I'll wait until this weekend - we're having a cold front move through mid-week.
I had not thought of the drones flying as being a baseline time frame for a split...makes sense. Dandelions are just starting to bloom as are Red buds and Bradfords. I'll pull up a chair and check to see if the drones are flying....
If the Dandelions are blooming your drones should be flying....
I would split this weekend and feed the splits. Make sure your split has atleast 1 full frame of pollen and you probably want to knock out the queen cells after the first day of the split. This will force the bees to use the eggs as queens as opposed to the older larva in the cells.
Good luck. Let us know how the split turns out.
It's not just about the time of year (and the climate) but also about the strength of the hive and (as mentioned) the availability of drones. Is the hive strong?
I think is it a little early for splits right now!!! Are you near a club w/members that can give you a better time-line for your area. Dandelions don't key anything for us we have had them for weeks but no reliable forage.
Yes we have Red Maple now in abundance and elm. Also a few ornamental types of trees starting. We usually don't have drones much until the second week of March or so but have seen quite a few drones already this year.
I would ask my mentor but he is under the weather due to surgery. Call a few guys in your area if you know none I may be able to give you a name or two in the Greenwood SC area!!! Or I will call them and ask.
QuoteIs the hive strong?
The hives are strong - that won't be a problem. As I mentioned last yr. I had many swarms in and around March 10 - I want to avoid that if all possible - I also want to increase the numbers of hives.
I believe some hives swarmed 2 maybe three times in a 10 day period - it was honey production nightmare. If I can split the hives to increase #s and avoid the swarming I can work around the lower honey production for this yr..
QuoteYes we have Red Maple now in abundance and elm. Also a few ornamental types of trees starting. We usually don't have drones much until the second week of March or so but have seen quite a few drones already this year.
I was out around the hive yesterday and I saw quite a few drones going in and out. I'm just alittle leery of waiting too much longer due to my last year's swarm date of March 10th. I think once the cold front moves through here I can split this week-end. I'll make sure they have plenty to eat ( pollen ) and plenty of eggs to make a new queen - I'll also top feed some syrup. I'm going to split around 15 hives.
Thanks guys...I'll let ya know how it goes...
Talked to a guy t-nite he's splitting this weekend.
I started today. I spilt 3 of 14 Italian hives....all went well. They needed to be spilt - they had 80% full stores of honey and pollen.....plenty of eggs also. They're bringing loads of light green pollen...don't know where it's coming from but there's so much it's starting to collect and float in the swimming pool. Normally the pollen around here doesn't start to show up in the pool until mid march. This is some strange weather, huh. I'll be adding supers in the next week or so.
I had some problems with my Russians. See the thread about 2 of 3 hives empty....
Are the red maples blooming near you? They produce light green pollen.