OK one more question on this split thing.Everything seems to be in place for my split,When I make them do I need to move them a mile or two away to keep them from going back to the old hive.The reason for the question was that I moved both of my hives to a better place with more sunshine.Well the next few days were cold and ALOT of the bees went back to the old site and froze.I have places where I can take them to.
The old saying goes, "You can move a hive 3 feet or 3 miles" or something like that. I've heard people say to move at night and put a empty hive body where the colony used to be. That way any bees returning to the old spot will have a place to hide. Then you can combine them back with the original hive using the news paper method.
As for splits, you typically want to take them a few miles away. But it's not the only way!
Have you had a chance to check out Michael Bush's website? A HUGE wealth of info and most of your beekeeping questions will be answered there. The split that I did last year went perfectly and I even let the split off hive raise their own queen! Plus you dont have to move anything anywhere! Check it out:
An Even Split - From Bush Farms (http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm#even)
Make sure you bookmark Michael Bush's Bee Website (http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm). It's saved me many times!
Sean Kelly
I split last summer and they are only about 3 feet away from each other.
Worked out fine. Check out Michael Bush web site. He helped me with my split
Annette
What exactly does Mr. Bush mean when he says "face both of the new hives at the sides of the old hive"? I've read this sentence several times and can't quite get his meaning. Are you supposed to have three hives, the one in the middle being empty? Or are the two new hives supposed to be facing each other? The quote is from his paragraph on even splits.
>When I make them do I need to move them a mile or two away to keep them from going back to the old hive.
I've never done it. You need to allow for drift, but there are many ways to do that, the simplest is shake extra bees in, or face both of them to the old site.
>What exactly does Mr. Bush mean when he says "face both of the new hives at the sides of the old hive"? I've read this sentence several times and can't quite get his meaning. Are you supposed to have three hives, the one in the middle being empty? Or are the two new hives supposed to be facing each other? The quote is from his paragraph on even splits.
Here are three bottom boards facing the direction of the arrows:
> ^ <
The center one is the old hive. The ones beside it are the new hives. You set the two new bottom boards down facing each SIDE of the old hive (not the back and not the front). Then you divvy it up between the two and remove the old hive altogether. The returning bees CANNOT return to the old hive, as it is no longer there and they will decide to go into one of the other of the new hives. The one with the queen will generally get more drift, so after about four days, you can swarm places if you want to even them out more. Of course, I'm too lazy, so I usually don't.
and it works great too Michael! Gunna do this method again this year too. That queen I let the hive raise themselves is a monster producer and out preformed the mother colony in honey and brood.
I also slightly modified this split a little too. Instead of facing the hives together I was even more lazy and just put them both facing out. Every night I would shuffle them around for like 4 days. Then every night after that I started to move them apart 12 inches until there was enough room to place a new hive inbetween them. Now that I have 4 working hives (1 more on the way), I can split like crazy! lol
Sean Kelly
>Instead of facing the hives together I was even more lazy and just put them both facing out.
I haven't done it, but it makes sense. The point is that both of them are "equal" as far as going back to the old hive is concerned.
Thanks for clearing that up Mr. Bush. Sometimes the more I read something the less sense it makes. :? Now that you've explained it, it's obvious! :) Thanks again...
OK it makes a little more cents now.Thanks for the help this forum is about the only help I have.We cannot go very far from home, we have poultry houses and nobody but the wife and I to take care of them.This will be my third year being a "bee haver".It is amazing to see how many bees are around our farm now.Before we had the bees you never saw any.Now we make a effert to plant for them and leave plants that have flowers on them.Hope to one day get as good as you people are.Thanks again.