I was just wondering what your opinions are on how big a hive should be before a split. I know opinions on the subject vary greatly but what do you all think? What is the deciding factor on you doing a split?
IMHO, as long as you can build all the splits and the parent hive back up before winter, the size of the parent hive doesn't matter much. I'd say that each hive should end up with at least two frames of brood.
I've split mating nucs that were two frames of bees. But if you're purpose is to get as many strong hives as you can, I would wait until you have at least two boxes full of bees so they have some critical mass to keep things going.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm#earlysplit