I have my observation hive set up and i put a frame of brood in it they have now made 5 queens cells. A few qeeks ago i got a swarm that is now filling 3 deeps and a super, i now want to split this hive befour it swarms. Is it alright if i take a knife and cut two of these queen cells out and attach to a 2 frames and make two splits off from this hive?
Yes. Works just fine. Be careful and if you know when they were capped, you should be able to determine when they will hatch. Be sure your splits are queenless for a while. Most will recommend at least several hours.
ok ill leave the splits queenless for a few hours. They just capped the queencells tonight so i might be able to make my splits tommorow and i think i will make 3 2 frame splits.
If they just capped the queen cells, then wait use the queen calendar.
2 days before hatch - make splits
1 day before hatch - insert queen cell
Then it will almost 2 weeks for you can possibly have a laying queen
o good idea ill do that.
Doesnt it take 8 days after a queen cell is capped for her to emerge?