I have a simple question (are there any really?), but first an explanation: I had to split my hive, the bees were getting ready to swarm (yes, it was a healthy hive) due to lack of space - there were two large boxes stacked. Both hives have re-queened. The first because the queen was old, I found her outside on the ground. The second was from the queen cell that I transferred. The hives are both alive and well, and reaping the bennies of a lush spring.
I have a small yard, and 2 hives is almost too much. I expect that I will soon need a second box on top of the first (new hive) I want to keep it limited to only two 2 level hives. What do I do to facilitate this? Do I offer frames to other keepers? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I just moved up to 4 hives, with a fifth that I'm going to bring back close so I can give it new frames weekly etc.
I'm figuring on making a handful of nucs a year and selling them (probably not with broken frames). bottom line being I want to stay at five hives for at least a year or two till I'm comfortable with that, then maybe topping out at ten, and selling nucs. I think you're on the right track, you can sell or give away nucs to keep your hives at 2.
EDIT: my local supplier (of considerable experience) was telling me that around here, they make splits with 3 frames, 1 honey, 1 capped brood and bee bread, 1 fresh eggs (or more capped brood and the old queen to simulate a swarm).
Thank you for the suggestion. I did it with four, so that's good stuff to know.