I want to split one of the hives i have and am wondering exactly how to do it successfully. I have a strong hive and have ordered a queen. How many frames should i include with the new hive and is there a determined distance that i should place the new hive away from the old?
Thanks ahead for the help.
Check out Michael Bushes website, which answers your questions.
I like each hive in the split to have at least four frames of bees, plus at least one frame of honey. More is better. I put splits within a few feet of each other. Michael's web site has good advice on this too.
Splits all depend on how many frames of bees you have and how fast do you want them to grow. Bigger splits grow faster. Using drawn frames helps out a ton also if you have them. I have made nucs out of 2 frames of bees. Not this early in the spring because of the cool nights. And you have to feed them. I like to split mid summer after the spring flow, top box vs. bottom box. 10 frames at a time. Out of a full double deep hive.