To early for splits?

Chanticleer48 · January 20, 2015, 10:57:35 AM

I have four hives that are booming.....they are bringing in nectar,(red maple), and tons of pollen, the hive is full of bees. I want to split these hives but I am not sure if I should for a couple of reasons....one, I don't know if I can find a mated queen, and two, even though we are having days near 70 degrees it is still getting quite cold at night and I am afraid a young split will not keep the brood warm enough.

Any thoughts?

Michael Bush · January 20, 2015, 10:59:33 AM

I never do splits until I have two full deeps of bees and brood and honey and drones flying. I can't say when that would happen in Georgia...

BeeMaster2 · January 20, 2015, 01:09:50 PM

It is still too early here in N FL. Valentines Day is normally the earliest to start making bees down here. Splits 2/3 weeks later.
Jim

10framer · January 20, 2015, 03:27:20 PM

too early. unless you're south of me or close to the coast you probably need to wait until early march and even then a late frost can cause chilled brood and set a hive back. last year i made my earliest splits around march 15th and we had frost into april (that's unusual, though).

Chanticleer48 · January 20, 2015, 08:32:54 PM

Thanks fellas for your advice.

GSF · January 20, 2015, 09:28:14 PM

I don't know about buying queens this time of year. I bought 3 packages last year and got them about the 3rd week in March. All three queens failed. I did a split on or about 2 Mar, and one of the three lost it's queen. Last spring was probably different. I had 2 eight frame deeps wall to wall with bees, no queen, brood, or eggs, but they did have several swarm cells so that's why I made my splits. I was pushing it.

don2 · January 24, 2015, 08:27:42 PM

Give them plenty room.Wait till you see plenty drones. Try to monitor the weather and try to time it so you have several warm clear days just as and after the queens hatch. I plan on starting some time between mid Feb. and mid. march. If you take the Queen with one or two frames of capped brood then two frames of feed and finish with foundation. Make sure to leave frames with eggs in the parent hive. come back in 10 to 12 days and check to see how many queen cells you have. if you have more than 2 or 3 then split giving each split 2 or more cells, if you want that much increase. I think this is the Mel way. works for me. d2

capt44 · January 28, 2015, 10:49:51 AM

I am in Central Arkansas and am usually about 3 weeks behind the beekeepers in Georgia and Northern Florida.
But as said before I don't even consider splitting hives until I have Drones flying.
Usually here around the 1st week in March I will have drones walking around inside the hive.
I usually don't start splits until I see them flying.

Apis629 · January 28, 2015, 08:17:16 PM

I would be itching to start making splits between mid-February to early-March depending upon weather. But I'm in line with Tampa, so we get frost about once every few years.