Thinking of Making a Split Newbie

bkpr757 · August 01, 2015, 12:21:13 AM

I am a newbie beekeeper,and I have three hives running,two were from packages and one from a Nuc.I am wondering if I could take two frames from one hive and put in a Nuc box and start another hive.Would they be able to make there queen and make it this time of year.
Thanks

cao · August 01, 2015, 04:13:30 AM

The answer to your question is very location specific. Put your location in your profile and you can get better answers to your questions. In my neck of the woods it would be hard to get a split of two frames to raise a queen and build up enough for winter without a lot of help. Meaning adding extra bees and feeding alot.

Also welcome to the forum.

BeeMaster2 · August 01, 2015, 06:53:49 AM

If you were down here in north FL it would not bee a problem. It is done all the time at this time of the year. Just expect it to bee a nuc although if you are in a high residential area, it may bee able to build up to a 10 frame hive. If you were on the west side of Jacksonville, more rural/farm land you would have to feed, feed ,feed to give them a chance. My bees would bee starving if I had them at my farm right now but here in town, they are making honey and growing .
Location really makes a difference.
Jim

Eric Bosworth · August 01, 2015, 08:11:10 AM

Sawdust why is there more flow in town? That sounds backwards to me. Living in the country in new yuk I just started to get a golden rod bloom. Is your situation because of flower gardens in town and not much agriculture in bloom in the country?

chux · August 01, 2015, 08:16:12 AM

cao and sawdstmakr hit it on the head. Location (and time) is critical to timing a split. How strong is the hive you are thinking of taking frames from? What do beeks who are close to you have to say about the remaining season?

To really give the split a chance to build up, I would suggest starting with 3 frames. One honey frame. One honey/pollen frame. One solid brood frame. Shake in some bees. Put them in a five frame nuc and see what they do. If they fill that nuc, you could put a nuc super on. Two years ago I had swarm cells on a frame in mid-late September. I set them up in a nuc situation. The queen hatched and mated. I got them into a three-frame deep and three-frame medium honey super for the winter. They came into the next spring and did great.

Can your first year hive afford to donate three frames? Or one from each of your hives? Ask a local beek what you should expect for the rest of the season. If you were in my area as a first year beek, I would suggest leaving your hives alone this year. Let them build up all they can so that they winter well and hit the spring running hard. Do splits next year from stronger hives.

BeeMaster2 · August 02, 2015, 08:16:40 AM

Quote from: Eric Bosworth on August 01, 2015, 08:11:10 AM
Sawdust why is there more flow in town? That sounds backwards to me. Living in the country in new yuk I just started to get a golden rod bloom. Is your situation because of flower gardens in town and not much agriculture in bloom in the country?

Eric,
People in large residential areas tend to plant a variety of trees in their yards. Because of this the bees have a large number of plants to choose from almost all year long. In farm areas and here in our wooded areas, they have great spring sources to choose from but right now, during the summer, there is not much out here. Yesterday morning, here at my farm, I saw lots of honey bees and carpenter bees collecting pollen from the Bahia grass. Not the best source but they do not have much to choose from. In town, near the beach, they are making honey and putting on weight. Last year, during this time of year, they made the best honey I have ever tasted.
Jim

Eric Bosworth · August 02, 2015, 09:18:53 PM

That is pretty much what I was thinking...

little john · August 03, 2015, 03:55:36 AM

I fully agree that location and the availability of forage late in the year are the main factors to take into account here.
Producing a queen and getting her mated isn't really the main problem - it's getting that new colony up to a reasonable size before winter. And - seeing as you would be weakening one of your existing colonies to make this new one - on balance it may be better to stick to what you currently have for this year, and plan to make increase with them next year, with a full season ahead of you.

But essentially, it's a judgement call ...
LJ