Could this possibly work?

[Nyleve]

First of all, I am a very hands-off beekeeper. I treat for mites and foul brood, but otherwise don't bother my hive too much. But lately I thought it was looking very crowded I'm thinking it's only a matter of time before it will swarm, leaving me with half a colony and having to catch up for the rest of the season. So I decided to try something that wouldn't require much messing about. I placed a second hive - two deeps, with drawn comb - about ten feet away from the first hive. I figured that if they decide to swarm, what could be more convenient than a ready-made hive nearby? Could this possibly work? I've seen quite a bit of activity in the new hive - but they're likely just cleaning out the frames at the moment.

[iddee]

If you want to raise a couple thousand wax moths, it will likely work very well, if they aren't treated with BT.

Otherwise, one drawn frame and 9 or 19 frames of foundation would work just as well. Even better if it were 300 feet away from the mother hive.

The best thing to do is remove the queen, 3 frames of brood, 0ne frame of pollen, and one frame of honey. Install them in one deep and replace them with 5 frames of drawn comb. Add the second deep in about 2 weeks.

[BlueBee]

I gotta agree with iddee on this one.  I've got lots of old equipment by my hives and when I have a swarm they hardly ever go into the nearby equipment.  You're more likely to get wax moths in that empty hive than a swarm.  Just do the split as iddee says and you don't have to worry about any swarms for a while.

[OldMech]

I am going to sign on with Iddee and Blue here. Why would you wait for them to swarm and "hope" you catch that swarm?
   By following Iddee's suggestion, you keep the original hive strong, they will make honey while they have no brood, and you get another hive started with a proven queen. 

[Nyleve]

Ok. I get it.

But if I do a split, how far do I have to move place the second hive so that they settle there?

[Colobee]

Comfortably close enough to work both. Be sure to close down the entrance on the new one for at least a few days & probably some weeks.

[BlueBee]

Unless you move the split a mile or so away, the field bees from the split will go back to the parent hive anyways, so distance doesn't really matter if you only have one bee yard.  1" or 50' is going to get about the same result.  I put them where they are most convenient for me to work.   

I give the split a generous amount of capped brood comb knowing that many of the bees you put in your split will go back to the parent hive.  That capped brood will give the split a population boost in short order.  Make sure to leave eggs or queen cells in the parent hive so they can make a new queen (or order one if you like).