UtahBees Update

[UtahBees]

Hi Everyone -

Last week I tried to post, but of course the boards were down and then I left on a business trip.

So 9 days ago I put on my first 9 frame medium super on my already present 10 frame medium boxes. The hive was all but full (less 1.5 frames), and I didn't want anything to happen while I was out of town.

Good thing I did! Today, when I checked, out of the total 9 frames in the medium super (I left the feeder in there, but it is empty) 4 frames are honey and 3 frames pollen, honey and larva. Only 2 frames don't have anything in them, and so I'll have to add another medium box with 10 frames again in the next few days (I better order quick!)

I have a question:

1) If I really wanted to, can I split my hive now by introducing a new queen and take some frames form my current hive?
     a) Is this a dumb thing to do? I'd like to have more hives so that through the summer and fall, both can grow and I can possibly get more honey at the end of the year or next year.

Thanks always for the support and grreat topics. Again, here are some photos from 9 days ago, when I took my camera with me:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barl0w/sets/72157600332915828/

Regards,

UtahBees

[tillie]

Really nice pictures - good for you - looks like everything is progressing nicely.  I loved the picture of the comb under the feeder!  BTW, if your bees are making honey, it's probably not a good idea to keep feeding them - it will make the honey not pure honey.

Great job!

Linda T in Atlanta appreciative of a good photo without shaking hands!

[Kirk-o]

Hey looks good.I miss Utah .My Brother lives there still I think I will visit this fall

kirko

[UtahBees]

Yes! Utah is nice right now. Hot, but nice.

I have the feeder in there, but no juice. It's been like that for 3 weeks, as I've got some stuff on order :)

I got some advice from the Utah County Bee Inspector that now is not a good time to split. Since they are cranking away, I should just keep adding supers to get more honey, and then split in the spring. Sounds good to me!

Regards,

UtahBees

[Brian D. Bray]

I've always found that the best time to split is before and between flows.  Splitting during a flow is as disrupting to a hive as breaking up the brood chamber and actually sets the hive development back.

The other choice for selecting a time to split would be at the end of the harvest season.  There you can split and feed to get the bees winter ready.

So in my experience the best times to split a hive is before, between, or after the honey flows.