My First Split

[Moonshae]

Got one queen today (they messed up my order and forgot to send both), and both nuc boxes. Took three frames out of one hive (two brood, one pollen/honey), Shook in another frame of bees, and added two frames of foundation. The queen cage was on the bottom of the box, screen up.

I was impressed how quickly the bees worked their way out of the grass-plugged hole and worked at getting the grass out of the way. It was cute to see one flying backwards as hard as she could, tethered to a blade of grass she was trying to pull out.

I didn't notice any wax moth damage or cocoons (see my wax moth larvae post), so it looks like Robo was right, about them hanging in the space between the SBB and the solid BB.

I put the feeder on top and started to feed syrup. Still no flow, as far as I can tell. Do the bees need a water source if they have 1:1 syrup on top of the hive?

[Bennettoid]

I would give them a water source.

Good luck with them. Lets pray for rain and a fall flow. I wouldn't have the guts right now to start a split this time of year with this drought going.