Spring Splits

[gardeningfireman]

Here in NE Ohio, swarming usually starts in early May. How early should I split my hives to make some nucs? There is quite a bit of activity already with pollen gathering and orientation flights.
As always, thanks for your input :)!
Alan

[adgjoan]

Hey Alan,  Glad to see your bees made it throu winter.  The experienced beeks have been saying make splits when you see drones flying.  I just reversed my hive bodies and there does not look like enough to split.  There was only 5 maybe 6 frames of bees.  How many frames of bees do you have in each hive? 

Joan

[specialkayme]

I've heard it one of two ways: 

1) when you see drones flying

Generally this works, but I know I havn't seen any drones (either in the hive or flying) lately, and my hives are probably going to swarm in the next week or two. So instead I go with

2) One week before average swarm date (at the latest)

Just make sure that you keep in mind from one year to the next things change. Average swarm date for me is the first week in April, but this has been a long winter, so swarm season should come a little later.

[gardeningfireman]

Hi Joan,
I have about 6 or 7 frames full of bees in one hive, and probably 5 to 6 in the other.

[adgjoan]

I wonder if I split my hives now it might affect my honey harvest for the year.  If I split in July and replace the queens that will give the bees a break in brood rearing.  The books say that will help reduce the mite load in the hive.  But as we all know the bees do not read books.

Joan

[indypartridge]

Drones are the key if you want them to raise their own queen. Even when you see drones flying, always have a backup plan. What are you going to do if you end up with a queenless split? You can re-combine, or order a queen, but have a plan; know who you'll order a queen from, so there's no panic if things don't work out as you intended.

[specialkayme]

I wonder if I split my hives now it might affect my honey harvest for the year.  If I split in July and replace the queens that will give the bees a break in brood rearing.  The books say that will help reduce the mite load in the hive.  But as we all know the bees do not read books.

Joan

what "books" say this?

As far as I was aware, only one "book" mentions this (Known as the MDA Splitter Technique) and it isn't a widely accepted theory.

[David LaFerney]

I wonder if I split my hives now it might affect my honey harvest for the year.  If I split in July and replace the queens that will give the bees a break in brood rearing.  The books say that will help reduce the mite load in the hive.  But as we all know the bees do not read books.

Joan

This is just my second year, but you will find this throughout the info - you need strong hives to make honey.  So splitting right before your flow is contrary to making a honey crop during that flow.  Some areas have longer or multiple flows and allow for different management to make good honey crops. My area (usually) has one - middle of April to the end of June - and splitting right now is generally considered a mistake if you want to make honey.   

The MDA splitter scheme that was mentioned produces bees during an early flow and then combines into big strong hives for a honey crop during a later flow.