Making Splits

Moonshae · August 08, 2007, 08:06:06 PM

I've read Michael Bush's site about making splits, and have read a bit on here, so I think I have a good plan. I'm planning to take 1 frame of pollen/honey and one frame of brood (with their attendant bees) and shake in another frame's worth of bees into a nuc box. I've ordered queens that will go in in their still sealed cages. Since I don't have a beeyard miles away, and I can't block the entrances with grass (Betterbee nucs have dials with different settings), I was planning to use the closed setting on the dial (which allows ventilation, but no bee traffic). I figured if I make the splits in the evening, I could keep the entrance closed for the next two days, and open them up after dark, to allow them to leave the morning of the third day. That evening (of the 3rd day), I'd remove the barrier so they can start to open the queen cage. In three days, I'll look in to see if the queen has been released, and then start feeding (there's no flow to speak of right now).

Am I pretty much on the right track, or are there any major flaws in my plan?

bassman1977 · August 09, 2007, 09:41:27 AM

QuoteSince I don't have a beeyard miles away, and I can't block the entrances with grass (Betterbee nucs have dials with different settings), I was planning to use the closed setting on the dial (which allows ventilation, but no bee traffic). I figured if I make the splits in the evening, I could keep the entrance closed for the next two days, and open them up after dark, to allow them to leave the morning of the third day. That evening (of the 3rd day), I'd remove the barrier so they can start to open the queen cage. In three days, I'll look in to see if the queen has been released, and then start feeding (there's no flow to speak of right now).

I think you might be misunderstanding the point in blocking the traffic. Basically what you want to do is trigger a reorientation since you will be moving bees from hive A to hive B. You don't want your bees to go back to the original colony so they will reorientate on their new home. I definitely would not block traffic for 3 days. Just stick a tree branch, weeds, SOMETHING in front of their hive (not blocking them from leaving) to trigger the orientation flights. About 1 full day is all you will need to have something in front of the hive entrance.

QuoteI'm planning to take 1 frame of pollen/honey and one frame of brood (with their attendant bees) and shake in another frame's worth of bees into a nuc box.

This is fine, but what I would do personally is to actually put three frames of drawn foundation into the nuc and not just two. So essentially, 1 frame of honey, 1 frame of brood/eggs, 1 frame of bees. I've noticed with the splits that I have made, that on occasion, a small bunch of bees will take a little longer to draw out comb. Some times they are really fast though. Depends on the conditions.

Adding a queen and not allowing them to develop their own is a good idea. I've done it both ways and adding an existing queen is a lot faster.

Good luck!

bassman1977 · August 09, 2007, 09:45:21 AM

QuoteThat evening (of the 3rd day), I'd remove the barrier so they can start to open the queen cage. In three days, I'll look in to see if the queen has been released, and then start feeding (there's no flow to speak of right now).

A couple more items...

The queen will take about 7 days to be released. In my experience I have never seen anything less. Also, especially since there is no flow going on, start feeding right away. The bees need to start building comb.

NOW, I think I'm done.

sean · August 09, 2007, 09:51:25 AM

I have had queens released overnight. Ihad bought 6 queens, 4 out of the 6 were released by the following day. I released the other 2

bassman1977 · August 09, 2007, 10:01:23 AM

Wow! :shock:

Moonshae · August 09, 2007, 12:00:29 PM

Thanks for the input. I thought it would take 72 hours for them to forget their old hive location, which is why I was planning to block it for so long. I didn't realize it would only take a small change at the entrance to trigger such reorientation.

Both queens in my current hives were released within three days, so I'll check then, and give the workers more time if she's still there.

sean · August 09, 2007, 12:16:36 PM

Quote from: bassman1977 on August 09, 2007, 10:01:23 AM
Wow! :shock:

Yeah i was kinda surprised too when i was told to go back the next day to release them if werent already, but he was right. Can't argue with his years of experience in breeding queens.

Scadsobees · August 09, 2007, 01:39:17 PM

You might also want to shake the bees off an extra frame or two into the nuc. When you leave a branch to re-orient, there will still be some that fly off home to the old hive.

And you probably don't want to leave a hive closed in the heat, even if there is a hole with ventilation.

Rick

bassman1977 · August 09, 2007, 02:25:09 PM

QuoteYeah i was kinda surprised too when i was told to go back the next day to release them if werent already, but he was right. Can't argue with his years of experience in breeding queens.

Makes sense in a way. I would think that if the bees were not going to accept her into the colony they would eventually sting the queen through the mesh screen within the first few hours.

Robo · August 09, 2007, 02:38:55 PM

Quote from: Moonshae on August 08, 2007, 08:06:06 PM
(Betterbee nucs have dials with different settings), I was planning to use the closed setting on the dial (which allows ventilation, but no bee traffic).

If your talking about the Styrofoam nucs, I would think twice before blocking them off, even with the ventilation setting. I have heard of to many occasions of bees overheating in Styrofoam nucs. One hole doesn't allow any circulation and the bees at least need to be able to get out and cluster and fan on the exterior if they start geting too hot.

I agree with shaking some extra bees in the nuc and then just putting some grass/brush in front of them.