split moving ?

[malabarchillin]

I am thinking about making a split/nuc and keeping it at a fellow beeks (5 miles away)for a couple weeks to mate the queen with his drones. How long does the split need to be gone from my beeyard to prevent the older bees from drifting back to the original hive location when I return the nuc to my yard. The nuc will be 100 feet from the original hive location ?

[Michael Bush]

>I am thinking about making a split/nuc and keeping it at a fellow beeks (5 miles away)for a couple weeks to mate the queen with his drones.

Assuming you are letting them raise their own queen, it will be between 24 and 30 days or so before you have a laying queen in the split.

> How long does the split need to be gone from my beeyard to prevent the older bees from drifting back to the original hive location when I return the nuc to my yard.

Some will return as long as they are still alive.  Most won't return after 72 hours.

> The nuc will be 100 feet from the original hive location ?

I make splits all the time right next to the hive.  I just shake in a few more bees to allow for the drift.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm