After Swarms....frothing with bees

[dpence]

Hello all,
    I have a rather large hive that has swarmed on me twice, and it seems after hiving the swarm they go back home.  Yesterday my wife and I split it.  I was amazed at how many started queen cells were in the boxes.  Two brood boxes are totally covered with bees and we have two supers on it, one is almost full and the other the center 3 or 4 are starting to fill.  I pulled three frames of brood and fresh eggs along with bees and placed them in a nuc with honey and pollen.  This morning they are not bearding so bad and seem to be settled.  We are thinking we could get another split off of it in the future.  I have never seen a hive build-up so fast.  Wow.  I know that spliting a hive lessens the honey production but am I wrong to want to expand my apiary?  Thoughts appreciated. 

David

[Bennettoid]

lucky you!
Go for it!

[Moonshae]

You might lose honey production this year, but 3 or 4 hives with those genetics next year will likely make more honey next year than the one hive would make in both years combined. If you have the equipment, split even more aggressively if you want more hives. Most people here don't seem satisfied with just one or two hives for very long. :)

[dpence]

Makes good sense to me.  Yes I have the woodenware and another location to situate hives.  I have eight hives here at my house, two on another farm, a split on my Mom's place and a friend of mine just offered his land for bees.  I think I will split it again soon.  Going to try and rear a few queens from that line, maybe save the genetics hopefully.  Thanks for the advice.

David