Educate me

[rast]

 When doing a split using a doublescreen board with the entrance to the rear of the donor hive. Does it really matter if the queen gets moved into the split as long as eggs are left in the donor also? Seems as though one box or the other is going to have to make a new queen, why does it have to be the split?

[jdpro5010]

I don't feel it would matter that much as long as the queenless half has lots of eggs and larvae.

[Two Bees]

Either side is ok.  I made a simulated swarm split last weekend by taking the old queen and 5 frames of brood, pollen and honey and putting all of this into a new hive.  The old hive is very strong and are busy making a new queen this weekend.

[Michael Bush]

A beekeeper here does a "Demaree" with his strong hives.  He doesn't care where the queen is.  He just puts the double screen in and comes back to find out which one raised the queen.

[rast]

Thanks for the replies. Confirms my line of thought.

[Brian D. Bray]

Moving the old queen out during a split will often kill the swarming for the season.  Removing the old queen simulates an actual swarm so the workers will rear a new queen (or be requeened) and both hives should progress more or less naturally.  Along with moving the old queen out when splitting, taking a few frames of brood for the split allows for the placement of foundation or foundationless frames in the brood box which also aids in squelching the swarm tendency.  Bees building comb in the brood box usually don't swarm.