I split a hive today!

[charles]

First year beek here. I had two hives. One of them was extremely strong. Filled a deep and two mediums completely after having been installed from a 4 frame nuc at the end of March. Well, today, after thinking about it for weeks, I split the colony. I found and marked the queen in the lower medium, and set it aside. I took two brood frames (mostly capped; no eggs) and put them in another deep with 8 other non-drawn foundationed frames. I also shook on some nurse bees for good measure. I put the medium with the queen on top of this and put it in the same place as the previous hive. I took the deep box, added two empty frames to replace the brood frames I just removed, added a full honey super, and moved it about 50 feet away. This one will have to raise a queen.

This hive had superseded about a month or so ago, so I know they're up to it. They are very gentle and great workers. I barely used any smoke, and didn't get a single sting with all that moving around. I'm not planning on feeding either hive. We're still in a good nectar flow, and they've got loads of honey to work with. I figure the queenright hive is going to be busy building out deep comb, and the new hive is going to be busy raising a queen (should be laying around July 4th weekend if all goes well).

Did I do this right?

[charles]

Just wanted you all to know that I found the first eggs in this split hive today. I also saw and marked the queen. I'm very excited.

[luvin honey]

That's wonderful, Charles! I made a split a week ago and hope my turns out as well as yours :)

[charles]

Inspecting my hives on Saturday 8/1, I found that my split hive is laying extremely well. Sheet after sheet of capped brood pattern that puts its parent hive to shame. If there's any kind of fall flow here, this hive is ready.

[alflyguy]

Congradulations. I hope the four splits I'm planning later this week (if the queens get here) go so well.