Time to think about Splitting your Hives Down under

[Gary and Margaret - kiwimana]

Hi,

It's almost spring in New Zealand and I guess also Australia  :).

I wrote this to help people split their hives in consultation with Peter Smith who is a retired commercial beekeeper.

Splitting hives is a good way to prevent swarming and for New Zealanders disrupt the Varroa mites Breeding cycle.

http://kiwimana.co.nz/2012/08/14/how-do-you-split-a-bee-colony/

Hopefully you find it useful.

[OzBuzz]

Kiwi, how does it interrupt Varroas breeding cycle?

[bernsad]

Oz,
As I understand it, the break in the laying cycle (no queen) means there is no brood for a period, which of course is where the mites hide out and mature, in the capped brood. So, no brood means a drop in the mite population.

[prestonpaul]

I saw the same procedure at a field day last year, the only difference being was they introduced a bought in queen so having frames of eggs was not as critical. Seems fairly foolproof to me, you don't even need to find the old queen as long as you shake all the bees off the frames for the box above the excluder. I'll be giving this a go later this year as I'm planning to split all my strong hives, probably when the black berrys start to flower.
Thanks Kiwimana.

[Gary and Margaret - kiwimana]

Thanks Preston, would be keen to hear how you get on with it.  We are going to split our stronger hives as soon as we have treated them for mites.

You guys are so lucky you don't have Varroa, we all hope you never need to have to deal with them.

See ya...Gary

I saw the same procedure at a field day last year, the only difference being was they introduced a bought in queen so having frames of eggs was not as critical. Seems fairly foolproof to me, you don't even need to find the old queen as long as you shake all the bees off the frames for the box above the excluder. I'll be giving this a go later this year as I'm planning to split all my strong hives, probably when the black berrys start to flower.
Thanks Kiwimana.

[prestonpaul]

Thanks Preston, would be keen to hear how you get on with it.  We are going to split our stronger hives as soon as we have treated them for mites.

You guys are so lucky you don't have Varroa, we all hope you never need to have to deal with them.

See ya...Gary

I'm fairly certain it's going to be a matter of when, not if as far as Varoa is concerned.
I hope your splits go well too.
Cheers.

[bernsad]

Apparently they found one in Townsville on a swarm of Asian Honey Bees, I think. Lone told me. I'll see if I can find the post again.

[bernsad]

It was in January, Berny.  There is a report of a mite being found about halfway down this article.  http://www.honeybee.org.au/pdf/JanFeb%202012.pdf

"Advice 111 - 25 January 2012
I thought people may wish to have an update on what has happened in Townsville.
Since Advice 110, the mite found has been identified as Varroa jacobsoni. There were reports out that it was a juvenile mite but these were incorrect. It was a ―normal‖ female mite.
As a result of the interception and some thinking that some of the cerana may have gone off the ship, the Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI), which is the old DPI, mounted a surveillance response with negative results. There are traps in place and the local beekeepers have been circularised to let them know what has happened and asking them to be on the lookout for unusual bees.
It is a relief to know that it is most likely that no cerana made it off the ship. The fact that a mite was found on the bees is a concern. It shows how easily Varroa could be introduced into northern Australia and with the ready pool of cerana in the Cairns area, it would have a lot of bees to reproduce on."

Lone

[Gary and Margaret - kiwimana]

Hi All,

Just as an update we have changed our web site and now this article is located here:-

http://kiwimana.co.nz/hive-splitting/
[url=http://kiwimana.co.nz/hive-splitting/]http://kiwimana.co.nz/hive-splitting/[/url]