Splitting Hive on Sunday, A couple of Questions

[Shizzell]

Hi,

Alright, Sunday is the big day. Splitting. I have a few questions however.

Background:
We are around 3 weeks for the big flow, however they are collecting a lot of pollen at the moment.
Last year I didn't take any of their honey, due to they swarmed (First year having them, and they swarmed 2 months after I had them!)
Two weeks ago I checked in on them, I saw on almost every frame half full of brood, and about a fourth capped honey.
I didn't get to see any eggs due to the hurry to close it, it was around 50 degrees out. I'm sure there was eggs.
Currently its supposed to be 80 F and rainy tommorow, Sunday 75 F and cloudy.

I plan on:
-Taking 4 middle frames (half full of brood) of the top hive chamber (10 frames total), and putting them into a brand new hive with no other frames built except for the old ones from the original hive.
- Letting them raise their old queen, even though I see no queen cells, that shouldn't be a problem if there are eggs correct? ( Queens are getting really pricey! 30 bucks including shipping at rossmans  :shock: )
- Putting 4 new frames that aren't built yet and putting them in the middle slots of the original frames.
- Feed them 2:1 syrup to water ratio.
- Put a entrance reducer on (1 bee thick).

So my questions:
- How should I set my new hive by the other one? I want them to be parallel to each other ( Facing both south, So they look nice  ;) ) but I read that its not the best thing to do because of the moving back to the original colony.
- Is letting them raise their own queen, if there are eggs present fine?
- Should I take more bees than what is on the frames I'm putting in, and brush them into the new hive?
- 3 weeks before the flow is a good time to split right?
- Any other recommendations would be nice.

Thanks everyone,
Jake

[Kirk-o]

Go to Michael Bush's page and read about splits I did what he said it worked great I made two splits put each one faceing the hive I split it from right next to it.If you read his Data on Splits you can do the one that works for you

kirk-o