Spring Splits and Swarm Management
My spring and summer splits are similar, but for different reasons/purposes.
Spring splits are for swarm management.
Cutting down a bit of strength from the colonies I had that overwintered will help me prevent them from swarming. In essence, I am swarming for them, and adding new queens / Genetics to my apiary as I do it.
Artificial swarms, and keeping the brood area opened up are the two primary things I do, added to keeping empty supers ahead of the bees I have about a 95% success rate.
There is always a colony or two that decides it HAS to swarm.. I can take 90% of them away, and they will STILL swarm, dooming themselves in the process.
You do what you can to keep them from swarming, if they decide to do it anyway don't kick yourself, it IS what bees have evolved over the course of time to do.
More on swarm Management under the swarm prevention tab.
So your bees are busy building, both numbers and fresh comb. By mid May I will have some colonies that are bursting from the seems.
I have queens ordered, set to arrive on the fifteenth, Weather permitting. Queens are always reared and mated with weather permitting disclaimers.. better that way than getting a poorly mated queen.
My Queens arrive!
Spray with syrup, very lightly and put in a warm dry place, and go out to make splits.
I use nuc boxes for starts. Remember, I use mediums..
Find the queen, that is the first task of the First box. Found the queen, put her, and the frame she is on, WITH bees into the Nuc. Put two more frames of brood into the nuc, in the center. At least one frame should be capped brood, ready to emerge soon. By moving the queen with this nuc it is acceptable to install eggs and larvae of a young age, though not necessary. You already have a good laying queen, so it is better to leave the eggs and larvae to strengthen the hive while the new queen gets acclimated in that hive. In the nuc, all the queen really needs is nurse bees or soon to emerge nurse bees to care for the eggs she will be laying from day one.
Put in a frame of honey or nectar, and a frame of pollen. Screen the entrance. Continue to the next... Rinse and repeat until finished making up your nucs. Move nucs to a different yard a few miles away and unscreen.
Return and relax. Check the queens, make sure they are doing well. That evening, take the queens out to the hives, that by now are pretty unhappy, but have as yet, NOT begun making queen cells.
I have seen queen cells started 24 hours after removing the queen, this is what I want to avoid, and it is why I do not wait three days as some recommend. It takes a colony an average of fifteen minutes to KNOW they are queenless. I give them a few hours to become desperate, I do not want them to panic and begin making cells.
I do NOT remove the cork or cap. I place the cage into the hive nearest the center, Over capped brood. I spray with light syrup, both the queen cage and across the top bars where I install the cage, and leave her until the next evening. Then I pop the caps or pull the cork exposing the candy plug. I give another light mist of syrup.
Why do I mist? My Mentor taught me that the bees will clean up that syrup, its like giving candy to children, they will be excited and happy, and while they work at it they will be Right beside that new queen, in some cases cleaning the cage she is in, and this will help even the older bees accept her.
I do not poke a hole in the candy. Average release with a candy plug is about three days. If you poke a hole it will take a day less for the bees to release her. Poking a hole in the candy plug works fine for queens that are in packages, and have been in transit for two or three days. This is a queen they have not had time to become accustomed to, so do not rush the process.
Close up and come back in four days. The hives should have released the queens, AND accepted them.
The reason you saved the old queens? In case this process fails, and they kill the new queen, you can re combine the original queen.
Reason number two.. Sell the nucs with proven queens, making SURE to state the age of the queens.
Reason three.. Manage the nuc. Pulling a frame of capped brood when it begins to get strong, and add that frame of brood to the fresh new colonies you started to rapidly increase their strength, and consequently the amount of honey they will produce this year. Making great use of an older queen, without having to worry as much about her hive swarming.
There are MANY ways to split, each have their advantages and disadvantages. What I do works for my management style. Look up other ways of splitting, think about what you want to accomplish. Then make a plan, and GO!
Some of the things I mentioned here will lead directly into summer splits, so I will continue on the summer splits page.
I have queens ordered, set to arrive on the fifteenth, Weather permitting. Queens are always reared and mated with weather permitting disclaimers.. better that way than getting a poorly mated queen.
My Queens arrive!
Spray with syrup, very lightly and put in a warm dry place, and go out to make splits.
I use nuc boxes for starts. Remember, I use mediums..
Find the queen, that is the first task of the First box. Found the queen, put her, and the frame she is on, WITH bees into the Nuc. Put two more frames of brood into the nuc, in the center. At least one frame should be capped brood, ready to emerge soon. By moving the queen with this nuc it is acceptable to install eggs and larvae of a young age, though not necessary. You already have a good laying queen, so it is better to leave the eggs and larvae to strengthen the hive while the new queen gets acclimated in that hive. In the nuc, all the queen really needs is nurse bees or soon to emerge nurse bees to care for the eggs she will be laying from day one.
Put in a frame of honey or nectar, and a frame of pollen. Screen the entrance. Continue to the next... Rinse and repeat until finished making up your nucs. Move nucs to a different yard a few miles away and unscreen.
Return and relax. Check the queens, make sure they are doing well. That evening, take the queens out to the hives, that by now are pretty unhappy, but have as yet, NOT begun making queen cells.
I have seen queen cells started 24 hours after removing the queen, this is what I want to avoid, and it is why I do not wait three days as some recommend. It takes a colony an average of fifteen minutes to KNOW they are queenless. I give them a few hours to become desperate, I do not want them to panic and begin making cells.
I do NOT remove the cork or cap. I place the cage into the hive nearest the center, Over capped brood. I spray with light syrup, both the queen cage and across the top bars where I install the cage, and leave her until the next evening. Then I pop the caps or pull the cork exposing the candy plug. I give another light mist of syrup.
Why do I mist? My Mentor taught me that the bees will clean up that syrup, its like giving candy to children, they will be excited and happy, and while they work at it they will be Right beside that new queen, in some cases cleaning the cage she is in, and this will help even the older bees accept her.
I do not poke a hole in the candy. Average release with a candy plug is about three days. If you poke a hole it will take a day less for the bees to release her. Poking a hole in the candy plug works fine for queens that are in packages, and have been in transit for two or three days. This is a queen they have not had time to become accustomed to, so do not rush the process.
Close up and come back in four days. The hives should have released the queens, AND accepted them.
The reason you saved the old queens? In case this process fails, and they kill the new queen, you can re combine the original queen.
Reason number two.. Sell the nucs with proven queens, making SURE to state the age of the queens.
Reason three.. Manage the nuc. Pulling a frame of capped brood when it begins to get strong, and add that frame of brood to the fresh new colonies you started to rapidly increase their strength, and consequently the amount of honey they will produce this year. Making great use of an older queen, without having to worry as much about her hive swarming.
There are MANY ways to split, each have their advantages and disadvantages. What I do works for my management style. Look up other ways of splitting, think about what you want to accomplish. Then make a plan, and GO!
Some of the things I mentioned here will lead directly into summer splits, so I will continue on the summer splits page.