I Have to Split This Hive!

Hive full of bees I could do a couple splits off this hive. But have never done one before.

[bradgoliphant]

What I find that helps when you have a queen excluder on, is to drill and top 1.5" hole in your top super. You will find that the bees just foraging for nectar return straight to the top entrance.

[Les]

Good looking hive Frank! I was working one of my hives today and watching you with the bees boiling over reminded me of what I had to put up with today. I hate smoking so much because the side effect is they slow down their nectar gathering for the day. I wanted to do a split but the population is so dense, I could not find the I have swarm cells in the hive too and don't want to lose this queen's genetics if they swarm. I am hoping my swarm trap will lure them in. Good luck with your split this weekend. Make sure you have at least a frame or two of brood, a frame of honey and a pollen frame.

[BeeToZFL]

When checking for swarm cells, find the queen, and cage her for protection. Then shake EACH and EVERY frame to remove the bees to CLEARLY see cups, cells, etc... The bees can easily hide queen cells, cups, etc. This is one reason why I use QE above 1 brood box. DRASTICALLY reduces workload. Only have to shake out 10 frames to inspect for queen cells. You have to remove outside honey frames to make room for queen laying as she needs the space. Collect burr comb in a bucket. When the bucket is full, smash the comb down into he bucket with another bucket or your foot. Fill it some more. After a few buckets, then render the wax. Do bigger batches of wax melting.

[kentholmes]

Great video Frank. This is my first year beekeeping and I have a lot to learn. I've had my bees since May 3rd and the two hives are completely different in actions.

[superbee]

I rely on my swarm traps for a recovery . They always come back> I get so many swarm rare i do any splits / i go threw the hives Once a month. for cells and honey . mostly check the oil levels on the SHB oil traps. They swarm they swarm he hee

[Tonnsfabrication]

How you do your splits is dependent on whether you buy a queen or try to make one. When I do walk away splits I always take at least two good frames with eggs larvae and brood and surround it with two empty frames with foundation. I put a shitload of bees in it then move it to another yard at least two miles away. When they start making queen cells I then split them in half and bring one home with cells in each box. I do this so they get two chances of mating a queen. If one does not make it I simply recombine them later, if they both make it then you get two colonies. My experience is about 75% success of having a queen make it back. Lots of things eat bees, it just really sucks when that one specific bee becomes a meal.

[lockdown]

That's a really nice looking colony you have there Frank. You've done a very nice job with them.I'm surprised that you didn't find any swarm cells with a population so high.I'd guess you could get 2 splits out of that easy. Good luck Bud.

[mattruff]

Oh heck yeah! Good on ya pal! Split, and keep splitting! You could get 2 more hives out of that... a walk away is the way to go, IMHO.

Your little ladies are doing GREAT!👍🏼

[StephenBiggers]

I hope you got that split in time. I would get as much honey out of the brood boxes as you can and give this queen some room to lay. That much drone brood is a sure sign of swarming potential.

[shaunbarker]

Your doing fine frank, confidence has to be gained.
My dad used to wear gloves I kept on at him to give them up.
It's way easier without them, dexterity for one is increased.
There is a keeper in the uk he uses water yes a sprayer with water rather than a smoker.
It's an odd way of calming bees.
Another keeper uses a sprayer with 1:1 syrup.
It draws the bees to the syrup and keeps them occupied rather than focusing on you.
A gentle spray with the 1:1 on the top of the frames or a few drops seems to work wonders.
That's his theory anyway.
I use a smoker with rough cut wood shavings and grass pellets.
I think that's food for grazing animals from your local farm store.
They smell great as well.

[reelinhuntin]

I think add 2 supers and do a walk away split in a couple weeks. If you see queen cells do it sooner. I'm thinking about using queen excluders myself and don't even check the supers until its time to extract honey.

[shaunbarker]

Frank I hope you read my comments, here's another tip I use from Jeff Horchoff.
He melts his wax and uses only plastic frames for his supers rite cell are the brand and they are excellent as we use them also.
Right here's the tip, instead of putting plastic frames with nothing on them!.
Melt some wax and wait for it to go hard, break a chunk off and use it like a crayon and rub it hard across the whole super frame, leaving wax deposits on the frame basically covering the frame with wax but not totally filling the cells.
This will save the bees a huge huge amount of energy producing the wax and they will use the wax scraped onto the frames to build them up rapidly.
Saving time and effort and energy on their part.
This will give you a frame that's drawn quicker and filled /capped quicker so you can extract quicker.
Enabling you to extract and put the wet frame back in sooner so the girls can back fill again with nectar.

[martyjackson]

Frank when you do your splits feel free to drop by my place and drop the frames in the empty hive in my back yard.
Thanks!

[Deathtoll-lrhz]

When the bees beard up on the sides of the boxes to fan, like when u removed the super you can make them run into the box by smoking them.

[timmo]

Hey Frank, that's a great looking colony. Bursting at the seams. I read through the comments and agree with most. 1, Probably wanna split them. It's a learning experience so do some research if you're not comfortable and pick the way YOU wanna go with. 2, you could probably take that QE off. She won't go past all that nectar. 3, if your goal is honey, you need upper enterances. It's quicker turn around time for bees making deposits. They won't need to make their way through 4 hive bodies to deposit stores. Just an assumption, but I would say you lose at least 10 minutes per bee, per trip with them having to get to the top super. Put a shim between supers, or drill a 3/4" hole in them. Seems big, but 2 bees can enter and exit at the same time. Save your coupon (the cork) to close them up late summer so they have less to guard. You're doing fine. Don't be afraid to tend your bees. Split where you need to, help them where you think they need it. And keep water close as summer ramps up.

[markheslin]

To reduce burrcomb between the uppermost frames and lid.
Places a square of flooring vynal on top of the frames.
Leaving a good inch around the edges for ventilation 😎

[christlife]

No inner covers...dont need them
One less thing to buy

[DstickSpearfishing]

Wow that hive is full. Looking forward to see you split it.

[theProdiKalSon]

That sure is a lot of honey! Is there a lot of things blooming right now?

[KISEPOOH]

You should never put a frame from one hive against another hives’s box. Reason being, just Incase the queen could be on that frame she could crawl from frame into wrong box and will surely be killed by that hive. Hope that makes sense to you. Love the idea that you are being considerate of the bees with gloves. Thanks for the videos.