Split colony or additional brood box?

[Elaine]

Hi,

When I inspected this evening, the queen is laying on all but the outer frames, with loads of capped brood and larvae on the rest of the frames. (And some stores on brood frames and in supers)

In what circumstances would you a) add a brood box or b)split the colony?

I'm sure there are lots of answers - as that seems to be the first thing to learn when starting bee keeping!

Elaine

 

[drstitson]

getting a bit late to split (unless have queen ready or buying in).

i'd go for more space now we are in july.

 

[Elaine]

If I split - I would buy in a queen, and could collect her this weekend, so there wouldl not be much delay in getting the new colony going (assuming they accepted her!)

 

[drstitson]

i'd go for the split then - taking a nuc off i presume so you still get a honey crop?

 

[Poly Hive]

Take off a three frame nuc, that is three of brood and a further shake of bees.

I would leave the "old" queen to head the main unit and intro the new one to the nuc giving you a higher chance of success. Introducing queens to full colonies is fraught with issues.

There are still 12 active weeks to go.

Plenty of time.

PH

 

[oliver90owner]

a) add a brood box

If the brood nest is still expanding and you don't want her swarming, do it now.

b)split the colony?

If you want increase, you could do it now, or later if you double brood it now. Two queens would be laying more eggs than a single queen and earlier in the season leaves more chance of rectifying any queen problem before the end of the season.

Just don't try to run before you can walk. Consult your mentor or have some local back-up for help/advice if needed.

RAB

 

[Elaine]

"Just don't try to run before you can walk. Consult your mentor or have some local back-up for help/advice if needed."

My intention was to start with one hive, not expect much, if any honey, and take it steady - unfortunately (or otherwise) the bees don't seem to have read my project plan

 

[Midland Beek]

A beek would generally make a split as part of his/her swarm control and when the bees are making queen cells. However, making a split and giving the queenless part a new queen is one good way of making increase.

You have perhaps underestimated just how large and populous bee colonies get with modern strains of bees which for a long time never even existed in the UK. My point being .... the National hive is quite usually not big enough these days, so what a beekeeper might do is run brood and a half, double brood, or maybe 14x12.