I am in need of 4 queens for splits. A few of my hives are bursting at the seems and I despertly need to split them. Do any of you have any or know any one who does. Like Fat Bee Man does he sell queens? Anyway please get back to me and let me know.
Angi
Angi, I have a couple of comments. Before you make any splits, stop for a moment and think about how bees build up. I don't have time to check through your posts to see when you got your bees, I remember that you did cut-outs, and maybe got a couple of package bees.
Remember that bees only live for about 45 days (about 800 km worth of flying time). You may find that yes your bees look like they are bursting out at the seams and they probably are. But many, many of those bees will be dying of old age (worn out from foraging).
You may be able to get away with adding supers instead of splitting.
I am saying this because I have concern that you may wind up with some very weak colonies if you do splits right now.
I know that you usually go on the forum after the kids are in bed, you have a busy life during the day. Wait.....get some more responses about how to deal with these colonies before you order queens. There will be others that are far more experienced than I am that may provide you with some very good answers.
Personally, I would not do any splits yet. I think that your colonies that you have will have large amounts of bees dying off, the young ones replacing these. If your intention is to get any honey this year, I think that you should try for big colonies of bees, not a whack of small ones. Wait for responses before you order queens, just my two cents. Have that most beautiful and wonderful day, lovin' this life we live. Cindi