Hello all,
My name is Greg and I currently have 1 hive but want to increase my apiary numbers so I have some questions.
I have 1 brood hive with no honey supers from a swarm some years ago and I want to split these 10 frames into 2 or 3 hives.
I have just received my first queen in the mail yesterday ( Sep 28 2011 ) and of course it is raining here in Toowoomba Qld today.
I have a 5 frame nuc with 5 new frames + foundation ready for the split tomorrow or the next day depending on weather.
I know I should take 3 frames of brood + bees, 1 frame of honey and 1 frame of foundation to the new nuc ensuring I don't have the original queen.
My problem is I don't have any frames of honey, so I will mix up 1 kilo of sugar into 1 liter of hot water and let cool then add this into a ziplock bag to the top frames of my nuc and slit the top of the bag to assist feeding.
Does that sound ok?
I also want to know if I can knock up another 1 or 2 nucs and do the same with the remaining frames in the original hive to wind up with 3 new hives instead of the original 1.
I will then have 1 hive with the original queen, 1 nuc with the young mated queen from the post, and 1 queenless hive which I would like to leave to their own resources to see a hive requeen.
My logic is if 1 nuc can survive then 3 nucs should survive equally a well.
If this is successful then can I do this again later this year or should I leave them alone till next year.
Great forum. Lots of advice and ideas.
Chat soon.
Greg