Making Splits

[RHBee]

I'm wanting to make walk away splits. I've been told that in order to insure that the new queens will survive I need to wait until the night time low temperature stays above 50F. Is this true? I have hives with large populations and lots of drones. The only reason I haven't split these hives already is because of the temperature limitations.

[BeeMaster2]

I just did 15 splits  about 10 days ago. 2 days after I did the splits, the temps dropped into the low 30'a. The nucs that were full of bees did pretty good. 2 of them had to be put in 10 frame hives on Sunday due to the number of hatching bees. I did lose 4 nucs, 2 because I did not have enough bees and 2 because too many bees went back to their original hive.
Be sure to add extra bees from brood frames and pull 3 frames of brood, and 1 frame of  pollen and honey.
Jim

[10framer]

ray, i'm pretty far south of you and i'm still going to wait a couple more weeks.  i'm only seeing a few drones in each hive but should have had several emerge in the last couple of days.  i may wait til i see swarm cells.  

[Michael Bush]

I wouldn't do a walk away split until there are a significant number of drones flying and the colony is in buildup mode and the colony is at least the equivalent of two deeps full of bees and brood and honey.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm#earlysplit

[BeeMaster2]

I wouldn't do a walk away split until there are a significant number of drones flying and the colony is in buildup mode and the colony is at least the equivalent of two deeps full of bees and brood and honey.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm#earlysplit

Good point. My hives are full of drones and the splits have gobbs of drones, more than I would like.
Jim

[RHBee]

Thanks guys for the fast responses.

I wouldn't do a walk away split until there are a significant number of drones flying and the colony is in buildup mode and the colony is at least the equivalent of two deeps full of bees and brood and honey.

That's about where I'm at. I checked out the link. What I called a walk away you called an equal split. I guess I've got my terminology wrong. I don't know if that makes a difference or not. I've already added a medium super of foundation on each colony. I'll be feeding this week to get the frames drawn out and build up the population. Then when the warmer temps come I'll split and relocate. The goal is to turn 5 very strong into 10 fairly strong colonies when the main flow starts. I have three location to put them on that should be good foraging. I believe the flow begins here around the first week of April.
if you guys see pitfalls in what I'm planning let me know. Thanks again. You have all been a lot of help.

[Michael Bush]

>What I called a walk away you called an equal split. I guess I've got my terminology wrong.

Basically "equal split" just refers to how the resources are distributed.  A "walk away" refers to letting the raise their own queen.  You can do both...

[RHBee]

Basically "equal split" just refers to how the resources are distributed.  A "walk away" refers to letting the raise their own queen.  You can do both...

Then I was using the correct terminology. I have all the resources so what temperature highs and lows are preferable.

[tryintolearn]

Mr bush.. on your reply i had a frame with a queen cell and i put it in a nuc to separate it. along with it i added capped/emerging brood.  two days later i peeked in nuc and she had emerged.  i have 3 hives and between all three i bet there aren't 100 drones...if the queen doesn't breed within a certain time will she be inferior?

[Michael Bush]

If she doesn't breed in the first 21 days she will be a drone layer.

http://www.bushfarms.com/huber.htm#impregnationaffectstheovaries

[tryintolearn]

my brother has 5 or so hives a quarter mile away and im hoping he will have more drones for her to mate with

[Michael Bush]

If you have drones in your hives, then the local bees have drones and it shouldn't be an issue.  It's just a general indication that it's the right time of year and that drones are out there somewhere.

[RHBee]

I just want to throw a Thank You out there. Everyone has been a lot of help. I'm glad I discovered this forum.