Anybody splittin' yet?

[marvin]

I usually hold off until May Day (I let them raise their own queens), but my hives are wall to wall bees and brood.  And I haven't fed at all this spring.  They seem weeks ahead of schedule.  What are you folks seeing/doing?

[Matt H]

Drones are out (a few) but for me it just seems to early. Too cold (risking chilled brood) and personally I'd rather see some sort of good flow on.

[Dale Marsden]

I'd give it another  week but I may have to split for pollination. Most are too big to move easily. 

Dale

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From: Matt H <matthew...@gmail.com>
To: madbees <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2017 9:09 PM
Subject: [madbees] Anybody splittin' yet?

Drones are out (a few) but for me it just seems to early. Too cold (risking chilled brood) and personally I'd rather see some sort of good flow on.

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[jeanne hansen]

Listen to the bees!  If they are wall-to-wall bees and brood why not split??   It will be three weeks before the queen needs to mate.

You mean "split in half" right?  You aren't talking about making tiny, 2-frame nucs that could get chilled, right?  Go right ahead.

 

Thanks!
Jeanne Hansen
824 Jacobson Ave
Madison, WI 53714
608-244-5094

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From: marvin <marvin...@gmail.com>
To: madbees <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2017 8:50 PM

Subject: [madbees] Anybody splittin' yet?

I usually hold off until May Day (I let them raise their own queens), but my hives are wall to wall bees and brood.  And I haven't fed at all this spring.  They seem weeks ahead of schedule.  What are you folks seeing/doing?

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[Drew]

I have a frame of q-cells going on 9/10 days. Likely to have some spare cells this weekend(saturday) should anyone be interested in them. Would also be intersted in exchanging queen cells you've raised from overwintered stock without heavy synthetic miticide use.

[Paul Zelenski]

I am not splitting yet. I'm gonna give it a couple more weeks. This spring continues to be strange. 

I have seen a very wide range in my hives. In some hives, they have 15 frames of brood, and drones that have already emerged. In others, they are just coming out of winter with a few conservative frames of brood. If you split now, you will likely get a properly mated queen. There does seem to be enough capped drones, who will be ready by the time your queen is. But, there isn't any flow to speak of. Most hives are bringing in plentiful pollen, but still living off the honey they have stored. I like a good flow and to be sure that all the hives are in full buildup mode, especially if you are letting the split make the new queen. You wanna be sure the hive making the queen is strong with abundant resources and young bees. 

We did graft queens last week, though, and used the strongest hives as finishers. These hives are packed with bees and brood and were already showing the very beginnings of swarm tendencies and will raise great queens. This will allow me to use these strong hives to make the make nucs in a couple weeks that will be well equipped to gets these ladies mated. It was interesting that even in the strong hives the young larvae were somewhat dry, showing the flow isn't on. But, feeding the swarm box and finishers will get great results. 

TLDR: I don't recommend making splits just yet but as always, listen to the bees since every hive is different. If you want to do some extra manipulations with strong hives, I expect you can get well-mated queens. 

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[marvin]

Ya, well, todays weather sure makes you back off, now don't it?  But maybe my question is a more cautionary one:  It seems that this spring's warm weather has pushed the calendar forward:  Folks might want to really pay attention to swarm suppression a bit early this year.  I can't remember a year when the spring explosion came this early.  I'm willing to hold off a week, but then something will have to be done; either splitting, supering or another brood box.  I keep pretty good notes, and my hives are way ahead of schedule.  Maybe next weeks rainy forecast will cool things down.

[Matt H]

Hey drew. PM sent for q-cell trading.

[Joseph Bessetti]

Based on the dandelion bloom, we are just about on par this spring with the last 2 years.

I think that warm spell in mid-February, when the silver maples started blooming, is what got the bees really going this year.  Fresh pollen is a strong stimulator of brood rearing.

Joe

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From: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of marvin <marvin...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2017 12:47 AM
To: madbees
Subject: Re: [madbees] Anybody splittin' yet?