splitting hives

[phoenix...@gmail.com]

Hi all -

How many splits do you typically do with an over wintered hive? My hive is looking very strong that made it through winter and I'm not sure just one will be enough. Do you stagger the splits a little bit?

[Jeanne Hansen]

It's great your over-wintered hive is looking so strong.

If I want to weaken a hive, I split it in half, doing a walk-away split.

If I want to increase my apiary, then I make multiple splits.  I do it all at once, by first splitting the big hive in half.  The half that needs a queen makes multiple queen cells, which I then separate, to make several new colonies.

Is this your first time making splits?

JEANNE

On Sun, Apr 12, 2026 at 9:47 PM phoenix...@gmail.com <phoenix...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all -

How many splits do you typically do with an over wintered hive? My hive is looking very strong that made it through winter and I'm not sure just one will be enough. Do you stagger the splits a little bit?

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Jeanne Hansen

824 Jacobson Ave

Madison,WI

608-244-5094

[Joseph Bessetti]

It depends on what you mean by "very strong", as not everyone's perspective is going to be the same.

I prefer to wait and split a hive when I have 3 deep boxes filled with bees and at least 10 deep frames of brood in various stages of development.  

The number of splits I make depends on my goals.  If I want that hive to produce honey, I may just take one split with the queen, leaving most of the brood to produce a honey crop 30-60 days from the split.   If I am purchasing or raising queens for splits that I'll grow up to over-winter or sell, I'll take 2 frames of emerging capped brood and extra nurse bees for each 5-frame nuc. 

If I take 4 frames from a colony that has 12 deep frames of brood, it will reduce their urge to swarm for 2-3 weeks.  Over that time, they will easily get back up to 12 deep frames of brood again, giving me the opportunity to either take the queen to a new split or set up another two 5-frame nucleus colonies with queen cells or purchased queens.   It's pretty easy to get two splits in May and another one or two splits in June from a strong hive, managing them to prevent swarming and still get honey production.   One strong hive can turn into 4 or 5 by July 1.   If I don't care about honey production at all, I can probably get 2-3 more 5-frame nucs out of that colony over the same timeframe, which would be a total of 6-8 colonies by July 1.  

I think the main mistake new beekeepers tend to make is splitting too early, before the colony has really reached the point where they have excess nurse bees, particularly when letting the bees raise their own queens.  The other challenge in all of this is managing drawn comb - having lots of extra drawn comb on hand is a huge benefit for being able to take frames and  give the queen new space to lay.  The need to draw new comb will slow colony growth.  Plus, you need to watch out for strong nectar flows - of the colony doesn't have excess space to store nectar, they will back-fill the brood combs and accelerate the urge to swarm.

A lot of people over-winter in 2 deep boxes.  If I were planning to split a hive I'd be focused right now (April) on getting a third box of deep frames drawn out.  Bees are motivated to draw out new comb in spring and early summer, which will give you some of the drawn comb that you need later.

Regards,

Joe

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From: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of phoenix...@gmail.com <phoenix...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2026 9:47 PM
To: madbees <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [madbees] splitting hives

 

Hi all -

How many splits do you typically do with an over wintered hive? My hive is looking very strong that made it through winter and I'm not sure just one will be enough. Do you stagger the splits a little bit?

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[Mila North]

Hello all,

This is only my second year beekeeping and I also managed to have my hive survive the winter and it looks very strong and I think maybe ready to swarm soon... I have a brand new hive built ready to go and want to do a split. I would love to make some honey this year, but don't want to go above two hives for the near future - so not trying to grow the apiary more than that. 

Here is my current set-up - 3 x 8-frame mediums. Before I winterized it all three boxes had brood and honey in it so it's all mixed it together, the queen moved into my honey super and was laying there.

I am a little confused what my ideal split set-up should be. Should I keep 3 mediums on the original hive? Or should I reduce it to two boxes and add a brand new honey super and an excluder? Should the new hive be 1 box or 2 since I'll have that "extra" box potentially from the original hive? 

Also, if anyone would like to or be willing to come over while I do the split to help coach a bit, would be much appreciated! I am in Cross Plains.

Thanks all,

Mila

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[Joseph Bessetti]

I would grow that colony up to 5-6 boxes, then it’ll be ready to split.  At just three 8-frame medium boxes it’s still pretty small.  Plus, unless you have a bunch of extra boxes of drawn comb, you should focus on getting more comb drawn out - bees are motivated to draw comb right now.  

Joe

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 15, 2026, at 8:45 PM, Mila North <lleg...@gmail.com> wrote:



Hello all,

This is only my second year beekeeping and I also managed to have my hive survive the winter and it looks very strong and I think maybe ready to swarm soon... I have a brand new hive built ready to go and want to do a split. I would love to make some honey this year, but don't want to go above two hives for the near future - so not trying to grow the apiary more than that. 

Here is my current set-up - 3 x 8-frame mediums. Before I winterized it all three boxes had brood and honey in it so it's all mixed it together, the queen moved into my honey super and was laying there.

I am a little confused what my ideal split set-up should be. Should I keep 3 mediums on the original hive? Or should I reduce it to two boxes and add a brand new honey super and an excluder? Should the new hive be 1 box or 2 since I'll have that "extra" box potentially from the original hive? 

Also, if anyone would like to or be willing to come over while I do the split to help coach a bit, would be much appreciated! I am in Cross Plains.

Thanks all,

Mila

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To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CAL615KBDk%3DuMnJLsPQ%3DKFA40fdEELp7V7b01fMf-pj5LkMo3nQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Jeanne Hansen]

Joe is correct.  3 supers x 8 frames each is 24, only about 2 10-frame mediums.  Add another super.  The weather is warm enough for you to put a couple frames of brood in the new super, which encourages the cluster to use the new box.  Also move a frame or two, of honey or pollen, to the new super from the old ones, and intersperse new, undrawn frames in all the supers.

I will be  happy to come and help you split.  Phone me to make arrangements.

608-244-5094

Beekeeping is fun.

JEANNe 

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[Paul Zelenski]

I'd also add that I'd personally overwinter in 4-5 mediums. You can do 3, if you like but anything less really isn't a full-size hive. It can be done, but it is akin to single deep management, which has some specific considerations. 

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From: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jeanne Hansen <jeanneh...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2026 6:51 AM
To: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [madbees] splitting hives

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CAJgVapo0fzAzJRomW_5ivs%2BLhFoct3JJd3mnE3%2BLKKFaDtPL4A%40mail.gmail.com.