# Bees on the front of the hive

**URL:** <https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/bees-on-the-front-of-the-hive/25161>\
**Category:** Beekeeping - Basics\
**Tags:** australia\
**Created:** [April 2, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/bees-on-the-front-of-the-hive/25161 "2020-04-02T04:17:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Mac](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Mac)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/bees-on-the-front-of-the-hive/25161/1 "2020-04-02T04:17:00Z")

</div>

I have two hives both with flow frames  
The stronger one always has bees on the front of the hive  
Should I split this hive ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/honeyflow/original/3X/1/0/10ce15b09db47b1fd6c4d5c50f00769f48d5c89b.jpeg)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Peter48](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/peter48/32/14625_2.png) [@Peter48](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Peter48)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 4:29am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/bees-on-the-front-of-the-hive/25161/2 "2020-04-02T04:29:33Z")

</div>

Bearding is not a reason to do a split on that alone. I would look inside the hive in the roof for comb being built there if the bees have access there. As your near the bridge over the Hawkesbury it wouldn’t be hard to do a late split now into a brood box on its own to build up before the cold weather arrives.  
I wouldn’t do a nuc split though, I would split the hive equally as in a ‘walk away split’. Do it on a warm day with little wind.  
Cheers Malcolm

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fffffred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@fffffred](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/fffffred)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 5:00am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/bees-on-the-front-of-the-hive/25161/3 "2020-04-02T05:00:10Z")

</div>

> [@Peter48](#):
>
> I wouldn’t do a nuc split though, I would split the hive equally as in a ‘walk away split’.

As in split the double brood box in half?

Would it be wise to introduce a queen this late in the season?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Mac](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Mac)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 5:04am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/bees-on-the-front-of-the-hive/25161/4 "2020-04-02T05:04:36Z")

</div>

Thanks Peter I will get on to it  
Malcolm

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Peter48](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/peter48/32/14625_2.png) [@Peter48](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Peter48)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 5:40am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/bees-on-the-front-of-the-hive/25161/5 "2020-04-02T05:40:41Z")

</div>

Yes, with a double brood box I would take 4 of the frames from each box in an 8 frame hive so that the split was very equal, it might be a bit of an overkill Fred but with so many hive so close together the last thing is robbing from a weakened hive after a split.  
With my climate here I don’t introduce a bought queen, I’m happy to have a colony that is queen-less produce their own queen. But none the less it is an option if you want to save 3 or 4 weeks.  
I’m very proactive about preemptive swarm splits, I always have spare empty hives ready.  
Cheers