Hi all! I thought I’d post my findings from a brief look at each of my four colonies that all came through winter nicely. The weather is typical for this time of year, with slowly warming temps and tree forage suddenly appearing in one good sunny day. Nights are still cold enough to warrant caution, but brood rearing is ramping up and swarming has happened this early in past seasons. So, splitting was on my mind, as was clearing out leftover winter patties so SHB doesn’t get an advantage.
First hive is 1 deep, a split from last spring that built up nicely. BIAS on 2 center frames plus inner faces of the next two out. Pollen coming in and a little nectar, but outer frames weren’t nearly filled. I saw the queen moving around nicely in this and each of the others 
Second one is a deep + medium, bursting with bees, BIAS, drones and more drone brood. Didn’t pull all frames out and only saw one dry Qcup, but this one is sure to build to swarm prep in another week. So I took 2 frames of BIAS, 1 with almost all sealed worker brood, 2 food frames, 1 dry comb then 2 empty frames into a deep with outer insulation.
Third one = same configuration and situation, but my slow-down strategy was different: I somehow never replaced a frame in the deep so the comb, a perfect swathe of sealed worker brood and small honey arc, was built onto the bottom bar of the upper medium frame. It pulled out intact when I took the medium box off. I set the box on one end and mulled over what to do…I had no more deep frames, no rubber bands and no helper, so that attempt would have surely mangled it and be a total wasted effort. So instead I carefully cut the sheet of comb away and eased it back into the deep box, but next to the outer wall for support. I wedged the top bar and two sides of a medium frame over it, so hopefully the bees will secure it and allow me to lift it cleanly next time. And, the outer positioning should make it so the bees fill it with nectar and pollen rather than brood once all the workers have emerged. I also took a mostly drone brood frame out of the medium box on this hive and replaced it with an empty. My chickens enjoyed this treat! This colony had some remnants of the winter patty I put in about a month ago, with many wrigglers and a few adult SHB on it. Glad I checked in, because in a matter of days this could’ve been a disaster!
Fourth hive is the same config plus a shallow that was about 75% filled with mostly capped honey last fall. I had taken two frames and they started to refill them, so I took out the QX as part of winter prep. The shallow was empty, and stores in the medium were low so I removed the shallow. It was getting late in the day to have the lid off so I didn’t go any further into this hive. Important to give the bees time to bring the temp back up from heat loss before a cold night, even with a quick peek.
So my to-do list is to get more equipment for splits or potential nuc sales, recheck more thoroughly on the next warm day, and dust off my Flow supers in storage! Here’s hoping for a wonderful season ahead, for all 
