How do I split my bee hive in spring?

Watch as Pete takes beginner beekeeper Bija through her first hive split at the start of spring.

Each topic covered is bookmarked:

01:35 Brood Box Preparation
01:55 Remove Super
03:00 Look at the inner cover for a queen
03:50 Drive bees down with smoke
05:15 Pull out brood frame slowly
06:00 Look for brood, eggs and larvae
07:20 What makes a good frame for a split?
09:10 Why you don’t want many drones in your split
12:10 Capped brood and why it’s good for a split
14:00 How many frames do I split?
15:15 Drone filled brood frame example
17:50 Trick to split frames apart
18:30 Backfilling and swarms
20:00 If you miss the queen, leave a frame with eggs in parent hive
21:20 Space management in beekeeping
24:00 When would you inspect the hive again after the split?
25:10 Spotting the queen in a hive split
26:50 How to configure your blank frames in the new split
28:00 Cross comb, foundation vs comb guides
29:55 Queen cup example and an explanation
31:30 How to avoid bees returning to their parent hive
34:45 Does a swarm split themselves?
36:00 Adding new brood frames to the parent hive
37:00 What if you only want one bee hive?
48:25 Putting the super back on

You can view the whole transcript here.

How have your experiences of splitting been? We’d love to hear your stories & lessons!

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