Hive came out of winter banging! We did a split a week ago and put the queen in the new hive w 5 wax foundation frames and a mix of brood and food to fill up the 10.
The original hive is a medium on a deep. Same deal, took the five frames from the deep and replaced w wax foundation frames. After winter, Super is now a brood box - medium filled w brood. They are noisy and making a new queen, I hope!
The issue is, there are still a ton of bees in the original box. I worry that they may swarm once they get a queen even if they should be busy building comb out on the new frames. Will the population be reduced over the next several weeks while we wait for a new queen? Shall we just let them go? 85 degrees here and bearding photo attached.
That’s a good problem to have coming out of winter. Not everyone is so fortunate. Nice job on the split.
When you split the colony into two, dividing resources and bees, any field bees transferred to the new hive will fly back to the original hive. That’s where they are oriented to. You can rebalance the two hives by shaking a couple of brood frames of bees into the smaller colony. They’ll mostly be nurse bees, so won’t fly back.
Also keep an eye on the new frames that they’re drawn out for the queen to lay. Once they’re filled and the population builds, covering frames, it’ll be time to add a super. Swarm management is a balancing act to give them enough space for brood and nectar, but not too much that they can’t control pests such as small hive beetle.
Also note that bees will beard if there’s a problem inside. Yes, heat is the common cause, but SHB and disease can drive them out too as a precursor to absconding. Be sure to regularly check for pests and diseases and keep mite levels down.
Mike
Thanks, this is not the norm, fortunately, just freaking hot today! I am trying to not disturb as we await the queen…do.you think it’s ok to shake bees from this hive at this time? I was going to do an inspection of the new hive tomorrow to see how the pop and comb situation is coming along. I imagine we should do the shaking of frames soon, tho I think there were already queen cells when we did the split…not seeing hive beetles in the bottom tray. Looking forward to adding the flow frames soon!
It’s best not to disturb a new queen until she’s laying strongly. Even a quick look in the hive can cause the bees to kill her. So I would shake the nurse bees from her hive before she emerges from the cell, then leave the hive alone for a few weeks. She’ll take a few days to strengthen up, then one or two days on mating flights, another couple of days to organise her new sperm before starting to lay. Then it takes a bit time to get into rhythm and strengthen her queen pheromone.
If she mated well, you’ll see solid brood on most frames.
Hey Metsker, we’re in the same boat - I split my colonies already and am seeing fast buildup. To reduce the problem of workers flying back as Mike pointed out, I always use the Michael Bush trick of obscuring the split entrance with a piece of brush or in this case, draped insulation. That way the bees have to reorient when they find their way past the barrier. I’m sure some do end up back where they started tho.
About your supering question, I’d be cautious with timing of a Flow super in particular. It’s a very big space to add this early and while the bees could start working on filling it during the warmer days without leaving brood untended, temps that dip below 50f will mean they have to cluster. The super will also cause risky heat loss and condensation when nights are too cool.
I’m carefully monitoring the temps myself just in case, but the earliest I’ve been able to put a Flow super on is the beginning of May here just north of Philly.
Thanks, Eva. I just checked the new hive. Plenty of bees and they are building up honey on existing frames, not touching the new frames, and not fully interested in the ceracell feeder, tho some are.
Population seems ok and there is still a lot of brood. I am hesitant to muck around in the original, now queenless hive, though. I am near Richmond, not too far away, it is dropping down again this coming week so appreciate your input.
