My son-in-law wants to start beekeeping, and my daughter wants to get him a flow hive for his birthday. I guess he’s seeing how much fun I’m having. Should a new hive only be started in the spring, or is mid-late summer ok? I have a third brood box that has been productive and could be transplanted to his location, which is eastern North Carolina. Not brutal winters, and lots of agriculture in that area. Thanks for your help.
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Splits made after the main flow is standard practice, so there is nothing wrong with doing it now in your area. The question is, would you be able to get a mated queen for this split? If yes, and you can share a few frames of honey and pollen too, why not? The difference with starting in spring is that your son is not going to see any honey till the next year.
Ok, thanks for that information. And to be clear, I’m not going to split, I’m just planning to give him the 10 frames from the brood box so he can start his own flow hive. And this box has a marked queen. So it sounds like it will be fine.