Hello, I’m new to beeking. I recently got a Flow Hive. I’ve been reading up on everything there is about beeking, and I’ve seen that people need to split thier hives to stop them from swarming. Most people split into a 2nd Hive correct?
Thing is since I only have one Hive I don’t have anything to split into. How would I go about fixing this problem?
Thanks, Tom
Hi @bonun,
Have you thought about buying another hive? 
As @ABB says, I would consider a second hive. It is often useful to have a second hive to support a weaker hive with frames of honey or brood when needed.
If you can’t do that, another option is to buy a nucleus box. You can buy them in wood, or even made from waxed cardboard or coreflute. Then when you need to split the hive, you can just sell the nucleus. They usually sell very easily. 
If you have one new hive this season its very unlikely you will have to worry about swarming. As the others have said just get a base, top and box with frames so you can do a split when needed. Two hives are good, lose one you still have one but if you have one hive and lose one then you have none.
After saying that, make sure you don’t split too early or you will just end up with two weak hives.
Cheers
Rob.
Well if that’s the case I should be ready to get a second hive in the future then spilt into that, so would that create a 2nd hive for me?
It certainly would, yes! Normally when you split, you take about half of the brood frames out of a hive. That is exactly what goes into a nucleus. Most reputable sellers will then keep the nucleus until they know it has a laying queen, which it will have within 4-6 weeks of splitting.
oh awesome! It’s just the reason I got the flow hive is to cut out having to do the uncapping and buying a spinner. But alas it seems I could’ve gotten two lang-hives and a spinner for the same price. I just saw the package they had on the website with the suit, tool, hive etc.
Now when I get my eventually get my 2nd hive and get a regular one I would need to get a spinner, kind of making getting the Flow Hive a slight waste if you know what I mean. I can’t really sell it I don’t think, I’m still building it!
Well, as I see it, you have a few options, and none of them involve a spinner or uncapping tools:
Stay positive. You have many options! 
You can have a traditional hive without the need to own an extractor. You can use a second hive as a resource hive & also to produce comb honey or you can crush & strain the honey, which sounds messy, but doesn’t have to be.
Edit: @Dawn_SD, I was typing the same time, I didn’t see what you typed before I posted my message, re “Messy”
A couple with a flow hive were thrilled to bits when I crushed & strained 2 full frames of honey out of their brood box. The results from 2 fat full frames far outweighed any inconvenience of cleaning up. Plus it was their first honey, which tasted beautiful.
Thank you for the responses! I know this is slightly out of topic, but if I spilt and put them in a new hive, would they make a queen? And not return to the original hive?
Bonun,
I had this question as well. Interested in this answer…
Hi Bonun, when I split, I leave the queen in the original hive, as long as the split has fertile eggs or larvae under 3 days old, they’ll make a new queen. I take the splits far enough away so that no bees return to the original hive. It’s the bees that have already done orientation flights that will return to the original hive. In my case, I want to avoid that from happening as a HB (hive beetle) strategy.
Hiya bonun, I hear you about the cost of another Flow hive and the traditional extraction process concerns, be it crush and strain or an extractor. What you could do is buy a traditional Langstroth hive set up and just purchase the Fframes themselves from Flow then modify the traditional super box to suit the frames. There are YouTube clips by Flow and others showing the process, even some downloadable plans I think.
Yes I know still not cheap however, cheaper. 