Making Splits the

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way
Clear Lake Apiary Mansfield, Louisiana
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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

1. Examine your colonies and determine how many and
   which colonies are strong enough to split.
2. Ensure you have enough hive bodies, bottom
   boards, tops and frames to make the needed
   splits.
3. Order the number of queens needed from a
   reputable queen breeder.
4. Prepare the colonies for splitting.
5. Split the colonies.
6. Introduce the new queens.
7. Check colonies for queen release, brood pattern
   and acceptance.
8. FEED, FEED, FEED, FEED (Sugar water, syrup,
   pollen patties, Honey-B-Healthy, Fumagilin B).

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

• Colonies must be strong and healthy
• Plenty of worker bees, 1 full deep hive body
• 6-8 frames of brood, young bees
• 2-4 frames of pollen/honey stores

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

• 10 pallets holding 4 colonies each
• 40 deep hive bodies
• 40 bottom boards
• 40 migratory hive covers
• 360 - 400 frames of foundation and/or drawn comb

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

• Order queens in advance from a reputable queen
  breeder
• Gardners Apiaries, Spell Bee Company, Baxley,
  Ga.
• Pick-up and delivery by R.D. Trichel

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

• Force bees down to bottom brood chamber
• Remove (half) equal frames of brood, pollen and
  honey stores from the bottom brood chamber and
  replaced with frames of foundation/drawn comb
• Ensure no bees remain on pulled frames and place
  them in second deep hive body
• Queen must be in the lower brood chamber

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

• Place queen excluder on lower brood chamber
• Place second deep hive body above queen excluder
  with the removed frames of brood and pollen/honey
  stores
• Finish filling hive body with frames of
  foundation and/or drawn comb
• Place remaining brood boxes on hive and add the
  top
• Nurse bees will move up to cover brood in the new
  second brood chamber

Second deep box
Queen Excluder
Original brood box
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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way - Spring

• At a later time (2-4 hours, or the next day or
  two) remove lower brood box with bottom board
  from bottom of colony to be split
• Put a top on the bottom brood chamber and set off
  to the side for later transporting

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way - Spring

• Place remaining brood box on new bottom board and
  return to the original location (queen to be
  added later)
• Returning workers will return to the queen-less
  colony with pollen/nectar
• Take bottom brood chamber with half of the bees
  and the old queen to new location

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way - Spring

• Take bottom brood chamber with half of the bees
  and the old queen to new location
• Grass placed in front entrance to keep bees from
  boiling out and flying away

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way - Fall

• At a later time (2-4 hours, or the next day or
  two) remove second brood box from above brood
  chamber on bottom of colony and place on new
  bottom board
• Put a top on the removed brood chamber and set
  off to the side for later transporting
• Place remaining brood boxes on original brood
  chamber containing old queen
• Returning workers will return to the colony with
  pollen/nectar
• Take removed brood chamber with half of the bees
  to new location with new queen to be added later

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way - Fall

• New queen-less colonies in new location
• Queens can be added when available
• Colonies will be fed and medicated as needed
  until the honey flow starts
• Another brood chamber (medium) can be added for
  expansion and/or honey stores
• Migratory hive cover with hole cut in top to
  accommodate feeding jar
• Unsealed/sealed frames of honey/pollen from the
  last robbing can be added as a feeding substitute

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

• When queens arrive they are placed in the
  queen-less colonies (1-2 days after splitting /
  removing original queen)
• Remaining queens are banked until needed

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

• The queen cage is placed on top of the frames of
  the brood chamber
• An empty super is placed on colony to protect
  queen
• The top is placed back on the colony and checked
  at a later date for queen release and brood
  pattern

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

• The re-queened colonies are checked in 2-3 days
  for queen release and acceptance
• When queen has been released, remove empty queen
  cage and super
• New colonies will be fed and medicated as needed
  until the honey flow begins
• Empty queen cages are placed on top of feeding
  jars as markers (Colored stick pins)

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

• The colony will be checked in 3-7 days after
  queen release for a laying queen and brood
  pattern
• Look for queen cells and remove them if found
• Queen-less colonies can be requeened, combined
  with another colony or given fresh eggs to raise
  their own queen if there are enough drones
  available for mating

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

• The colony will be checked in 14-21 days for
  brood pattern and the emergence of young brood
• By this time you should be able to judge the egg
  laying capacity and brood pattern of the new
  queen
• There should be examples of all stages of colony
  development
• Eggs
• Larva
• Capped brood
• Emerging brood and young bees
• Foragers and workers

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

• Save one queen-less colony to bank queens until
  they are needed.
• Queens can be banked for a couple of weeks this
  way
• When there is 1 queen left, use her to re-queen
  the bank
• Extra queens can also be used to re-queen any of
  the original colonies that show spotty brood
  patterns or failing queens

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

• Apiary (Bee Yard) full of newly established
  colonies
• Feed, feed, feed
• 1 part sugar to 1 part water for forage and wax
  production stimulation
• 2 parts sugar to 1 part water for food storage
  and hive build-up
• Medications can be added as needed to syrup
• Pollen patties, etc

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

• Medication
• Terra-Pro
• Terramycin
• Bee-Pro
• Sucrose
• Vitamins and Minerals
• Pest Control
• Mite-A-Thol
• Tracheal Mites
• CheckMite
• Varroa
• Small Hive Beetle

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way

• Things to remember There is more than one way
  to skin a cat or split a colony
• Watch for failure of the queen
• Spotty brood pattern
• Queen cells
• Re-queen or combine with another colony
• Continue to feed the colony until the nectar flow
  begins
• Can feed sugar water, corn syrup, pollen
  patties,etc
• A nectar flow (sugar water) is necessary for wax
  production to pull out foundation
• Rain will cause the bees to eat up honey stores
• Apply medications as needed
• Honey B Healthy and/or essential oils
• Fumagilin for Nosema disease
• Terramycin for EFB and AFB
• Be aware of pests and parasites and treat
  accordingly
• Varroa mites Deformed wing syndrome
  miticides, essential oils, grease patties
• Trachea mites K-wing syndrome - menthol
• Small hive beetles Presence of beetles and/or
  larva in hive traps, CheckMite, hive tool

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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way
Questions? Comments? Thank-you for your
attention Special thanks to R.D. Trichel and
Jimmy Williams for their help with this
project. www.beebumbler.com randy_at_beebumbler.com
Clear Lake Apiary Mansfield, Louisiana
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Making Splits theBee Bumbler Way
January 2010
Clear Lake Apiary Mansfield, Louisiana