# multiplying hives is this easy!?



## mlanden (Jun 19, 2016)

I saw a video lately on this type of split: a guy has a 2-deep hive, with each deep's frames well-worked (brood, honey, etc). He just took off one deep, added a medium to it and covered it, and added a medium to the other deep, then covered it. That was it?! Is it really that simple? Maybe -- in my mind -- I've been trying to make it a lot more complex and voodoo-like, mixing/matching frames, etc.


----------



## jerrystaxidermyhunter (Oct 27, 2015)

Yes if there is enough bee but the one without the queen will need eggs to make a new queen or you could give it a queen


----------



## Banemorth (Feb 28, 2015)

It's as simple or as complicated as you want to make it  If you're going to give them a queen then you need to find the old one. You can use the method you mentioned if you just put a queen excluder between the two boxes a week before the split. The box with eggs in it has the queen, you don't even have to find her. Put the other box on a new bottom board and give them the new queen.


----------



## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

I quite often let the bees tell me weather they have a queen or not. By splitting the tow brood boxes it is a sure thing at least one of them will have a queen. Do a check of the boxes in 4 days the one with eggs has the queen the one with queen cells does not. You can destroy the cells and add a queen to hasten the build up. or let the hive requeen with the cells it has. Time of year and typical nectar flows determines which method of queen replacement one should use


----------



## exmar (Apr 30, 2015)

"Walkaway Splits" are easy, if you have access to a commercial queen. If you let them raise their own, you'll lose about a month while she's getting established, Just have to make sure there are eggs available. Depending on when that falls in your nectar flow, might end up feeding this winter. Explore this link from Michael Bush for further info. He also has videos on youtube which are very interesting. 

http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm


----------

