# Splits



## Islandbeekeeping (Jun 23, 2016)

Hello new beekeeper i actuly do not rememember when making a split do you get the queen in the new box or queen cells i honestly do not remember but thank you.


----------



## vtbeeguy (Jun 10, 2016)

Would depend on which box your queen ended up in. Do a search for making splits you will find everything you need to know.


----------



## Islandbeekeeping (Jun 23, 2016)

I know what a split is but i just want to know is it a queen cell that goes in there or the queen and leave the frame with the queen cell in.


----------



## Slow Drone (Apr 19, 2014)

If you're splitting because of swarm cells the queen goes in the nuc. Leave only but 2 of the best looking queen cells to avoid after swarms.


----------



## Riverderwent (May 23, 2013)

Islandbeekeeping said:


> I know what a split is but i just want to know is it a queen cell that goes in there or the queen and leave the frame with the queen cell in.


You can do it either way. If I were using a queen cell, I would leave the queen with the larger colony. This lets you maximize brood production while you only have one laying queen. One exception to this would be if I were two weeks prior to a large flow. This would free up bees that would otherwise need to tend brood in the larger hive, allowing more bees to bring in nectar during the flow. But I'm more likely to split after a flow than before. If the old queen stays with the larger split, then after the new queen is mated and laying well, I might add more frames of brood and nurse bees from the other hive to take advantage of the new queen's vigor. More likely, I would like time take care of it. Here's a discussion of splits: http://bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm


----------



## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

There is a huge advantage to dividing a colony and adding mated, laying queens over a "walk away" split and let them raise their own queen. Almost no production time is lost.

On dry years, the lost production time tends to happen right before the peak of the main nectar / pollen flow. After that, the pickings are pretty slim. Sometimes neither half makes it through winter.

It seems like a lot of money, but keeping the best queen you can get laying eggs like crazy works out to beekeeping success most of the time.

I like to introduce a mated queen in a special push-in cage. It is made of a wooden rectangle that is 5" x 7" x 7/8" tall outside measure. The top is covered with #8 hardware cloth, and the bottom has a sheet metal strip protruding below the bottom face about 3/8 inch. 

I brush all the bees off a nice flat frame of emerging brood, especially a section that has a corner of open honey/nectar and pollen. I carefully place the new queen on it and cover her with the cage, pushing it down until the wooden rectangle touches the comb. 

This cage has no candy release hole. I release the queen after the bees stop forming an "attack ball" and start attending and feeding her through the screen, or feeding the newly emerged bees under the cage, who, in turn, feed her. That's how I know she is accepted.


----------



## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

It really all depends on why you are splitting, and the circumstances of the split.
If you are splitting because you found queen cells, It would depend on weather they are swarm cells or supercedure cells. If they are supersedure cell then there is no sense splitting. 
If you are doing it because they are swarm cells then leaving the queen within the parent hive will do nothing to prevent swarming. If the swarm cells are capped then a split single may be too late and multiple splits may be required. 
If you have no cells yet and are doing a swarm prevention split, then the queen goes to the split. 
If you are simply splitting to increase hive numbers then the best policy seems to be to leave the queen with the parent hive and let the nucs develop new queen. That way you keep a strong producing hive. 
And That is simply my philosophy. There are many others who feel differently.


----------

