# fall splits



## rainesridgefarm (Sep 4, 2001)

I have been talking to two beeks. One takes them to florida after the flow in WI and One goest to N. California and they both told me they split the strong ones after they get to the wintering locations. How many of you do fall splits after bringing your hives back south or out west? How well does this work?

thanks


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## Trevor Mansell (Jan 16, 2005)

I do , It works out great.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

In California Fall divides require more skill and care than in the Springtime. 

Robbing can ruin everything.


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## rainesridgefarm (Sep 4, 2001)

so can you both give me examples of how you do your fall splits? It will be interesting to see the difference.

Thanks


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

Trevor has much different conditions than I do; Pepper blooms in Oct-Nov. 
After Oct 1 in California it is a Rob O Rama.


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## Trevor Mansell (Jan 16, 2005)

Our Rob o pallooza starts in Nov. I just split my doubles in half in Sept and let them build back up thru pepper for the winter.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

The timing sounds good for almond pollination. I have heard of feeding dry pollen sub during that period.


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

We split hives that come back from canola pollination. We'll split about 60% or so of 800 that return from there. Last year was mid august, the year before that was Beginning august. We will feed heavily and put patties on them. Don't short them on the groceries. Time permitting we'll also change the old queen. We keep putting patties on them until beginning to mid october depending on the season. It's a good method, bees are strong, temperatures qre warmer so it's easier for the bees to brood up. Queens are available from the suppliers. We raise some of our own at that time of year, for this very purpose. It works well for us especiallyfrom the timing point of view. We are done all of the pollination jobs, so we have some extra time. We don't really get any honey in our area so it's not like we are busy pulling honey and extracting at that time of year.

Jean-Marc


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## Johnny (Sep 7, 2007)

Tom G. Laury said:


> In California Fall divides require more skill and care than in the Springtime.


Hey Tom,can you explain what you mean by more skill and care? 

Also how late in the year do you think you could spllit and have a good hive come almond time? 


Thanks
John


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## Bradley_Bee (May 21, 2008)

I make full splits, meaning. I take a box straight off the top. where as in the spring I'll split 5 frames into a nuc box and let them build from there. 1. honey 2. capped brood . 3 eggs . 4. pollen & honey . 5 a drawn empty . With the fall split i'll make sure they have more honey and I'll put them on bottom boards spaced out instead of on my six way pallets. I'll cut the entrances waaaay down. If the need arises I may feed syrup to keep them alive. The ones that came out of the winter this year and survived the spring are doing great.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

OK Johnny I'll try to put it in to words:

First, do no harm. So rather than make two mediocre colonies out of one average, I pull a nuc out of really good ones or make two nucs out of a poor one, but leave the middling ones as they are. 
You only have 60 days left, so everything has to be just right, and most likely need feeding. 
All the new colonies need to be isolated from strong ones, have a good pollen source and fresh water readily available. When temps are over 100 degrees they need that water the very first morning after being moved.
No robbing. If robbing occurs queen acceptance will be nil or very poor. 
I don't expect too much either in numbers to make or growth from original strength.
The divides or nucs should be well balanced between honey brood and bees. Too much or too little of any of these can be a problem.
Am I making sense? It's hard to put in to words sometimes. Better to do one well than two poorly, and so on.


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## Johnny (Sep 7, 2007)

Thanks Tom, ya it makes sense to me. I guess I'm just trying to get my numbers up a little to fast. I think I'll settle where I'm at for now and leave the fall splitting for the experts. "First do no harm"

Thanks again 
John


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