# Splits



## RobA (Dec 18, 2014)

I was reading an article in the April Bee Culture magazine about swarms. The author said when splitting a hive the new nuc box should be moved "to a different apiary". I have a new hive stand ready to go in case I do a split and it is only 75 feet from my existing 2 hives. Is this OK? Or is the author suggesting something further away?


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## Cameron Daley (Mar 25, 2013)

When I do split, I put the split next to the original hive. I've never had a problem.


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## johnbeejohn (Jun 30, 2013)

Some of the bees the forgers who have already oriented to original location will go back and split will not be as strong as u made it if u move it to another apiary u will retain all bees you put in the box the first time if keeping in same apiary just give them extra bees than you think they wi)l need that way when some return to original hive it will still be strong


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## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

I don't move my splits farther than 25 feet. Not everyone has access to another yard a couple of miles away any how. Like johnbeejohn said, shake an extra frame or two of nurse bees into the split. If you put at least one frame of mostly capped brood into the split, as soon as they emerge, your population will increase.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

> The author said when splitting a hive the new nuc box should be moved "to a different apiary".

A nice idea that I've never done...


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## Sunday Farmer (Nov 13, 2013)

I move mine. It's simple and prevents babysitting. With that said, if you don't have another yard, make your nucs the Doolittle method. All those young nurse bees clinging to the brood will mostly stay in the nuc.


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## jadebees (May 9, 2013)

I move the new split about 3 or 4 feet, often moving the old queen to the new box. If they are getting rather "swarmy", she thinks she did swarm.

You could scratch a line in your dirt , and say 1 side is apiary A, and the other, B. 

There are many good reasons to move the hives. Most of them are irrelevant, in a home setting. If you get a swarm from your own hives, yes, 2 miles away, for 2 days. Then bring 'em home. Generally, 3 feet is far enough. And , foragers drift, helping both the old and new hive.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

The main issue is if they don't have much brood to raise, most bees might go back to the parent hive and the split will not have very many foragers for a few days. Early season it works well, but if you tried in a dearth or when there isn't much blooming, you can get severe robbing pressure on the split from the parent hive as bees go back and tell everyone where the missing honey went.


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