# When to split a hive and add honey supers



## Richinbama (Jan 15, 2018)

Hi border, im.new keeper myself. Sounds like you should be able to make several splits and make honey. How many brood boxes you have, and frames in each box? Any info you can give will help the experienced keepers give you solid advice.


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## Birdee (Oct 3, 2016)

Hey Richinbama,
I am running 2 deep broodboxes that are 8 frame Langstroth. I have a medium super whenever the bees get ready for it. I didn’t want to add it right now and allow for to much space in the hive for them to defend. Right now only one deep has got brood. On my last inspection 2 days ago I reversed the boxes as I have read is a common method to practice to prevent swarming. I did not do this last year and my hive swarmed but I didn’t have any problems with varroa mites . Recently I have noticed trouble with SHB but I always keep at least 1 beetle buster trap per super which seems to help a lot.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

Ther are a lot of criteria I use for determining when to split, weather, drones, available equipment and saved stores, and of course, hive strength. Splitting a production hive requires that the hive is already booming. All frames should have bees on them and you should have about six with brood. I pull one frame of capped and one frame of young wet brood with eggs for a split. Add a frame of honey/pollen and two frames of foundation. Then brush in an extra frames worth of nurse bees from a capped brood frame. 

When you reversed your boxes, the box with brood went to the bottom? 

I would put my super on now in your location. If your hives swarmed last year and you didnt get a honey crop, they may have simply run out of space. In VA, the yield per hive is just under 50#, I dont know about TN, but I bet you need to have two supers per hive once the flow starts (any time now).


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Welcome!


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## Birdee (Oct 3, 2016)

Thank You so much for your advice! I will add a super on the next pretty day. How do you know when the nectar flow starts? Do the bees act differently? Do I need to observe for certain blooming native plants?


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

Here our primary flow is the tulip poplar tree. Check for which trees and field plants bloom and when in your area. The bees get very busy when the flow is on. You will see them coming and going with lots of activity at the hive entrance. Another sign is that they stop taking syrup as quickly. I suspect the flow has already started where you are, hence the suggestion to go ahead and super now. Make sure you remove any feeders when you super. You should see nectar in the frames on your next inspection.

If you decide to do a split, the split will need to be fed as there won't be any foragers iin the nuc until a week or two has gone by.


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## tech.35058 (Jul 29, 2013)

Greetings Birdee .... I may restate some of your initial post for clarity, but do not take that as a challenge.
I am a bit south of you in north Alabama.. I tend to run smaller brood nests than you, if the bees are in double deeps ( I run 8 frame mediums for interchangeability). As stated above, a couple of frames of brood, mostly worker cells with eggs, a frame of nectar ( or a feeder) & pollen, and a place for the new queen to lay.. make sure all the bees come from one hive, but the stores & brood can come from any where. be sure your nuc has a robbing screen, and your other hives have drones present.
If your bees are short on stores, despite the fact that the box is full of bees & you are feeding them suggests something may not be quite right ( how long have you been feeding them?). 

I would do a check for mites as a first step. sugar roll, alcohol wash, pull drone brood or treat & count the drops.
since you have brood present this (treatment) will probably be a mullti step process.

Are the frames in the brood nest not involved with brood empty? when the frames are 80% covered with bees, you can add another box, I guess, but if they cannot fill the frames they have now, they wont be able to draw comb & fill the new frames either. ( assuming your super is not drawn comb)
with 2 deeps for a brood nest, you probably need 3 supers per hive, unless you want to harvest twice a week when you have a good flow. good luck, CE


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## Oldman47 (Sep 7, 2017)

How do you know when the flow is on? Open the hive and have a look. If many of the frames are full of nectar, you are in a flow. If most of the frames are looking full of nectar, add at least one super.


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