# How many splits from 1 hive?



## nicklatech

i guess it depend on when drones are flying when you can create splits. I started with 5 x 5 frame nucs this year and now I have 11 hives. I'm still working on getting queens in two or three. I could do more splits but I'd rather get some honey this fall and I dont need anymore bees. I just want to buffer incase I lose some during the winter. One of the mistakes I made was I split all my hives. It worked out OK, but I noticed that each week I was pulling brood frames from my big hives. If anything went sour then I could have wasted lots of resources. From that walk away slit I lost 1 hive from beetles and another from a wax moth. I should have made nucs instead of walk away splits due to resources lost.

How many splits per hive depends on the hive and the flow. So go ahead an make as many boxes and nucs as your end goal. I always try to keep a couple of extra boxes around because you never know when the hive starts building queen cells. 

*warning I'm new and make lots of mistakes*


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## pjigar

Where you are makes a huge difference. Someone local can give you better estimate. Out here in Texas, you can turn 1 hive in 8 or 12 easy! I turned 1 overwintered colony into 8 colonies each upto 2 medium boxes so far. I can still make summer nucs if I want but I am going to slow down now! This includes couple of failed splits.


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## Sour Kraut

Scottankarens said:


> Can anyone tell me from experience, about how many splits I could make from each of my hives next year? This assumes of course they survive the winter. Thank you!


The correct answer is 'it depends'.

If you have a fairly long, generous spring flow, a 1-to-5 split with 4 new queens is do-able.

NOT 1-to-5-let-them-raise-a-queen..they will be so depleted by the time the first brood cycle emerges they may never recover.

Be prepared to nurse-maid them along, feeding when it's bad weather, preferably in 5-frame boxes until they get all 5 drawn and populated, then to a 10-frame, then add another deep.

You WILL have 5 where you had one, but at the cost of a honey crop from the one.


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## pjigar

Let me be clear: I did NOT do 1-to-8 split!
First round: 1-to-4 split in March. All raised their own mated queen but 1 failed after a month.
Second round: 1-to-2 split on 2 stronger colonies.
Third round: 1-to-2 split on one colony and 1-to-3 split on another. 

Again it all depends on how fast they draw and build up. Play it by the ears.


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## DavidZ

In March I used my 2 stronger hives for spliting this year.
I now have 20 nucs, and 4 strong hives from those 2, every one is is doing great.
Nucs have been a learning experience to manage every 4-5 days out there working
these 100+ brood factories, I'm just about of woodenware for this season.
I didn't realize how fast these would expand.
Last years increase was insane, this year's experiment is wickedly awesome.
Should say I bought 20 queens, and still need 5-6 more.
Mr Palmer, any Queens for sale?


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## Michael Bush

http://bushfarms.com/beesexpectations.htm
http://bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm#howmanysplits


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## JRG13

I had a breeder build up to a double deep this spring, removed her w/ about 3 frames and grafted a bar of their own larva right in. Ended up splitting 7 ways with the cells.


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## jooky

1 capped queen cell only needs a cup of bees and a feeder. it will be a bit slower build up, but that's a minimum.


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## JWPalmer

I split one hive 1:6. One mating nuc got robbed out so I ended up with four splits and the parent. Made two splits from a hive that swarmed and left me a bunch of queen cells and made two mating nucs from a hive that was an overwintered nuc. It all depends on how fast the bees build up in the early spring. I started feeding heavy in January with syrup and pollen sub, but I am in Richmond, VA so your timing will be different. My plan is 3 to 20 + for this year. I am 3 to 12 now. Queens are all from cells the bees made, no purchased queens.


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