# Help! I performed my first split...



## Tupelo (May 25, 2017)

I am about a year into beekeeping and did my first split last Monday. I have one very strong hive took a medium box and added one frame of brood and one frame of honey from the strong hive (along with the nurse bees on them) then a built out frame and the rest of the frames are wax foundation. I added the queen after the bees had been split for a few days and four days later I came back and noticed the queen was released and i could see her milling around with the other bees. This week, I checked on her again. No change at all.. she is still in there with the other bees but they aren't leaving the hive or foraging as far as I can see. I also added an entrance feeder and they aren't touching it. Is this normal or did I do something wrong?


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## Tim KS (May 9, 2014)

It's normal to loose the foragers back to the parent hive, but with a bit of time the nurse bees will mature into new foragers as the brood hatches, and the queen should be laying now or begin laying soon. Check back in a week and there should be open brood which is easier to see than eggs.

The next time you do a similar split, it's better to shake in more nurse bees than just those on the brood frame......extra nurse bees are always good. 

Keep an eye on them to see that the queen gets doing her job and the rest should follow. Good luck.


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## fieldsofnaturalhoney (Feb 29, 2012)

To me, it sounds like you didn't add enough bees in the equation. How many total frames is the split? Keep two eyes on that entrance feeder, it could lead to their demise.


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## Steve in PA (Jan 26, 2015)

Every split I've done is quiet for about the 1st week as there aren't many foragers. Then, as the nurse bees mature there are more and more. I usually put a pint jar of syrup on to help them until they are foraging more. As Tim mentioned, I also put a shake of nurse bees in as well.

The splits I make are queenless but that shouldn't matter. I let them raise a queen.


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## Jtcmedic (Apr 7, 2017)

Was it a mated queen? is she laying ,And is there pollen in the hive? Adding some pollen may start the queen laying and they will start foragers


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