The Big Split

On the 22nd we split the two colonies we had, now we have four. They came out of winter strong in three supers, we split each into two brood boxes for the summer, And we didn't mix the colonies when splitting, just in case we didn't see the Queen and end up putting two Queens in the same hive. This would be very bad. They were very strong and tons of bees as you can see in the pictures below. When checked today if there were Queen cells in the new colonies, it was a hit and miss. The first one didn't have any Queen cells but I did see new eggs and very early development of some larva, which means I moved the Queen over when splitting them. The colony that we split if from turned out to have a frame with Queen cells, but when I pulled up the frame it pulled apart two cells, so we put it back and usually there is more than one frame with Queen cells. The next new colony had one frame with four Queen cells on it, we put it back carefully and will leave it until next weekend, It takes 16 days for a Queen to develop. Earlier in the week we put honey supers on the largest colonies to try and get dandelion honey, it is slow going. There were several frames in the brood boxes full of honey, so I know it's there, just a matter of time.

Lot of honey in this frame.

Loaded with bees.

You can see it's full.

Packed.

Hard to see, but it's wall to wall bees.

A healthy frame.

Just pouring over the sides.

After the split.

A warm day, I took out the bottom board insert for ventilation.

I added screened inner cover and will let the bees take there
time leaving the old inner cover.

All colonies are busy today.

Our little honey maker at work.

Three Queen cells, hopefully one will live.

Splitting The Girls

Over the past few weeks we have been watching the weather for the right time to split the colony and even with the chance of rain today was the time. Earlier in the week the dandy lions started come out and that is a good sign and the girls have been busy, the front of the hive is a bit yellow with pollen. Today we split the hive into three colony's, which went well. With all the pictures ReBecca took we were able to confirm the Queen was there and did get moved to an other colony. There was a lot to do, I moved into each super, four frames from the existing supers, all had honey, pollen, capped brood and other stages of development, along with four new frames for them to draw out and get started with. This should be successful, and in a few weeks we'll add a Queen excluder and then the honey supers for us, then wait for the fall to see how they did.

You can see the pollen on the front.

Busy even at the rear of the hive.

Under side of the inner cover.

The Queen is still with us.

Below the inner cover.

Carefully removing a frame.

Talking it out slowly.

Checking it out and looking for the Queen.

Still looking.

Lots of capped brood.

They'll build comb anywhere, bee space is important.

Lots of new bees.

You can see new ones chewing their way out.

Never stop bring in the pollen.

Lots of pollen to bring in.