I've been calling queen suppliers, and everyone I have contacted is swamped. It doesn't look like I'll be able to order queens.
Is it too late to do walk away splits this season?
If I split, it would take 30 days before the queen can start laying. If I did it this week, that would mean middle of Aug when she would lay. Is it possible for her to lay enough to make it through the winter?
Three of my hives are rather big. One is one deep + 3 mediums (of brood, not counting honey reserves). Another is 4 mediums + one shallow (same). I'm afraid if I don't do something, they will swarm on their own and I'll lose them anyway.
Ideas?
Too late to split?
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specialkayme
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One of the presenters at the State meeting gave a workshop on making nucs and successful requeening. He is in the Winston area and his reasoned opinion was for the Piedmont area, the earliest time for this is around March 12th and the latest around July 20th based on drone presence at mating times. I would think this would hold true for splits since the mating considerations would be the same.
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specialkayme
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Interesting. I wish I had heard that.
Were those dates based on genetic concerns, or was it also considering the amount of time it would take the split to repopulate and gather enough resources in order to overwinter?
My concern is less with getting the optimum queen, and more with ensuring survivability while increasing numbers.
Were those dates based on genetic concerns, or was it also considering the amount of time it would take the split to repopulate and gather enough resources in order to overwinter?
My concern is less with getting the optimum queen, and more with ensuring survivability while increasing numbers.
I'm figuring both queen mating and build up concerns were involved since he would not want to make a nuc only to have it not build up sufficiently. In the case of splits, you are putting many more bees in each hive than would be in a nuc. If your concern is swarming, it could happen but is less likely to happen if there is not a good nectar flow available. If we have a good fall flow (the last 2 years we have not) you could have strong hives issue swarms late, although this is not a good situation for the swarm or the hive. You will want to leave the queen in your original hive and make sure both hives have brood, nectar and pollen, but especially that the split has eggs/very young larvae and young bees/nurse bees to be able to produce the royal jelly and provide proper nutrition for the developing queens.
At Tuesday's meeting of the Guilford County Beekeepers, Kurt Bower gave a presentation about overwintering bees. I will be following his advice this fall about taking my "losses" early. By that he meant if hives are weak in the fall, find and pinch the queens in the weak hives and combine the weak hives with stronger ones or combine weak hives together, leaving the best queen alive. You are more likely to have one strong hive survive winter and less likely to suffer the disappointment of having 2 weak ones die out. In the spring when drones are flying you can split the surviving hive and build back your numbers.
At Tuesday's meeting of the Guilford County Beekeepers, Kurt Bower gave a presentation about overwintering bees. I will be following his advice this fall about taking my "losses" early. By that he meant if hives are weak in the fall, find and pinch the queens in the weak hives and combine the weak hives with stronger ones or combine weak hives together, leaving the best queen alive. You are more likely to have one strong hive survive winter and less likely to suffer the disappointment of having 2 weak ones die out. In the spring when drones are flying you can split the surviving hive and build back your numbers.