Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[AugustC]

OK! so I have pretty much, kinda, sorta, probably decided to go with a walk away split on saturday. Lots of drones are present in capped brood and roaming on the comb, and there are a few completed queen cups, i think without larvae in them (when I check last night; tues).

I was intending to do an artificial swarm and two splits with queen cells. Moving the two splits to a new hive and leaving the old queen and foragers in the old hive with a comb or two of honey. However, my queen finding skills leave a lot to be desired *sigh*.

I thought therefore that I might move the new hive into the old hives position and just do an equal split. Half to each side this is want it would look like.



The new hive is 51" long so should be able to house two colonies. It is also a much better build. My original hive is made from scrap and I am a little worried about its longevity. The new hive has its main entrances in each end but there are smaller entrances under halfway for each side. I thought any foragers would just equal about between the two side and I could then move the follower boards outward.

My concern this way there is a danger with my queen spotting skills that I won't find her in the hive and she be left in the old hive.

What are peoples' thoughts?
Should I really just shut up whining and get on with it already

[biobee]

It looks like you will be removing all the combs from the old hive and splitting them between two sections in the new hive - correct?

That means the queen will end up on one side or the other. The side without a queen will make one from an egg or a young larva.

Will this develop into your two-queen system that we discussed?