Sputnik 8 Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 Is is too late in the year to do a walkaway split in west Auckland? Link to post Share on other sites
tristan 4,362 Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 i can't give a good answer because i havn't been in the hives for a while. however i suspect its to late. i'm not sure what drones are doing at the moment but weather has cooled right off and that usually triggers them into winter mode. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites
CraBee 1,748 Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 27 minutes ago, Sputnik said: Is is too late in the year to do a walkaway split in west Auckland? You may be better to take a strong hive through Winter and with it a better chance of staying healthy / surviving and if you want to split do it in early Spring when all is in your favour. Many of the commercial cell producers have wound right down now, many commercial operators have stopped putting out cells. The other thing is a walk a way is also going to be subject to robbing... 1 Link to post Share on other sites
tristan 4,362 Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 the problem with walk away splits is you have the time for them to make a queen, then mating time etc before she starts to lay (assuming she actually gets mated). all that time the hive is declining and there won't be much time to rebuild before winter fully sets in. as crabee mentions its far better to take a strong hive through winter. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Sputnik 8 Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 Okay thanks. Will find another project and leave the girls alone. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Sputnik 8 Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 Hi, got hive through winter okay and put in the MAQS today, as once again in lockdown, some drone brood seen in the burr combed witch I removed and checked for varroa, none was seen in the drone brood. I still want to split this hive so after 7 or so days once the MAQS have finished can I do the split or should I wait till I see more drones out and about? Link to post Share on other sites
yesbut 6,230 Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 If it was mine I'd be leaving it alone another three weeks. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Alastair 8,627 Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 Yes too early right now, not enough drones and your new queen will not mate. To mate, a new queen needs not just a handful of drones seen in a hive, but she needs thousands of them in the drone congregation area (DCA). The drone larvae you see in the hive now take 25 days from egg to hatch, and another 14 days to reach sexual maturity. IE, wouldn't bother doing a walkaway split till mid September, and your odds of success improve the longer you can leave it after that. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Maggie James 899 Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 10 hours ago, Sputnik said: Hi, got hive through winter okay and put in the MAQS today, as once again in lockdown, some drone brood seen in the burr combed witch I removed and checked for varroa, none was seen in the drone brood. I still want to split this hive so after 7 or so days once the MAQS have finished can I do the split or should I wait till I see more drones out and about? If it's a single decker and there are plenty of pollen & nectar sources available, perhaps stick another brood box on top 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Kiwi Bee 589 Posted August 22, 2020 Share Posted August 22, 2020 On 17/08/2020 at 8:21 AM, Maggie James said: If it's a single decker and there are plenty of pollen & nectar sources available, perhaps stick another brood box on top If its a double then reverse the 2 boxes and a week later add a new box on top(only if there is no room for the bees in the double). The outcome is that you win some time till mid/second half of September. Also those who have a small number of hives can remove a frame from position 1 or 10 and replace it with a simplicity frame(no wire, no foundation). The bees(if they are in a good number) will build fresh comb there(only brood cell) and the queen will lay it fully. Depending on how fast this will happen it'll indicate how strong and healthy the colony is(also weather can influence it - no foraging in rainy days may slow down the process). Link to post Share on other sites
tristan 4,362 Posted August 22, 2020 Share Posted August 22, 2020 On 16/08/2020 at 10:05 PM, Sputnik said: Hi, got hive through winter okay and put in the MAQS today, as once again in lockdown, some drone brood seen in the burr combed witch I removed and checked for varroa, none was seen in the drone brood. I still want to split this hive so after 7 or so days once the MAQS have finished can I do the split or should I wait till I see more drones out and about? get the hive nice and strong before splitting. especially as maqs has probably wacked it a bit. one of the common mistakes is splitting hives that are not strong and ending up with two weak hives. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Popular Post john berry 5,636 Posted August 22, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted August 22, 2020 I do all my splitting at the same time as I re-queen in autumn. This gives me spare hives to patch up losses and dud Queens in the spring . It also gives me the whole spring to patch up any mistakes and get ready for the honey flow rather than splitting in spring when the weather tends to be less reliable and if things go wrong you don't have enough time to save the honey season. I can and have done plenty of spring dividing in the past but on average I think autumn is better. 3 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Sputnik 8 Posted October 22, 2020 Author Share Posted October 22, 2020 (edited) YHive swarmed today had seen what I thought were play cups 9days ago. Managed to catch swarm despite it being well up a tree. Took a few attempts but in end cut branch down to bring to ground and shook into nuc. About a 5th land in nuc then I closed lid and rest walked in like army ants. Didn't see marked queen Assuming I should have taken the play cups as sign it was ready to split or that I missed a queen cell. Swarm filled a full depth nuc box. Got some cool photos but files too large to post. Edited October 22, 2020 by Sputnik Link to post Share on other sites
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