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Post by motj3 on Mar 9, 2013 12:15:15 GMT -7
I have one hive I like above the others. I want to do some walk away splits from it in the hopes of having additional similar traited hives. How early can I do this? I am west or Corvallis. My bees are a Carny/mutt.
I am ready to lose all extra honey from this hive to do splits this summer. I am hoping for at least two splits this spring/summer. It is my understanding I need plenty of drones and temps around 70 degrees before I can split. That puts me splitting around mid-April?
I am doing what I can to increase bee numbers in anticipation of this. I will have to split or do alot of swarm management in early April.
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Post by mab52 on Mar 9, 2013 18:56:10 GMT -7
Hey motj3 I am new to beekeeping and I am interested in the how to's of splits and have a few questions for you. What makes this particular hive "better" than the others? Also how many bees, honey stores and brood do you feel you need present in a hive before you can split them up without weakening the home hive or the split, making sure they will both be able to survive? And what will be blooming to help them sustain their growth once you split them apart? The major reason I am asking is I am getting two packages and one nuc and would like to try a split if it would work and these questions would need to be answered before I would be able to try it. This may be too aggressive for my first year but there seems to be excellent people who are very knowledgeable and willing to share.
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Paul
Worker Bee
And when we go, nature will start over. With the bees, probably. Nature knows when to give up, David
Posts: 121
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Post by Paul on Mar 10, 2013 11:00:04 GMT -7
Don't go doing splits on a first year hive. It's going to have to build out all that foundation and then fill it with honey to get ready for winter.
Buy the book 'Increase Essentials' for everything you need to know.
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Post by motj3 on Mar 10, 2013 15:45:45 GMT -7
The traits I like are good overwinter, fast build-up, easy to work with, handle varroa very well, no robbbing issues and draw comb/put up honey like crazy. This is my second year with them and I want to keep the genetics so much as possible.
I understand the concepts of how to prevent swarming to make more honey but I would rather have more of these traited bee hives and younger queens.
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Post by mab52 on Mar 10, 2013 23:05:37 GMT -7
Thanks Paul, got it ordered. Motj3 OK, makes sense, sounds like I should get to know the girls and then increase the ones that produce what we are trying to do with them. Still very interested as to how this is going to work for you. How many hives do you have? Would really like to see the updates as to how it turns out and the process you are going to use. Thanks again for the info. Anyone else?
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Post by drew on Mar 11, 2013 11:19:27 GMT -7
The traits I like are good overwinter, fast build-up, easy to work with, handle varroa very well, no robbbing issues and draw comb/put up honey like crazy. This is my second year with them and I want to keep the genetics so much as possible. I understand the concepts of how to prevent swarming to make more honey but I would rather have more of these traited bee hives and younger queens. Grafting queens from this would be a better option. Walk away split usually means, take half the hive away then introduce a new queen to the queen-less half. It sounds like you are hoping they will raise there own queen?? If so when they start wanting to swarm, (queen cells made and sealed) take those frames out along with bees in a nuc and set them off to the side somewhere to raise a new queen. Hope the weather holds and local drones also carry traits that you want.
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Post by motj3 on Apr 4, 2013 12:36:46 GMT -7
I am set up for grafting now. Any tips would be appreciated.
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