David MacFawn
There are multiple ways to increase colonies and control swarming. Splitting colonies is one method to help the beekeeper. Walk-away splits (where you make sure each split half contains less than three-day-old larvae, honey, and pollen and let the queenless split raise another queen) or installing queen cells or a mated queen are additional ways to split a colony for a colony number increase. Demaree (see later in article for explanation) is another technique to simulate a split but keep all the worker bees in the same hive. If you are looking for the queen, she is usually found on a frame with freshly laid eggs.
A generic timeline has been developed for splitting and Spring buildup:
| Weeks to Spring Nectar Flow | Event |
|---|---|
| Winter solstice / begin Spring buildup | |
| Nine to ten weeks | Start feeding if your goal is to split colonies |
| Eight to nine weeks | Henbit, maples, dandelions, willow bloom, early bloom in your area |
| Four to five weeks | Check for purple-eye drones and swarm cells |
| Four to Five weeks | Check for swarming & do early splits or other swarm control measures |
| Four to five weeks | Earliest start for queen rearing |
| Two or three weeks | Start queen rearing when drones are walking on comb: conservative approach |
| Zero | Spring Flow Starts |
In the Columbia, South Carolina area, colonies can be split at the end of February/early March at the earliest. Adding empty supers with frames will not relieve the congestion in the brood nest that usually causes swarming. Frames with brood and bees need to be removed in the congested brood nest. If colonies are fed sugar syrup mid to end of January, most colonies will be ready to split from the end of February to the first of March at the earliest (approximately two brood cycles). Usually, only healthy colonies that are well provisioned with honey and pollen build up sufficiently to split. The maples bloom at the end of January to the first of February in the Columbia, South Carolina area. The maples are considered a major pollen source and a minor nectar source. The nectar flow usually starts around the first of April and continues through the first part of June in this region.
Colonies can be split consistently in South Carolina as early as the end of February if fed starting the second half to the end of January. The colony should be split when it starts warming consistently into the upper 30°F to lower 40°F (2°C to 8°C) at night. The split needs enough worker bees to cover the brood. When splitting, each split half should have eggs/less than three-day-old larvae, honey, and pollen. Each split-half should be fed.
The rule of thumb is a colony can be split when there are purple-eyed drone pupa. However, this needs to be qualified. The drone and queen time durations are:
Fifteen-day old purple eye drone pupa with nine days left of the 24-day development time + 14 to 16 days maximum to sexually mature (actually seven to 14 days) equals approximately 23 to 25 days (or about three to three and a half weeks) to sexually mature.
Queens
Sixteen-day development from egg plus four to seven days to sexually mature equals 20 to 23 days, or about three weeks.
Splitting the colony should be held off for three to four days after purple-eyed drone pupa are observed. The queen egg takes three days to mature into feedable larvae. This means, that after purple-eyed drones are observed, the beekeeper should wait three to four days to ensure the queen emerges when there are sexually mature drones. Also, there should be a multitude of purple-eyed drones before splitting, not just a few. You want to be on the mature-side average of the purple-eyed drone larvae. A more conservative view is to have adult drones walking around on combs.
Splitting and purple-eyed drone pupa occurs earliest (in January and February) in the deep south/Florida and progresses farther north as Spring approaches in the country. In South Carolina, it occurs from the end of February into March. The beekeeper should consult their local bee association members to determine when splitting, and thus purple-eyed drone pupa, normally occurs.
If a walk-away split is done at the end of February, it takes approximately three weeks to raise a queen, a week or so to mate and start laying, and another three weeks for the first workers to emerge. This puts the first workers emerging mid-April from the queenless split half, with the nectar flow starting around the first of April. Approximately another three weeks are required for the house worker bees to mature into field bees putting the nectar gathering field bees for the walk-away split being ready first to mid-May. The nectar flow is over usually around the first of June, so the walk-away split has missed most of the Spring nectar flow. This means a walk-away split will need to be fed during the Summer dearth that starts mid-June and runs through until around the first of August. If the colony is taken to cotton fields for nectar that blooms mid-July through September or sourwood bloom in the higher mountain elevations feeding is unnecessary. It should be noted that sometimes an inferior queen may result from a walk-away split. A walk-away split queen can be evaluated and replaced if this occurs. Dr. David Tarpy’s lab at North Carolina State University indicated from their queen research if the capped queen cells are culled at exactly five days after splitting, results in a reasonable queen. Often the bees will choose an older larva to produce a walk away queen. A walk-away split may be required in South Carolina at the end of February due to a lack of mated queen availability. The split-half with the original queen should continue to build up properly and often you will get a reasonable honey crop. Walk-away split results in the new queen split obtaining the genetics from the local area.
So, a generic walk-away split schedule is:
| Event | Week |
|---|---|
| Split | 0 |
| Approximately three weeks to raise a queen | 3 weeks |
| A week or so o mate and start laying | 4 weeks |
| Three weeks for the first workers to emerge | 7 weeks |
| Approximately three weeks are required for the house worker bees to mature into field bees | 10 weeks |
When splitting a colony, I usually do not find the queen. I make sure both split halves have plenty of honey, pollen and less than three-day-old larvae. This results in the split that does not have the old queen to start raising a queen and the worker brood from the original queen will emerge in approximately one to two weeks. The split-half without worker brood in approximately two weeks will be the queenless split. It takes a lot of time to find queens. Hence, I minimize my labor costs by not finding the queen. The colony should be monitored for laying worker activity. Usually, you have three to six weeks before laying workers emerge.
One to two days after splitting, queen cell(s) can be installed in both splits. Queen cells are much cheaper than mated queens. This results in an approximate one week head start on a walk-away split. A mated queen can also be installed in the split-half that does not have brood after approximately one and a half weeks.
Whether you do a walk-away split or use queen cells or mated queens or a Demaree depends on what your strategy is. A walk-away split and queen cells can be used to get half your genetics from the local area if you are interested in local area genetics. A mated queen, if not raised from local colonies, can be used to replace 100 percent of your colony genes from the mated area of the mated queen. A Demaree is when all the brood in the bottom brood chamber is moved above a queen excluder and a super with frames. The queen is left on a frame of drawn comb in the bottom brood chamber. In seven to ten days, the brood above the queen excluder is checked for queen cells and the queen cells are destroyed to inhibit swarming. The colony believes it has swarmed and you have retained all your field bees for honey production. After several weeks the Demaree colony can be recombined.
The first of June, at the end of the nectar flow, is also an excellent time to split colonies. There are a lot of bees available right after the nectar flow and mated queens and queen cells are available. One of the issues is getting the colony to draw-out comb over the Summer dearth. Often the colony will need to be put on cotton fields in mid-July or taken to the mountains for the sourwood flow. It should be noted that drawn comb, especially in the brood chamber, improves overwintering success. Drawn comb is required to ensure the cluster is in the bottom of the hive with plenty of honey and pollen going into Winter. If the colony does not draw out the comb after a June split, the brood nest will remain in the hive areas where the drawn comb occurs. This may be a feed chamber super or honey super. Feeding sugar syrup rarely enhances drawing out comb. Normally a nectar flow is required. The colony normally needs to have about 80 percent comb utilization before them drawing out more comb.
After splitting, the split can be moved three to five miles away or left in the original yard. Moving the split works better since the field bees will stay with the moved split. If the split is left in the original yard, an extra frame of bees and brood should be placed in the split. Often it is better to locate the split directly next to or in front of the original location to minimize losing field bees in the split.
A frame of bees of various ages is best to place in both half splits. This will ensure that you do not have all the same age workers and minimizes the need for a lot of nurse bees initially.
Utilizing swarm cells to place in each split half may also be considered. This will shorten your queen development time by about a week or so. However, some beekeepers believe utilizing swarm cells propagates swarm tendencies. It should also be noted that leaving swarm cells in the half with the original queen may result in a swarm being issued from that split half.
There are several ways to avoid swarming. Making splits and utilizing a walk-away split, queen cells, mated queen or swarm cells all have their benefits. Demaree may also be utilized to simulate a swarm condition in the colony and save all your bees for honey production. Moving the split three to five miles away from the original bee yard works best. Whether you split or not, make sure you get back to what your needs and strategy are. If you need to make increases due to losses, splitting may be the way to go. However, if you want to make a honey crop, then Demaree may be the way to go.
References
ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture, 42nd edition, 2020, ISBN-13 978-0-9846915-3-1 p 460.
David MacFawn (dmacfawn@aol.com) is an Eastern Apiculture Society Master Beekeeper and a North Carolina Master Craftsman beekeeper living in the Columbia, South Carolina, area. He is the author of three books:
Applied Beekeeping in the United States by David MacFawn, published by Outskirts Press
Beekeeping Tips and Techniques for the Southeast United States, Beekeeping Finance by David MacFawn, published by Outskirts Press
Getting the Best from Your Bees by David MacFawn and Chris Slade, Published by Outskirts Press
