![\"queen](\"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/queen-shipment-001.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
No wonder they did not die~they were in little plastic “tubie things”. \u00a0And they were pretty tough containers. \u00a0The bees were fine.<\/p>\n
We immediately “suited up” and began the process of hauling all the essentials for the days work: \u00a0smoker, honey water sprayer, hive tools, soft brush, empty supers and frames…it took a while. \u00a0We were finally ready to begin making our splits.<\/p>\n
Making splits\u00a0in its\u00a0simplest\u00a0form: \u00a0A split is nothing more than several frames of brood, bees and food sources taken from a strong hive, and placed in an empty hive. You might think of it as a controlled swarm, although a natural swarm only consist of bees and not brood or comb. But, when making a split, we also add brood, nectar and pollen to the split. Thus, making a split can discourage swarming.<\/p>\n
When making splits, we simply pull out a super of brood in various stages of development, along with the bees on those frames, and place them in an empty box. \u00a0And, I feed my new split as well.<\/p>\n
The most important part is the Queen! \u00a0That is what we have been waiting for all this time. \u00a0We ordered our new Queens on February 25th and they just arrived today. \u00a0This time of year, everyone is making splits so the demand for Queens is very high. \u00a0We actually received ours in short order. \u00a0Some places had us waiting until the end of April and the hives would have swarmed by then.<\/p>\n
Our apiary, as it stands today is five hives. \u00a0We have four “box” hives and one “top bar” hive. \u00a0The box hives stand up tall and are easy to see. \u00a0The top bar hive looks something like a coffin in its shape. \u00a0It sits low to the ground. \u00a0We went and split our two box hives and re-queened all five hives. \u00a0This will encourage a strong build up of bees for the busy honey flow ahead and it can also ease the\u00a0temperament of the hives (make them so they are not quite so grouchy). \u00a0You can see the four box hives center and right and the top bar hive to the left.<\/p>\n
![\"new](\"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/new-apairy-0021.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n