After setting the Nuc on center blocks I pulled the cheese cloth away so the bees could investigate their new location. I did the split in the late evening hoping the bees will remain in their new home at night. Nighty Night, little bees.
The queen bee arrived with her attendants on Thursday, May 7th, 2009. I decided to split the hive that day and prayed for a break in the rain. It has rained for the past five days. After a torrential downpour, we decided to go ahead and divide Hive #2. Isabel blessed the queen bee and we started the process.Hive #2 (big colony) - The bees almost devoured the pollen patty I had placed in hive four days previous. Lots of queen cells in the hive. We found three nice frames of brood and pollen, and one frame full of honey. Perfect.
During the split, we had to isolate the existing queen so we wouldn't put her in the new hive. If we had accidently removed the queen and put her in the new hive that would jeopardize the colony survival. They could create another queen this early in the season, however, that would mean 21 day from egg to newly emerging bee, and then wait until the queen took her maiden flight and mate. So you would be looking at approximately 2 months before the new queen would begin laying eggs. Not good at all, so we were very careful in isolating the queen.
The configuration of Hive #1: old queen with brood in super #1 (bottom), super #2, queen excluder between super #2 and honey super.
Hive #1 hadn't touched their two pollen patties so I placed one over in Hive #1. I will need to check on Hive #1 in a week to see if the new queen is laying eggs or if she is a weak queen.
Hive #3 is very active. I didn't want to check them just yet and will wait until Sunday, May 11, 2009. They are newly installed and have accepted their queen. I will then pull some frames to see what they are doing and if the queen is laying eggs
We brought the Nuc (Hive #4) to another location. I decided to feed them sugar water in the morning as I didn't want to disturb them just yet.
