Four for four! So far . . . .

[Ziffa]

Well, we had a spring preview weekend here in Georgia and I got into the 2 smallest hives.  All four of my hives are flying and having large orientation flights.  It looks like the girls are as anxious for spring as I am!

The little yellow hive is doing good.  Good population, filling the top box with nectar, saw evidence of the filling in old brood area with nectar, so I think she is moving down.  I may have been premature on the new box on the bottom, but at least she'll have room.

The little white hive is a little troublesome.  small cluster of bees, maybe  canteloupe(?) size?   they have nectar and pollen in the top box (a medium) but the bottom looked pretty bare.  I changed a couple of old frames from last year that were empty. Didn't see any eggs (my eyes are getting old!!  But not the rest of me  ) but did see capped and almost capped larva. Did not see the queen.  No queen cells.   I have a jar of syrup on top of this hive, but they aren't really taking it.  I'm open feeding as well and they are taking that slowly.  The maples are popping here though and everybody is pulling in heaps of pollen. 

Two questions:

1. Even though it looks like we'll have a few freezing nights left, the day times in the foreseeable future look to be above 40.  Of course it's GA so who knows, but since they are bringing in so much pollen and nectar, can I breathe a sigh of relief?  Will they starve if the flow has started? 

2.  What is your target date for starting splits/nucs from your hives in spring?  I want to try to replicate the little yellow hive and I'm pretty sure that MQ2 is going to need an early split, but not sure how soon is too soon.  I want to get a good start on it this year, as we were chasing swarms last spring.   Since I"m a 'weekend' beekeeper, I need to plan a little bit ahead to map out the target weekend.

Thanks all! 

love,
ziffa

[Woody Roberts]

I raise my own queens and I won't start until the blackberries bloom where I am. Per Walter Kelly.

I have split earlier several times and not one of those saw fall much less the following spring.
Year before last they bloomed here around the first of may. I started some nucs which were fine. Last year I started two at the first of may just like the year before. Blackberries didn't bloom til the 3rd week and both queens failed a month or so after they started laying.

No matter what the calendar says I'll never split again until the blackberries bloom.

As a side note I raise most of my queens after the summer solstice with good results.

[Perry]

It is best to split when there is a critical mass of bees, and best not before. How best to describe that is another thing altogether. There comes a point in a colonies growth where doing a split seems only to be a small bump in the road of their development. Any earlier than that, and a colony can struggle for the better part of the remainder of the season.
Up here, I can start to pull nucs for instance, in May. I am not doing my parent colonies any favours at that time, but because people want early nucs, and that is how I make some coin, I do it. If I wait another month however, I can sometimes easily pull 2 nucs out of a thriving colony and they barely notice it, and they surely benefit with the additional brood space.
OK, to sum it up and make it clear as mud: Wait until your hives are almost "boiling over" but have not yet begun swarm preparations (it's a fine line). Experience sometimes is the best way to find out.
I wish I had a clearer answer.

[Woody Roberts]

Perry
I wouldent know how to explain it any better. One way I use, when I open the top and there's enough room for the bees that are there then their not ready.

I should also clarify, I never split I just pull a strong nuc off of a strong hive.

[Ziffa]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I guess in my heart I know that the bees will tell me when is the best time.  It's just hard to wait patiently for it!  We have a few people who are hoping to buy some nucs for us and I'm so impatient  to see if I can make it happen.  Also, since I can usually only get in on the weekends, and sometimes (!!) it rains on the weekends, I feel like I miss that "fine line" .  But I understand what you are saying. and I will wait.

I'm guessing it will be the end of March / beginning of April, then.  I think our blackberries bloom in April.  I will watch for that.  /le sigh.

Spring fever hits me hard.

Thanks again. I appreciate the insights.

love,
ziffa

[rcannon]

When you pop the top and can't get it back on for bees boiling out, it's time to split.
I looked in four hives Saturday and found swarm cells in three of those. I pulled a few frames out to split these hives. I had a few more I wanted to check, but the rain stopped me. Maybe next weekend.