Spliting the hive

[kirk boy]

I am a newbie who started with a five frame nuc four weeks ago, the bees have been building up steadily some time this month I hope to split them, they are in a double brood and have been drawing foundation I have fed light syrup with fondant, on 7.6.10 we found the Queen and put her in the bottom box where all of her activity has been draw comb has been added and a Queen excluder I am hoping that Queen cells will now appear. Is this method o k, your advice would be appreciated.

[Jon]

They will almost certainly start to make queen cells. I usually wait until they make some natural ones.
How many frames of brood are there? It's not a good idea to split until the colony is strong.

[gavin]

Yup, I'd second that. In fact I never split without a well-formed queen cell already there and I don't know any beekeepers who do. To get to that stage you need a strong colony filling the boxe(s) and once they feel cramped then queen cells are likely. But if this is a nuc building up this spring then it may never get there.

Splitting with too weak a colony will bring all sorts of problems. I doubt that a 5-frame nuc 4 weeks ago (with maybe 3 frames of brood then?) will be at that stage yet. If you end up with less than about three frames of brood in each split then they will take forever to build up to a reasonable strength.

G.

[Jimbo]

Most beekeepers hope that queen cells will not appear! I would leave the colony to build up natually. If it is a nuc housed in a double brood box there may be sufficient room for the queen to lay therefore may not produce any queen cells. I would think about getting the colony down into a single box and get a super on for some honey. I would then check weekly for signs of swarming before I would split. If your nuc has a new queen from this year it would not want to swarm this year or produce queen cells.
Jimbo

[kirk boy]

Thanks everyone for your advice I will concentrate on one hive. kirk boy

[Adam]

kirk boy,
Concentrate on getting the colony strong to survive the Scottish winters - they are unlikely to swarm this year. One strong colony will have a better chance than two weak ones. If you get some honey this year, treat it as a bonus.