The Split

I went back in the hive with Doug and decided it needed to be split. The challenge I didn't anticipate was how quickly the bees would multiply and how quickly they would store honey. When the hive become too crowded, they did what bees have always done; they decided it was time to swarm. There were a number of queen swarm cells, one of which was already capped.

Doug provided the extra brood box and I used a super that I had left at Clarence's place last year to make the split. (Fortunately, the foundations were still in pretty good shape, but not yet drawn out.) We swapped out 4 frames from the super, all but one with swarm cells on the bottom edge. We also took three frames from the brood box, two of which were loaded with capped brood cells and one of which was loaded with honey. The original hive was still loaded with honey and lots of bees, so I brought another super over a little later and put it on top.


The new hive does not appear very busy yet. There are fewer bees and I think most of them must be nurse bees and not foragers. They will have new bees and a new queen soon, and they have enough honey and pollen to survive until then.

After working on my bees, I went with Doug to inspect his hives. All was well until I took off my gloves at the end as I was walking away from his hives. I guess there was a bee on a glove that didn't appreciate my presence. I don't mind a sting every now and then. I just wish I would have taken off my wedding ring as soon as I had been stung.