1. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
Clear Lake Apiary
Mansfield, Louisiana

2. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
Examine your colonies and determine how many and which colonies are strong enough to split.
Ensure you have enough hive bodies, bottom boards, tops and frames to make the needed splits.
Order the number of queens needed from a reputable queen breeder.
Prepare the colonies for splitting.
Split the colonies.
Introduce the new queens.
Check colonies for queen release, brood pattern and acceptance.
FEED, FEED, FEED, FEED (Sugar water, syrup, pollen patties, Honey-B-Healthy, Fumagilin B).

3. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
Colonies must be strong and healthy
Plenty of worker bees, 1 full deep hive body
6-8 frames of brood, young bees
2-4 frames of pollen/honey stores

4. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
10 pallets holding 4 colonies each
40 deep hive bodies
40 bottom boards
40 migratory hive covers
frames of foundation and/or drawn comb

5. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
Order queens in advance from a reputable queen breeder
Gardner’s Apiaries, Spell Bee Company, Baxley, Ga.
Pick-up and delivery by R.D. Trichel

6. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
Force bees down to bottom brood chamber
Remove (half) equal frames of brood, pollen and honey stores from the bottom brood chamber and replaced with frames of foundation/drawn comb
Ensure no bees remain on pulled frames and place them in second deep hive body
Queen must be in the lower brood chamber

7. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
Place queen excluder on lower brood chamber
Place second deep hive body above queen excluder with the removed frames of brood and pollen/honey stores
Finish filling hive body with frames of foundation and/or drawn comb
Place remaining brood boxes on hive and add the top
Nurse bees will move up to cover brood in the new second brood chamber
Second deep box
Queen Excluder
Original brood box

8. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way - Spring
At a later time (2-4 hours, or the next day or two) remove lower brood box with bottom board from bottom of colony to be split
Put a top on the bottom brood chamber and set off to the side for later transporting

9. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way - Spring
Place remaining brood box on new bottom board and return to the original location (queen to be added later)
Returning workers will return to the queen-less colony with pollen/nectar
Take bottom brood chamber with half of the bees and the old queen to new location

10. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way - Spring
Take bottom brood chamber with half of the bees and the old queen to new location
Grass placed in front entrance to keep bees from boiling out and flying away

11. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way - Fall
At a later time (2-4 hours, or the next day or two) remove second brood box from above brood chamber on bottom of colony and place on new bottom board
Put a top on the removed brood chamber and set off to the side for later transporting
Place remaining brood boxes on original brood chamber containing old queen
Returning workers will return to the colony with pollen/nectar
Take removed brood chamber with half of the bees to new location with new queen to be added later

12. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way - Fall
New queen-less colonies in new location
Queens can be added when available
Colonies will be fed and medicated as needed until the honey flow starts
Another brood chamber (medium) can be added for expansion and/or honey stores
Migratory hive cover with hole cut in top to accommodate feeding jar
Unsealed/sealed frames of honey/pollen from the last robbing can be added as a feeding substitute

13. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
When queens arrive they are placed in the queen-less colonies (1-2 days after splitting / removing original queen)
Remaining queens are banked until needed

14. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
The queen cage is placed on top of the frames of the brood chamber
An empty super is placed on colony to protect queen
The top is placed back on the colony and checked at a later date for queen release and brood pattern

15. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
The re-queened colonies are checked in 2-3 days for queen release and acceptance
When queen has been released, remove empty queen cage and super
New colonies will be fed and medicated as needed until the honey flow begins
Empty queen cages are placed on top of feeding jars as markers (Colored stick pins)

16. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
The colony will be checked in 3-7 days after queen release for a laying queen and brood pattern
Look for queen cells and remove them if found
Queen-less colonies can be requeened, combined with another colony or given fresh eggs to raise their own queen if there are enough drones available for mating

17. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
The colony will be checked in days for brood pattern and the emergence of young brood
By this time you should be able to judge the egg laying capacity and brood pattern of the new queen
There should be examples of all stages of colony development
Eggs
Larva
Capped brood
Emerging brood and young bees
Foragers and workers

18. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
Save one queen-less colony to bank queens until they are needed.
Queens can be banked for a couple of weeks this way
When there is 1 queen left, use her to re-queen the bank
Extra queens can also be used to re-queen any of the original colonies that show spotty brood patterns or failing queens

19. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
Apiary (Bee Yard) full of newly established colonies
Feed, feed, feed
1 part sugar to 1 part water for forage and wax production stimulation
2 parts sugar to 1 part water for food storage and hive build-up
Medications can be added as needed to syrup
Pollen patties, etc

20. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
Medication
Terra-Pro
Terramycin
Bee-Pro
Sucrose
Vitamins and Minerals
Pest Control
Mite-A-Thol
Tracheal Mites
CheckMite+
Varroa
Small Hive Beetle

21. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
Things to remember – There is more than one way to skin a cat or split a colony
Watch for failure of the queen
Spotty brood pattern
Queen cells
Re-queen or combine with another colony
Continue to feed the colony until the nectar flow begins
Can feed sugar water, corn syrup, pollen patties,etc
A nectar flow (sugar water) is necessary for wax production to pull out foundation
Rain will cause the bees to eat up honey stores
Apply medications as needed
Honey B Healthy and/or essential oils
Fumagilin for Nosema disease
Terramycin for EFB and AFB
Be aware of pests and parasites and treat accordingly
Varroa mites – Deformed wing syndrome – miticides, essential oils, grease patties
Trachea mites – K-wing syndrome - menthol
Small hive beetles – Presence of beetles and/or larva in hive – traps, CheckMite+, hive tool

22. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
Questions? Comments?
Thank-you for your attention
*Special thanks to R.D. Trichel and Jimmy Williams for their help with this project.
Clear Lake Apiary
Mansfield, Louisiana

23. Making Splits the “Bee Bumbler” Way
January 2010
Clear Lake Apiary
Mansfield, Louisiana