I decided this morning that despite the breezy weather I’d crack on and split the hive I found a queen cell in yesterday.
I gathered all the parts for a new hive together and placed then next to the existing hive so I’d be able to swap them over quickly. Then moved the existing hive to the other end of the apiary.
Note to self: When you’re doing a split and moving a full double brood hive to the other end of the apiary in one go, do make sure you choose the correct one before you pick it up, move it and come back to the new hive.
Yes, I had a complete brain fart there. Had to move it back, then re-strap the proper one before moving that again. Full double brood hives are not light 😀
At least one bit was easy: I took the first frame of brood that I came to out of the original hive and there were plenty of eggs in it and no queen cells, so that could be transferred over to the new hive for the flying bees. Drop an undrawn frame in towards the edge of the old hive having moved the existing frames together, close up, “job’s a good ‘un” as they say around here.
There was a bit of a frenzy in the apiary for a few minutes and then things started to calm down again. After half an hour there were few bees at the entrance of the hive containing the “house bees” and many queuing up at the entrance to the new hive for the flying bees. I might take a peak through the clear crownboards tomorrow just to see how things look.
Activity at my bait hive has not stopped yet, though I guess it may take a day or two anyhow. Or perhaps it’s another colony altogether (and not one of mine)?