28 Mar The Benefits & Techniques of Splitting Bees
by Tiffany Harelik
Background
The bees are in their song of increase right now – that means they are building up their populations to be the largest size they will be all year. With larger populations, comes more problems of pests and disease. However, bees are naturally programmed to reduce or “split” their hives with a swarm. It is their nature, and their goal. Swarming and establishing a second colony is not only how they minimize these pests and disease but more importantly, how they carry on their genetics — much like plants are pollinated and genetics carried down wind.
Swarming is essential for the genetic survival of the species. Without it, the very first bee colony would have been both the first and the last, disappearing once it died off. In a swarm – a portion of the colony, including the old queen, leave to establish a new hive, while the remaining bees will hatch a new queen. Both are very risky endeavors for the bees! Research shows only 25% of swarms in the wild will live.
Splitting hives is a strategy beekeepers use to help prevent these natural swarms from happening. It not only ensures more safety and colony health for the bees, it provides the beekeeper with increased honey production and enhanced sustainability – win, win!
There are several reasons why splitting is a beneficial practice for both bees and beekeeper
Swarm Prevention
– As mentioned, bees naturally split their colony through swarming when they outgrow their hive. However, the bees in both hives are at risk during this time. Here’s why:
The swarm: The old Queen leaves the hive with a little more than half of the population. They have determined, voted, and agreed upon the new location well in advance.
- Swarms are vulnerable because they are essentially starting from scratch, lacking the established infrastructure, resources, and defenses of a mature hive.
- Swarms are vulnerable to weather, predators, and other environmental factors during their relocation flight and rebuild period.
- Swarms need to gather sufficient nectar and pollen to build comb and store food. If they can’t find enough resources, they may not survive the first winter in their new location. For this reason, swarms that occur earlier in the year are more likely to ‘make it’.
The remaining bees: the remaining bees will go to work to hatch a new virgin Queen who must leave the hive for one mating flight.
- After a virgin queen leaves for her mating flight, the hive faces the risk of becoming queenless, leading to a decline in colony population, increased susceptibility to diseases and pests, and potentially, worker bees laying unfertilized eggs (which only produce drones).
- During a virgin queen bee’s mating flight, she faces risks from bad weather, bird or insect predators, and the mating process itself.
Encourages Colony Health
Splitting will cause both colonies to experience a brood break—when a colony temporarily stops producing new brood (no baby bees). This helps control certain bee pests by disrupting the pests’ life cycles (because the pests thrive within the bee brood). The main pests affected by a brood break are:
- Varroa Mites (Varroa destructor): Varroa mites reproduce inside capped brood cells, feeding on developing bee larvae. A brood break halts their reproductive cycle because there are no capped cells for them to infest. Without new brood, the mite population declines since they cannot reproduce effectively and are more exposed to removal by worker bees.
- Small Hive Beetles (Aethina tumida): Small hive beetle larvae thrive by feeding on bee brood and pollen. A brood break limits their food supply, reducing their ability to reproduce and mature into adults.
- Wax Moths (Galleria mellonella & Achroia grisella): Wax moths lay eggs in weak colonies with abandoned comb. A healthy, broodless period allows bees to clean out old comb and remove eggs and larvae before they take over.
Note: Since a brood break weakens pest populations without chemicals, it is a natural and effective tool for Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
Strengthens Genetics
– If a new queen is raised naturally, the colony instinctively selects a strong genetic match for survival. Worker bees select the healthiest larvae (under three days old) to develop into a queen, ensuring that the new queen inherits robust genetic traits such as:
- Disease resistance – Some genetic lines are more resilient to pests like varroa mites and diseases such as American foulbrood.
- Foraging efficiency – A strong queen passes on traits that help workers be more productive in gathering nectar and pollen.
- Weather hardiness – Colonies may select for traits that will survive harsh winters or long dearths – any traits suited to the specific climate and forage conditions.
Increases Survival Chances
Creating an additional colony boosts overall hive resilience in case one struggles. When the beekeeper increases the amount of healthy colonies in their apiary, they reduce the risk of losing all their bees, provide resources for struggling hives, improve genetic diversity, and increase honey production.
5. Sustainability
Splitting bees also supports sustainable practices because the beekeeper will not have to continually buy new bees every year. This saves money, reduces reliance on bee breeders that are breeding in other regions and don’t have the same needs of a local bee, and supports sustainability by contributing genetics to the local bee population (which strengthens regional populations).
Split techniques
The best time to split a hive depends on climate, bioregion, growing conditions, the colony’s strength, and the beekeepers goals. Generally, spring and early summer are the most favorable times, while late summer and fall splits require extra care.
Spring Splits
Best for: Increasing colony numbers, reducing swarming, raising new queens
Timing: Spring splits are most successful when the nectar flow begins (typically March–May, depending on your region). If the weather is still cool, beekeepers avoid splitting too early, as it can weaken both hives.
Conditions that let the beekeeper know it’s time to split:
- Strong population (lots of bees) with 4-6 frames of brood (baby bees that haven’t hatched)
- Plenty of capped honey and pollen
- Sexually mature drones from other colonies (2-4 weeks old) present for successful queen mating
- Ensure the split has enough foragers and food to support itself
- The hive may be telling the beekeeper they are ready to swarm by the presence of swarm cells. If you’re seeing swarm cells, and not ready to create a split, one technique is to pinch and remove the cell. This will slow down the bees’ swarming effort.
Why Spring is Ideal:
- Colonies naturally expand in spring, making it easier for them to recover.
- Nectar and pollen availability should be increasing or high.
- Reduces swarming by giving the bees more space.
- Warm temperatures support brood rearing.
- Gives the split enough time to build up before winter.
- If using a new queen, she can mate successfully in good weather.
- New queens have time to mate and establish before the main nectar flow.
Considerations:
- Watch for depleting resources if nectar flow slows down.
- The beekeeper may need to feed the new split sugar syrup if forage becomes scarce (1:1 in spring, 2:1 in fall) and some keepers use pollen patties.
- Ensure both hives have a balanced population – At least 3 frames of brood, plenty of bees, and food in each.
- Check for a Laying Queen – If raising a new queen, inspect in 3-4 weeks to confirm egg-laying. If using a new queen, inspect in 3-10 days to confirm egg-laying.
How to make a Split
Step 1: Gather Equipment
- New Hive Setup (Deep brood box, bottom board, inner and outer cover)
- Frames with Drawn Comb or Foundation
- Queen Excluder (optional, depending on your method)
- Sugar Syrup (1:1 ratio for feeding, if needed)
- Smoker, Suit, & Hive Tool
- Get clear on process and goals – with several back up plans
- Recruit support of a mentor or colleague/friend
Step 2: Locate the Queen (depending on technique)
Before splitting, locate the queen so you know which half of the split has her. If you can’t find her, look for eggs and very young larvae, which indicate where she has been recently. Additionally, certain methods eliminate the need to find her by shaking bees in a bottom brood box as you go. There are videos for this below.
Step 3: Decide on Your Splitting Method
There are two main ways to split a hive, depending on whether you want to raise a new queen or introduce one.
Important note: Whichever method is used when creating splits, the frames must be arranged in the same order as they would appear in a typical brood nest.
- Place the 3 brood frames (open and capped) in the center.
- Position resource frames (honey, nectar, pollen) to the left and right of the brood frames like bookends.
- Place empty, undrawn, or resource frames on the outer sides of the nest, with both sides as balanced as possible.
Video demonstrations are helpful in getting your head around the process:
- Blake Shook of The Bee Supply (7 min) shows how to turn one colony into three in under five minutes without having to find the Queen. After this type of split is done, only one of the colonies has the queen. The beekeeper will need to decide if the other two colonies will receive a mated queen (option two below), or if they will do a walkaway split (option one below). The boxes will need to be separated – they don’t live stacked on top of each other as they are when the video ends.
- David Burns gives us four ideas to consider on the best time to make splits (13 min) : Queens, drones, weather, mite control.
- Jake Moore shows a commercial yard’s method for splitting bees (8 min): I like how they toggle the frames at an angle to indicate which have full frames of brood.
- Bob Binnie’s techniques (17 min): Includes timing of harvesting assets for making splits for the purpose of creating nucs – no need to find the Queen.
Split Option 1: Walkaway Split (Letting the Bees Raise Their Own Queen)
Best for: Natural queen rearing, low-intervention beekeeping
- Move 3 frames of brood (with eggs and larvae) to a new hive.
- Ensure the original queen stays in the old hive
- Add food stores (honey and pollen) to the new hive – one frame one both sides of the three frames of brood. Feed sugar syrup 1:1.
- Inspect the new colony in three to four days to check for queen cells. There will be no cells found in the split where the old queen is.
- If you see queen cells, this is good news. Close them up, leave them alone, and wait 3–4 weeks before checking again.This provides sufficient time for the queen to emerge (16 days), mate (5–7 days), and begin laying eggs (5 days after mating).
- Bobby’s Beez (14 min) Shows the effort of finding Queen cells at 3:48 in this video. In other words: check for eggs 3-4 weeks after you’ve seen queen cells to confirm the new queen is laying.
Pros: No need to buy a queen, bees choose their own genetics.
Cons: If weather is bad, the queen may not successfully mate and you may lose the colony without a quick solution to get them Queen-right.
Split Option 2: Split with a New Queen (Faster and More Reliable)
Best for: Beekeepers who want quicker colony establishment
- Move 3 frames of brood (no queen) plus two honey frames – one on either side of the brood – into a new hive.
- Wait 2–24 hours to install a caged mated queen.
- Introduce a caged mated queen to the new split (keep her in a cage for 24-48 hours before releasing).
- Feed the split sugar syrup to boost colony strength.
- Check the colony 1 week later to confirm the queen has emerged and is laying eggs.
Pros: No waiting for queen mating, higher success rate.
Cons: Requires purchasing a new queen.
Additional consideration for both methods: Change the direction of the entrance of the split colony
Ideally, placing the split colony far away from the parent colony prevents drifting and reduces the chances of foragers killing the new queen. The common advice in beekeeping literature is to move the bees in the new split no more than two feet or at least two miles away from the parent colony—but that’s not always feasible.
In reality, most backyard beekeepers do not have access to that kind of space, so breaking the two-and-two rule is often necessary. The solution is to reorient the entrance of the split, putting the hive entrance in a different direction from the original hive’s entrance. Even if the split is placed right next to its parent, rotating the entrance by at least 45 degrees will help prevent drifting.
Step 4: Monitor and Support Both Colonies
- First Week: Ensure both splits have bees covering the brood and enough food.
- Weeks 2-4: Check for a laying queen in both hives.
- Month 2+: Watch for varroa mites, pests, and robbing behavior.
Step 5: Prepare for the Future
- If the split is weak, consider combining it with another hive before winter.
- If the new queen fails, introduce a new one.
- If both colonies thrive, the apiary has successfully expanded.
Takeaways:
Splitting bees in the Spring enhances hive health and genetics, prevents swarming, and increases the sustainability efforts of the beekeeper.