> He used to tip the colony over (he probably used a hand > cart) and divide the supers while it was on its "back". We had a device like a laddder that we used 15 or 20 yeras ago to do that. It works well if your hives ar in a row, but not so well in 4 Packs. However we do still tip our doubles forward in Spring to evaluate and scrape and split -- without any device. > He did most > of his decision making on splitting just from looking up into the > divided boxes. Then he might move a few boxes and tip the remaining > ones back up. That's how we like to make one round of our splits -- whole boxes at a time without removing frames. > He made "blind" splits and let the bees raise > emergency queen cells. We used to do that, but have since gone to using mated queens or cells. Although the bees *will* generally raise queens if your timing is right, the quality varies from great to lousy, for reasons discussed in detail on this list before. If emergency cells are to be used, it is adviable to go 3 or 4 days later to destroy any capped ones to ensure old larvae do not become 'queens'. (They will be to some extent intercastes, and not head econonmic colonies). If bad weather happens to intervene, the cells may not be well fed, and, besides, some colonies just do not raise good cells. Because this cell destroying trip requires and extra round, and hunting through the splits -- as well as requiring at least an extra 12 days in development -- using cells and mated queens has a distinct advantages over emergency cells. The self requeening takes 21 days on average. Introduced cells take about 11 days to start laying (but may need 20). Mated queens start as soon as they can get out of the cage (depends on intro method). The latter two methods permit some stock improvement and selection. Any of the above may fail and require back up procedures. Regards Allen W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper VE6CFK RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 Internet:[log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask] Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>