Mike wrote:
> Well of course. It's taken for granted that one doesn't use sick brood and bees.

Not to whip a tired horse, but -- I am not talking about obvious stuff like brood disease, rather inapparent infections. You could spread some new virus all over the state without knowing it by dividing only the weak hives, IF that was why they were weak.

I am not saying that you would do this, just lending credence to the idea that it is better to break up the best colonies to get the best results. Again, this is if the aim is to raise bees instead of to produce honey right away. 

In a migratory operation, you could do both. In apiaries located at or near the North Pole, I don't know what you could do. I do know that packages can make a righteous honey crop up North. 

So -- it stands to reason that if you had strong colonies in the spring, you could split them up, add mated queens from the South, and they should build as fast as packages. I haven't tried that.

PLB

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