> I just made 20 walks away splits with 1 frame of capped brood, 1
> frame of milk brood, a good shake of bees...

> In my opinion, these need to be much stronger than what you describe
> ...I don't believe that a unit smaller than this will have the
> resources to raise a decent queen.

I agree with Pete, generally, but a lot depends on the specific
circumstances.

With stable warm weather, healthy bees and good supplies of pollen and
nectar, I believe that a good outcome is possible

Something that competes with the new queen cell(s) and which makes me
wonder is any large amount of open brood.

(BTW, I have noticed that bees often do not seem to start cells until
the last of the eggs in the colony hatch, so including fresh eggs may
delay the start of cells a few days).

Seems to me that bees are pretty good at raising queens if given
adequate resources and should be able to assign the appropriate amount
of feed to the queens being raised.  Beekeepers raising queens, however,
usually and prudently allow for a very wide safety margin.

You should know soon.  If the cells are small and runty, then there may
be cause for concern and maybe queens or alternate cells should be
found,  If, however, they are normal size or larger, all should be well.

On this topic, Here are some cells raised by walk-away splits.  Can
anyone explain how the cells got out there on bare foundation?  BTW,
these are about as small as I would consider "normal" size. Opinions?

http://honeybeeworld.com/diary/images/2013/IMG_20130713_134403.jpg

---
Why go fast if you can go slow?

Allen Dick
Swalwell, Alberta, Canada
51°33'37.58"N  113°18'54.24"W
Semi-retired - 40+ years keeping bees - 4500 hives max
Currently running 20 to 100 hives
Hives for sale year-round
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/

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