At 09:10  6/13/96 -0500, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender:       Discussion of Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
>Poster:       STEVE PHILLIPS <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:      Amature needs help
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>This is my second year keeping bees.  I have six hives of Buckfast bees.
>Two days ago an acquaintance at work told me that her ex-husband
>used to keep bees, and when they got divorced 5 years ago he left 4
>hives on her uncle's farm.  She said her uncle was afraid of bees and no
>one had touched the hives since the divorce.  She said that she thought
>one hive was still alive, and I could have any or all of the
>bees/equipment.
>
>I live in eastern Kansas and we do have varroa.  To my surprise, when I
>picked the stuff up one of the hives was still alive.  It was in two hive
>bodies, with the entrance reduced to 1/2 inch.  The hive is very strong--
>packed with bees and honey.  It's also about to swarm.  It has many
>queen cells along the bottom bars.
>
>What do I do?  My guess is that I need to split it somehow, but how?
>
>Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>
>                                                      -Steve Phillips-
>                                                         -Perry, KS-
>
 
My suggestion is that you do split, but you also need to extract some of
their stores.  Here's what I would do, I would get another deep ready with
empty frames. If you use already pulled foundation, they will build up
faster, but if not, that's okay.  Split the brood and honey frames evenly,
between the two deeps and fill the rest of the spaces out with new frames.
You'll need to identify the queen and pull that frame out to deliberately
put back into one of the hives.  The other hive will obviously need a new queen.
 
Take the rest of the frames with honey and extract them.  BTW, for the time
being, I wouldn't use the empty equipment that you're getting until it can
be cleaned up good.  Fix up two medium or shallow supers, with empty frames,
to put on top of each colony.
 
By doing this, you'll insure plenty of brood and honey stores for each
colony and you'll provide additional space for them to start working on
storing some more honey.
 
Hope this helps.
 
 
Regards,
 
 
Mike Wallace
[log in to unmask]
McKinney, Texas   USA
"If you don't have something good to say,
don't say anything at all."