Scott Moser wrote:
I got into it again and found several fresh queen cell cups with jelly and larvae in some.  I have come to the conclusion, that they wont last 2 weeks till the new queens arrive.  Can I split the hive now, and allow the queenless half to raise a queen or place a frame with a nice big swarm cell on it in there, and the queenright half to supercede,or do what it wants to?  Will they still swarm either way?  I will worry about finding the queens later and requeen then.  Thanks all.  I appreciate your help.


Scott,

My advice would be to severly break up this colony into three-frame nucs, each nuc supplied with a frame containing a swarm cell and a frame of honey/pollen.  Keep the queen back and supply her to the original colony, with a few frames of brood (no swarm cells of course) and lots of empty combs or combs with some stored honey and pollen.

If you don't need or want all the extra colonies, put them together later as two-queen units during the major honey flow.

Ted Fischer
Dexter, Michigan USA