In a message dated 3/31/99 1:55:14 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

>  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?

    Split it in half, or even three, if it is strong and you need three,
making sure each new one gets at least one cell. Don't handle the frames
roughly, at the stage of forming wings, the l'il babies can't even stand being
turned upside down, and it's pretty hard to mate a wingless queen.  Don't
bother to look for the queen, she'll be very hard to find, as she is already
being shrunk down for flight. She's not important anyway; within a couple
weeks she'll be replaced by a young 'un regardless of what is done, or not
done.

>Will they still swarm either
>  way?

Probably not. You have helped them do what they wanted, namely reproduce.

>I will worry about finding the queens later and requeen then.

   Why?  To me, a young mated queen, laying with a good pattern is worth more
than one
in a cage. There is always the risk that the caged queen didn't get mated
well, or that she won't be accepted. If there is no problem, I wouldn't try to
replace them.

   Actually, it's early in the season. You might consider instead using your
coming queens for a couple more nucs to hold in reserve for one that fails
later, or to sell to another beekeeper.  Every beekeeper should have a few nuc
boxes, and keeping them occupied during the production season is a highly
productive concept. If you have a queen that is doing poorly, or one with
chalkbrood, or the queen gets accidently killed, you have a nuc to drop in the
hive. Instantly they are requeened and boosted back to productivity. My early
nucs are built into hives. My later nucs are held for requeening.

   Think creatively..... keeping in mind the value of a young laying queen.
Kill queens, yes, but always for a reason, not just for routine requeening, at
least in their first year. I killed one yesterday for chalkbrood.

[log in to unmask]     Dave Green  Hemingway, SC  USA
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