Hello all,

I ask for advice with South African Apis mellifera Capensis in mind.

There seems to be two thoughts when splitting strong colonies.

One class thinks it better to keep the "mother" in the split at the original
hive site with some brood and food. Moving the queenless split away, to let
the older flying bees return to mommy. The nurse bees staying with the
introduced Queen cells or for emergency cell production.

The other thought (also my preferance) says: Take 3 frames brood with
another frame honey and pollen to a nuc box - ensure queen also moves into
nuc. Move this away. Now the workforce is concentrated to the original site
where cell building commences, or queen cells are introduced. Mommy will
rapidly build up the nuc box again at the remote site.

I'd like to hear from all that have their methods or preferances. What is
the better methodology?

Regards

Karl Dehning
Sunny South Africa - "where queens are bred Bigger and Blacker"!
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com