Thanks, Sid for your supplement to this thread. The comparisons are very interesting - management is timed somewhat differently and there are certain traditions that become much of a routine. In short, yes, we can make splits and still get a good crop, at least in much of the Northeast, because the diversity of forage allows for honey flows from May until October, with a pretty reliable fall flow from aster and goldenrod. I know some beekeepers around here (upstate NY) who split ALL their colonies and build them up on the early flows, to concentrate on the Aug-Oct flows and they get enormous crops, while nipping the swarming problem at the same time. Not that each nectar source yields every year, but overall we can get a crop from a number of (potential) nectar flows thru the season. It's not so much whether or not you get a crop, but what does the crop consist of? This makes things interesting -- you never know what the predominant honey will be when it comes to extracting. Last year, unfortunately, it was honeydew! Sometimes i've made splits in May that barely made enough to winter on. Other years they fill four supers with honey besides. Most years they'll get you 2 supers anyway, nicely full. I consider myself fortunate to be in this part of the country for beekeeping. In the UK you have to depend so much on rape i guess, which is EARLY, and the bees like to swarm on that flow! I got several supers filled one spring at an outyard with canola (rape) since there were some gorgeous fields of it blooming nearby. Majority granulated solid well before it ever got near the extractor. It was amazing - like a brick! What i did extract had a nice but somewhat bland flavor. That yard is no longer situated there since the mites did them in. Rape is more of a trial crop around here but it is getting some promotion and may become much more common. I wonder if goldenrod predominates anywhere there (UK). Around here, every single field that is not being cultivated is chock full of goldenrod and during bloom the countryside is spread with yellow, from about Sept. until frost. I think goldenrod is grown as an ornamental in the UK but does it also grow wild? Thanks, JG