research and had about 5 ways you could
successfully split a hive… but when we
actually got into it with Jason, we realized
that a successful split can be much simpler
than anything we found online.
A.
“My favorite technique for splitting a
healthy hive? Well, it’s probably the simplest
way there is, and I’ve had the most success
with it over the past 15 or so years. It’s
called the ‘walk-away split,’” Jason said.
Imagine complete silence on our end of
the phone line, a chair squeaking a little as
Drew and I both leaned forward…
basically drooling.
Q.
A.
“Is that what you guys want to know,” asked
Mr. Waite…
Ha. “Yes, yes it is.” Drew said in a falsely
calm and collected manner, staring at the
blinking light under the Speaker button on
our phone.
Ockham’s razor: Sometimes it’s the
Simplest Split that does the Trick.
By nature I’m the kind of person who’ll
jump right into the deep-end of something
without a life preserver... I usually look
for the most advanced or “innovative”
techniques and, without forethought or
fear, begin in media res as they say—right
in the thick of it all.
So when it comes to splitting a hive, I was
thinking Jason was going to start telling us
about royal jelly and how to convert bee
eggs to queen eggs, or how to build the
perfect queen cell and a “special-secret
beekeeper’s only” trick to getting the
morphology started for the new queen...
Well, seems that’s not the answer.
“If you’re a hobbyist beekeeper, or even a
commercial beekeeper for that matter, the
easiest split is called the walk-away split.”
12
PREPPING FOR THE WALK-AWAY SPLIT:
TO QUEEN OR NOT TO QUEEN
Like when considering whether ‘tis nobler
in the mind to use, or not to use, antibiotics
on your hives (we discussed that at length
in this article), whether or not you introduce
a queen to your newly relocated brood is a
matter for you to decide.
Typically, beekeepers who are operating on
the commercial side of things will purchase
a new queen and introduce it into the split
hive because this will allow the second hive
to produce honey faster.
You can purchase a new queen for
around 35 dollars, so if you are looking to
produce nucs to sell and want them up and
operational before the end of the season,
then this could also be a good reason to
introduce a queen.
Another reason for introducing a queen is
because it will help your new hive “take”—if
you are going to do a traditional walk-away
split without purchasing a queen, there are
some “best practices” that you can follow to
be “more” successful.