Splitting- Making Nucs!!

Splitting hives is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to grow your hive count. This method is perfect for splitting close to the honey flow because it doesn't overly weaken your donor hive. These little increases expand rapidly and will even store fall honey, as long as they're well fed and not made up too late in the year.

How to Make a Nuc Split

1. Pull 1-2 frames of capped brood covered in bees from your donor hive and place them into a nuc box.

2. Shake another frame of bees off the brood into the nuc box. Make sure the queen is NOT on it.

3. Add 1-2 frames of honey and pollen.

4. Place a queen or a queen cell between the brood frames.

5. Feed 2:1 sugar syrup.

How I Make My Splits

I make my increases with one-and-a-half to two frames of brood and a full frame of honey. Half frames of brood can be found along the edge of the brood nest, and the outside of those frames is usually full of honey, which gives the split great insulation.

A 2-frame nuc will expand very rapidly, especially if you give it a mated queen. Queen cells have a lower success rate. Don't start these increases in full-size hive bodies. Start them in a small nuc box and let them build up to 4 frames before transferring them to a bigger box.

Watch the Weather

The earlier in the year you make a split, the more bees you'll need to add to keep the brood from chilling. Cold snaps can still sneak in during spring, and a small split needs enough bees to cover all that brood.

Also, if you don't move the nuc at least 5 miles from the original location, add a few more cups of bees to make up for the foragers that will fly back home.

Practical Tip: Expand the Brood Nest

As the weather warms up, you can rotate empty frames of drawn comb (frames that used to be full of food) in between the frames of brood. This forces the queen to lay in that comb and expands the brood nest.

Be careful though. Don't rotate too many frames into the brood circle at once, or you risk chilling the brood.

And if you raise your own queens, these little nucs are the perfect home for those queen cells!

Want help getting started with splits? Reach out to us at Timber Creek Bees or drop a comment below.