To Split or Not to Split

[willebanks]

Greetings all,

Yes its me again...Sorry to be a pain but this seems to be the best place to ask questions and I have loads of them.

Since I have successfully hived and wintered 2 colonies of bees (YEA), I have decided to split one or both hives and I want to be sure of the process.

I have ordered a new queen...and have all the required wooden ware. Since I have 2 hives I had thought about using brood frames from both hives with the accompanying bees. I just wonder about in-fighting. I have read about how to "split" using brood frames from a single hive but I have not seen anything for or against using brood frames from 2 hives....Any suggestions?

Also...what is the rule of thumb concerning hive distances...at the moment mine are about 10 feet apart...I know I have seen pictures of hives inches apart but I wonder about robbing and such...?

Lastly...what the heck do you do about ants...My hives are on 4 legged stands (Skunk prevention) and I have tried coffee cans half filled with cooking oil but ended up with dead bees not dead ants. I have tried cinnamon as a natural repellent with only a little luck...the bees don't seem to mind them but I don't want to let them (ants) get out of control..?

Well I'm sure I'll have more questions...but for now I'm done...

Thanks in advance,

Will

[TVaughan]

I have ordered a new queen...and have all the required wooden ware. Since I have 2 hives I had thought about using brood frames from both hives with the accompanying bees. I just wonder about in-fighting. I have read about how to "split" using brood frames from a single hive but I have not seen anything for or against using brood frames from 2 hives....Any suggestions?

I'm not sure I understand this. With brood frames, there wont be any fighting, since there are no adult workers.

Also...what is the rule of thumb concerning hive distances...at the moment mine are about 10 feet apart...I know I have seen pictures of hives inches apart but I wonder about robbing and such...?

You can put them one inch apart if you want. Have you hear of the side by side split? I often do mine that way. Check this out, and feel free to ask more detailed questions. I learned this a couple years ago, and find it very convenient as you don't have to move the splits to another location.

http://www.pbase.com/beekeeper/image/28466122

Lastly...what the heck do you do about ants...My hives are on 4 legged stands (Skunk prevention) and I have tried coffee cans half filled with cooking oil but ended up with dead bees not dead ants. I have tried cinnamon as a natural repellent with only a little luck...the bees don't seem to mind them but I don't want to let them (ants) get out of control..?

Spinkle Diazinon around the bottom, or mix 1/3 borax with honey, and use it as bait. Try the archives here:
http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?S1=bee-l

Very best

Tim

[Jerrymac]

I have mine on a hive stand with 4x4 legs. I figured if ants start to get up there I would take the coffee cans and cut a hole in the bottom to slip up onto the legs. The open top pointing down Then caulk the heck out of any gap between can and wood. I think the ants would have a hard time going up the leg, across the bottom of the can, down the side of the can and then back up. The metal don't have many foot holds for them.

[Lesli]

What I've been told is that strong hives aren't bothered by ants.

I was bothered by them being in the inner conver, though, so I used cinnamon, and either that worked, or the bees got strong enough to run them off. If you live in an area with fire ants, though, things might be a bit different...

Remember that bees and ants are related, so what kills ants kills bees. So no spraying!

[Anonymous]

For the split you can use brood and nurse bees from different colonies. If you think you will have fighting between the nurse bees from different colonies spray them with a vanallia mixed about 50% with water before putting them in the new hive, they will smell the same then. Plus they will bee   nurseing the brood.

I got cinnamon in the 5 pound lot and didn't spare any to sprinkle around the legs of my stands on the landing boards and intercover. The ants left the area in just a couple days.

  Al