New to keeping advice for next season

[Caelansbees]

After reading several thousand posts, books, sites, etc.... When do most like to split for more hives? Not a fan of feeding my girls.  I like to think nature will run it's course if I just help them where they need it. (add space, windbreaks, reducers.) not planning on using chemicals.  Everybody has thier own goals and mine as of current is to increase my number of hives.  Understanding that, I started with 2 packages this year as well as two nucs.  The packages I purchased first in march and now are both at a deep with med for chamber (queens have slowed now) and 2 med supers (one 75% capped and one being worked) going into dearth here in Md.  Nucs are another story, one just purchased and rolled queen in other but it's coming back around. 

Would my 2 strong hives do best being split now? I was wondering this because I was going to requeen them both (a bit mean compared to many other hives I've worked with others) and wondered if I should just split them now and their stores as well? Or, should I let them ride through their first year? 

[AllenF]

As long as you have food coming into the hives, you can split.   It is better to split them when you have lots of drones if they are going to raise a queen.   Take a hive with 2 deep brood boxes and split them into 2 hives.   Make sure there are eggs in both.   In a month one of the new hives will have a new queen.     

[Caelansbees]

So with single deeps and a med for my chamber would I split those into 5's and just add in foundation?  Would you stagger the foundation?