Making splits and moving bees. A couple questions....

[Rojodiablo]

I'm thinking it's a good weekend to do my splits, and do a honey pull from most of my hives.  Stupid coronavirus has restaurants closed, etc. so might as well get back into the girls and do some hive work.

As to my splits....... I will be moving some down to a new yard, so there won't be an flying back home. Some of my splits will have a queen, some won't. I will also be sending down a few complete hives to keep the drone numbers intact for the new queens which will be made after the split. Say 4 complete hives, 6 splits. 4 of these will not have a queen, I will keep a few of the original hives at my place to work with and expand.

On the nuc's (5 frame) that will NOT have a queen, should I keep them in lockdown for a couple of days after moving? I have moved whole hives before and just opened them up at night, and all was well. But most my splits I have done, were all in my yard, so I locked them up for a couple days and turned them around so when they did fly, it was new to them and they did not go back to their parent hive. I will have 3 frames brood, and two frames resources, so it won't starve them out for a couple days at all.

My thought is to make the splits today (Friday) and move them this afternoon to the new location this evening, and leave them locked up to settle into the new box. Then, take down the full hives I am moving Sunday super early and open everybody up right before sunrise. The total will be about a dozen hives and nuc's combined.

How would you play this out Dirt Rooster? Thanks in advance!

[Dirt Rooster]

As it's now Saturday evening I'm a little late chiming in but after they've been moved you can let them fly.  You really only need to have them on lock down while they're on the same yard.

[Rojodiablo]

Okay, thank you! I got hold of my commercial beekeeper friend, and he said the same thing; "Hell Paul, I move 500 at a time. When I get them in place, I open them up and leave."
Going to wait till dark this evening, then lock up another 8 hives or so and take them down as well. Will be back to 6 or so at my place which is more ideal. Thanks!

[Mike B]

I didn't think this was a good time to do splits. If there are drones why not.

[Rojodiablo]

I didn't think this was a good time to do splits. If there are drones why not.

Like a half dozen splits, and 4 of six made it and are laying. Two are gonna bite the dust. No queen,and this ranch is two hours away from me, I can't possibly go twice a week to check on them. I am consigned to the fact I will be letting nature play a bigger role than the hives at my house.
I agree with you, it's really late in the season to make a split, drones or not. But I had to....... so that's where we are. 

[Mike B]

I might make a few, get a head start on next spring.

[vadentwin]

I was also debating this as well. I still have a good amount of drones roaming around.

[Andrew in SE GA]

I have made some splits in July and August before, but it seems like even if I feed them, they struggle during extreme cold snaps because their clusters are sometimes not very big by December. I have also had some very successful splits in late summer but I fed them several Gallons of syrup before Christmas.

[vadentwin]

I would prefer to not feed them. I am not against feeding when needed but avoid inducing the need. I think I will wait until next spring (Feb/Mar here) to split. My only concern with early spring splits is there seems to be fewer drones. Maybe I should wait until late flow??? (late May/early June)

[Rojodiablo]

UPDATE: More than half the splits I moved south did not requeen successfully. That heatwave hit like a ton of bricks, and started drying out the buckwheat really bad.  have a few doing ok, bringing in pollen and some nectar, chugging along. I have a few dead outs, and a couple on life support.
Strangely, I have caught 5 swarms locally within 15 miles of me in the last 2 weeks; and better than half started laying eggs almost immediately. Going to try and pump them up so they can be large enough to make it thru winter.

[vadentwin]

Checked my hives yesterday. Established hives have good resources but the small ones are struggling. Have to feed one of the small ones. We are definitely in the grip of a dearth here in Central FL. Hoping Golden Rod will pick up soon