Hive Splitting

For a number of reasons I decided, last weekend, to split my large hive into two hives.  Normally, I wouldn't think of doing so in late summer, but I think that, under my specific circumstances, it was a prudent choice.

As rare as it is for European honey bees to swarm at this time of the year, I suspect that, within the next few weeks, my hive would have swarmed.  Over the last month or two I've observed a massive upswing in the hive population and a growing number "queen cups" being constructed.  Along with this increase in population, there's also been a growing clump of bees accumulating at the front of the hive.  These bees (several thousand) occupied both the inside and outside of the entrance area of the hive to the point that all of three holes at the top of the entrance were completely blocked.  Then, most recently, I noticed a small cloud of bees whirling about in front of the hive.

Normally, if I lived in a more isolated area, I would have placed a few empty beehives in the area and hoped that, when the bees did swarm they would settle in one of these hives.  However, as a responsible citizen in a residential area, I believe that it is in everyone's interest (including the bees) to try to be proactive, which is why I split the hive.

While researching hive splitting, I found a number of different methods, but in the end, I decided to just move a third of the comb to the other hive.  I felt that this proportion would allow the original hive to continue as a strong hive and still give the new hive a fighting chance.  About two thirds of the comb had a lot of brood and eggs in various stages of development, while the other third was loaded with honey.  In order to survive, they need to grow a new queen, have her mate successfully, build up their population and put enough pollen and honey away to last the winter.  I'm not sure if the new hive will survive, but I think it was necessary for me to do and I'll try to help them as much as I can.