A late season colony split is one of those things that makes me wince. Every year I see beginners nudged towards one, and I’m not convinced the person giving the advice always knows what the beginner is walking into.
So let’s think it through properly.
Why are beginners splitting late in the first place?
Usually because somebody told them they must have two colonies. In general terms that’s good advice. But it depends heavily on the time of year. A split made earlier in the season has a much better chance of getting through winter than one made late. Leave it too late and the winter problems start stacking up before you’ve even closed the hive.
Is your parent colony strong enough?
If the parent colony isn’t bursting with bees, and is fairly weak itself, you won’t end up with two good colonies. You’ll end up with two weak ones. That’s no use to anybody, least of all the bees.
My strong advice is to find experienced local help. Even photos or a video sent to someone who knows your area is better than nothing. Having an experienced beekeeper standing next to you is better still.
Be careful with online videos
Many beginners don’t have that local help, so they go online. There are plenty of videos on making splits, and plenty of dangers with them. Very often the person doesn’t say where they are. They could be on the other side of the world.
Timing changes with location. Even in the UK, a month at the end of the season makes a big difference, and Cornwall and East Anglia are a different world from Wales or Scotland. A fast talking presentation can easily persuade you, but you don’t know the experience of the person behind it. They may simply be copying somebody else.
If they’re handling bees on camera, watch how they do it. Gently, with care? Or crash and bang? Bees flying around at head height usually tell you the beekeeping is rough, or the bees aren’t particularly good tempered. And the comments underneath can be just as unreliable.
Queens slow down late in the season
Towards the end of summer, queens naturally ramp down their laying. That makes it far harder to build up a colony than it is early on, when the bees are growing their numbers and the queen is laying hard.
You still need a queen. Depending on the timing, it may be too late for local ones. Buy one in and she may well be imported, which can bring problems with her. If you look at the BIBBA website, you’ll find 15 reasons why they think importing queens isn’t a good idea.
Check the frames are well covered with bees
Whenever you make up a nuc or a split, make sure the frames are well covered. I like to see so many bees that you can hardly see the brood or the comb underneath. I mean the area where the brood is, or should be. Bees don’t tend to cover sealed food, so ignore that bit.
If you leave the split in your own apiary, you may lose adult bees. Then the brood is poorly nourished, and poorly nourished brood is open to disease. Lose your flying bees late on, when there’s a nectar dearth, and the colony is exposed to robbing. Even a small entrance with nobody guarding it is wide open to wasps and robber bees.
Foundation, feeding and worn out bees
A lot of beginners only have foundation, not drawn comb. Put foundation into a small colony late in the season, then feed it as you’re so often told to, and you can wear the bees out. You’re shortening their lives. Come spring, you’ve got a much weaker colony than you’d have had.
One strong colony beats two weak ones
I think you’re far more likely to succeed if you keep one strong colony than if you split it into two weaker ones, for all the reasons above. Lose both and it hurts. Two colonies gone, two queens gone, possibly all their stores if they get robbed out, and next year’s crop with them.
What I often find is that beginners who split late go looking for every other reason for the loss. The real one is usually that the colony wasn’t strong enough to begin with.
A late season colony split might only gain you disappointment and annoyance. I’m not telling you not to do it. I’m just asking you to be careful, and to get good local advice. Not the standard advice from a video made by somebody 100 miles away, or a thousand.
If you’re a beginner looking for somewhere to start, have a look at beginner-beekeeping.co.uk. And whatever splits you do make, I hope they’re strong and they get through the winter.