Typically, you could break a beehive with bees in it.
Beehives could easily be moved and broken when you have the experience to do it properly.
This article would talk about things you need to know about breaking beehives that have bees in them.
How can one split a beehive?
If you want to split a hive properly, you need to add a frame using one of the queen cells into a new hive box.
It would help if you alternately emptied the frames using frames with many broods from the first original colony.
The bees inside the hive would keep gathering inside the new beehive to make a new queen.
You can tell they are doing this when you find a queen cell inside your hive.
What can you do when bees create a hive inside your apartment
The first thing you should do in this case is to call an exterminator immediately.
It costs around a hundred and fifty dollars for exterminators to get rid of the swarm of bees inside the house.
If you own your home and bees get in, you could kill them all because they would hurt you.
There isn’t any law against destroying or killing bees.
Breaking a beehive the traditional way makes both parts of the hive weak.
One of the sides would be weak because there’s no queen in it.
The other side would be weak because it doesn’t have enough bees.
Related: Here is an article I wrote on can worker bees be female?
How can you properly break a beehive which has bees?
It would help if you learned how to break a beehive that has bees in it.
This is an essential skill any beekeeper should have.
If you have a colony that becomes too crowded, you might start suffering a swarming problem.
Breaking your beehives properly would get rid of all the chances of swarming.
These are great ways to increase the number of bees in the hive.
By breaking the beehives, you would not lose your bees to a swarm.
If you break a beehive at the wrong time, you could lose all your bees and end up losing both colonies.
You can break a beehive by taking a honey bee colony with a large size and dividing it into two complete little bee families.
When you break the beehive properly, both halves of each colony would grow and become productive individual colonies.
It is a simple project to do. It would be best if you considered some essential facts first, though.
What are the risks associated with breaking beehives with bees in them?
Several risks are associated with breaking beehives.
These risks include losing both halves of the colony if you don’t break the beehive properly.
These are why it is a great idea to get some beekeeping experience before you try to break your beehives which have bees in them.
As you try to break a beehive that has bees inside it, you should remember that you are splitting both the resources of the bees and the bees themselves.
If you are an inexperienced beekeeper, you could have problems when it comes to breaking beehives.
You need to know the procedures of dividing the hive so your new hives would have enough bee brood, pollen, and honey.
Your new beehives need enough adult worker bees, which would carry on the brand new tasks of the new hives.
If things aren’t appropriately arranged in the new beehives, you could lose all of your bees in an instant.
How can you have balanced new beehives after breaking the original beehive colony?
As you break the beehive with bees inside it, each half of the beehive needs to have all the resources to make a queen or have the original queen.
It would be best if you tried including frames with fresh larva and eggs that might be too small to see.
These are more reasons why you need experience when you want to break a beehive with bees in them.
It is vital to have some bee broods that would provide many new nurse bees for the new queen.
Also read this article on can bees be kept as pets?
How do you divide the beehive frames with bees inside?
In the presence of a ten-frame beehive, you should take out five frames for the new hive after breaking the original beehive and then leave five frames for the old beehive.
You should fill out the remaining space using your new frames.
Make sure you don’t leave any space in the hive. Your bees would create combs to fill out every space.
Why should you break a beehive with bees inside it?
Breaking beehives with bees in it has a lot of risks. You might take break beehives for the following reasons.
- To increase the numbers of bees you have
- To save funds
- To reduce the chances of swarming
- To give your hives a new queen
- For mite control
- To increase numbers in spring
- To have more profitable beehives
- To replace all losses from winter
- Increasing hive numbers without purchasing honey bees to replace those that are lost.
A reason you would like to break beehives into two colonies is to reduce the swarming costs.
This reduces the rate of congestion available in the hive.
Using this method, you get to prevent many costs when you have bee swarms in your beehives.
What happens when your beehive splits itself with bees inside it?
When the colony breaks on its own as a result of a swarm, there’s a slight possibility you could catch it. If you do not catch it, you will lose a lot of bees. If you catch it, that would be great.
Swarming is a natural part of the life of bees. It helps in the reproduction of colonies.
As a beekeeper, you would not enjoy the thoughts of the divided bee colony flying randomly to create a new home.
This is why you need to be ready and prepared to have a brand new beehive for the other half of bees. This is essential to create a new colony.
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How can you produce new queens after breaking beehives with bees in them?
You could break beehives to produce new queens.
Typically, honey bee colonies have the chance to create a new queen bee in the absence of a queen bee in the hive.
After you break the beehive, the queen of the original colony gets moved to your new box.
The remaining half from the original colony needs to make a brand new queen as soon as possible.
The half without a queen needs to have all the necessary resources it needs to create a queen.
It needs to have fresh eggs and tiny larvae.
Making a new queen is a task that is quite important.
It takes a lot of weeks for the colony to finish this process.
Ensure you stock all of your splits using several female worker bees.
The population of the colony would slowly rise as new bees emerge from the new hive.
When is the best time for you to break a beehive which has bees in it?
The best time for you to break a beehive with bees in it would be spring.
This is a period where bees are so many in a single colony.
This is also a time of honey flow and natural growth for bees.
Conclusion
You can break a beehive that has bees in it.
The thing you need to understand is that you should be ready.
Ensure you get enough experience before you attempt to break a beehive.
You should also ensure that the beehive has more than enough resources for the divide.
Resources including enough fertile eggs and food to create a new queen.
You should keep your eyes out for swarms and know what to do before the hive breaks on its own. If that happens, you could lose a lot of your bees.
Having all the knowledge from experienced beekeepers, you can easily break beehives with bees in them without any problems.
