Bee-Splitting: The Walk-Away Split
Ask a beekeeper about splitting hives and you'll probably, if you're lucky and it isn't bee season, get a whole host of techniques and strategies for the best "splits" of the season.
When Drew and I sat down with Jason Waite, co-founder of Harvest Lane Honey and 15 year beekeeping veteran, we wanted to get a little deeper into the bee-splitting game. So rather than asking a simple "how-to," we went in for the more personal side of things and asked him to tell us his favorite bee-splitting tactic.
Introductions to the Walk-Away Split
Last year, when we began stocking Harvest Lane Honey products, we started our own apiary for the company. This included everything that comes with breaking into the "beek" world: intro into antibiotics and varroa mites, brood patties and pollen patties- we got in and got dirty, and it paid off. We were able to harvest over 20 pounds of honey last year- and that brought us to the next phase of the program, the healthy hive split.
Drew and I went off and got our own hives this year, so you can imagine the excitement when we got to sit down and talk bees with the Jason of Harvest Lane Honey. We'd done our google research and had about 5 ways you could successfully split a hive- but when we actually got into it with Jason, we realized that a successful split can be much simpler than anything we found online.
"My favorite technique for splitting a healthy hive? Well, it's probably the simplest way there is, and I've had the most success with it over the past 15 or so years. It's called the 'walk-away split,'" Jason said.
Imagine complete silence on our end of the phone line, a chair squeaking a little as Drew and I both leaned forward- basically drooling.
"Is that what you guys want to know," asked Mr. Waite-
Ha. "Yes, yes it is." Drew said in a falsely calm and collected manner, staring at the blinking light under the Speaker button on our phone.
Ockham's Razor: Sometimes it's the Simplest Split that does the Trick
By nature I'm the kind of person who'll jump right into the deep-end of something without a life preserver... I usually look for the most advanced or "innovative" techniques and, without forethought or fear, begin in media res as they say right in the thick of it all.
So when it comes to splitting a hive, I was thinking Jason was going to start telling us about royal jelly and how to convert bee eggs to queen eggs, or how to build the perfect queen cell and a "special-secret beekeeper's only" trick to getting the morphology started for the new queen... Well, seems that's not the answer.
"If you're a hobbyist beekeeper, or even a commercial beekeeper for that matter, the easiest split is called the walk-away split."
Prepping for the Walk-Away Split: To Queen or not To Queen
Like when considering whether 'tis nobler in the mind to use, or not to use, antibiotics on your hives (we discussed that at length in this article), whether or not you introduce a queen to your newly relocated brood is a matter for you to decide.
Typically, beekeepers who are operating on the commercial side of things will purchase a new queen and introduce it into the split hive because this will allow the second hive to produce honey faster.
You can purchase a new queen for around 35 dollars, so if you are looking to produce nucs to sell and want them up and operational before the end of the season, then this could also be a good reason to introduce a queen.
Another reason for introducing a queen is because it will help your new hive "take" if you are going to  do a traditional walk-away split without purchasing a queen, there are some "best practices" that you can follow to be "more" successful.
Best Practices for a Traditional Walk-Away Split
This is the part that most people will find difficult to determine, but Jason had some killer insight for us. Each individual hive will have its own personality and strength. Inspect your hives and look at the brood cells after reversing your boxes, if there are straight cells in the top box that means the queen just laid eggs, and you're ready to split.
If you are not introducing a queen, you will need to shake nurse bees into the new hive in order to insure the small denizens have adequate care (the more you shake into the split hive, the better).
Some hives are "boomers" and can be split two, three, four times per year- but for me and Drew, as first year beekeepers, the best practice is to split an "overwintered" hive.
Use your USDA Zone as a gauge on when to split your overwintered hives.
As I said earlier, I recently started gardening - gardening and beekeeping go together perfectly. When you have bees, you don't have to pollinate your squash with a paintbrush.
An added benefit when you garden and beekeeper at the same time? You realize your USDA grow zone's "last frost" corresponds almost exactly to the best time to start your overwintered split.
In the Northwest, and everywhere actually, you need to understand that when you split a hive, you reduce its ability to produce heat. So if you split too early, and it gets below freezing, not only could you get chilled brood- you could potentially lose both hives. Honeyless and pollinating by hand.
A new hive, like a new plant, will not do well in the frost- so the best time to split your hives is the same time you'd plant your seeds. Using your USDA grow zone will ensure the most opportune time to split your hive- your new bees will stay warm, and with the added brood patty, they'll really take off.
The Walk-Away Split: Drawing Conclusions
After talking with Jason from Harvest Lane Honey, this is the split Drew and I are going to try out next year, and the simplest of the ways we found online. When considering the split you need to make sure you have the right equipment. A smoker for sure, a bee suit if you are new (or braver than us) and adequate knowledge.
The Walk Away Split in 3 Simple Steps
- First you need to switch the top box to the bottom of your hive. Typically this is done in early spring, giving the bees more space. Do this one month prior of splitting. Why?
Because the top is the warmest spot in the hive, so after winter, when the hive eats its way up through stored honey, the "cluster" of bees will tend to be at   the top. When you rotate them, the cluster is on the bottom and having space to expand upwards will encourage the hive to expand (putting brood in both boxes).
- Examine the top hive after some time has passed (typically one month, or when bee population allows). When there are capped and uncapped cells (in both deep boxes), and there appears to be nurse bees to manage the new hive, take one deep brood box, with a feeder and bottom board and inner cover, and place it about 15 feet away from the old hive and facing in the opposite direction.
You can introduce a queen (24 hrs. after the split), or let the new hive produce its own queen from the larval stage.
- Add a brood patty, use bee feed and wait. After 3-4 weeks when the new hive is producing and the queen is laying well, you can move the new hive back into close proximity to the former hive. Voilàa new hive.