Spring is in the air, but so is snow, sleet, hail and rain.   Not the best of all times to make splits to install queens.  My best idea is to work fast so the bees are exposed as little as possible to the elements.  I ordered some queens back in November.  Mid-April seemed a safe delivery date. In 2010, the Big Leaf Maples had been in bloom for over three weeks by this time.  This year is a bit different.

When I install queens or have the bees make their own queens, I always start off with what I call an over-night-split.   My friend Bruce Bowen does the same.  I dropped by his place on a sunnier day as his crew created over 100 splits (in the end he would make over 500)

Big operations (Bruce) or small (mine) often use the same general plan.

Here’s what I do:

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