But now, of course, someone wants to know about Mississippi splits. I have to say, I just love that phrase. It has rhythm. To me it sounds like a dance, an ice skating trick, [...]]]> I’ve described many types of splits in the past, including:

• Walkaway splits

• Swarm control splits

• Cut-down splits

• Shook swarm splits

But now, of course, someone wants to know about Mississippi splits. I have to say, I just love that phrase. It has rhythm. To me it sounds like a dance, an ice skating trick, or a dessert. I want to do the Mississippi splits just so I can hear myself say it.

So what is it really? Like any of the splits listed above, a Mississippi split is the division of a colony. It is a way to increase the number of colonies you have by selecting a large colony and dividing it into smaller nucleus colonies.

Besides increasing your colony count or replacing winter losses, splitting also provides a measure of swarm control, interferes with the Varroa mite reproductive cycle, and encourages queen production. It provides an opportunity to rotate bees onto fresh foundation and a means to accumulate fresh comb for replacement. In addition, it creates easy-to-move units for sale or for transfer to other bee yards.

How many kinds of splits exist? I’d say the number is limited only by the number of beekeepers making them. Each beekeeper has a unique method that uses slightly different population criteria, timing, equipment, or philosophy. Inevitably, some of these techniques become so popular or so publicized that they get named. However, it is important to remember that honey bees, adaptable creatures that they are, can pretty much handle any type of split—the named variations are much more important to the keeper than to the bee.

The name Mississippi split was given to a technique developed by commercial beekeeper Richard Adee who overwintered his bees in that state. Adee divided each of his mature two-box colonies into four nucs, giving each one equal parts of the brood, honey, and pollen, then filling the extra space with empty frames. Each unit was then given a queen cell and left alone until the new queen was mated. This technique is also referred to as an “equal split” or a “poor man’s split.”

But again, don’t put too much stock in the name. After all, this is not much different from any other popular split and the names are interchangeable depending on the person. Remember that the principles of colony division and population increase remain the same in spite of variations in technique.

But still, I can’t get it out of my mind. The idea of a Mississippi split makes me feel like dancing . . .

Rusty
HoneyBeeSuite

With little brood to feed, foragers concentrate on bringing home nectar [...]]]> A cut-down split is a special technique often used by comb honey producers. The purpose of a cut-down split is to maximize the number of foragers that are bringing in nectar by minimizing the amount of brood a colony has to care for.

With little brood to feed, foragers concentrate on bringing home nectar rather than pollen, and nurse bees without brood responsibility soon become foragers as well. The result is lots of honey in a short period of time.

Timing of a cut-down split it important. To be effective, the cut-down should be completed just before the start of a main nectar flow. No matter how well you organize the split, it won’t produce more honey if there is no nectar to collect.

To make a cut-down split:

• Find the queen.

• Place the queen and nearly all the open brood, honey, and pollen in a new hive. Make sure these frames are covered with nurse bees to care for the open brood.

• Leave the capped brood, one frame of eggs, and a small amount of honey and pollen in the old hive. At the same time reduce the number of brood boxes in this old hive by one and add empty honey supers. (So if there were three brood boxes, cut back to two. If there were two brood boxes, cut back to one. Add supers after cutting back the brood boxes.)

• Place the new hive in a different location so all of the foragers return to the old hive.

I know this is confusing, so try this:

After you are set up, this is what happens:

• The old hive won’t swarm because it doesn’t have a queen or young brood.  The colony will raise a new queen from the eggs, but by the time the colony is strong, swarm season will be mostly over.

o   This old hive has many more foragers and nurses than are needed to care for the one frame of eggs. In addition, all the capped brood will soon hatch and replace the nurse bees.

o   Because the hive is now crowded (due to the reduced number of brood boxes) many of the newly hatched nurse bees will move into the supers and start building comb—even in comb honey supers.

o   The old nurse bees will also become foragers, but since there is little brood to care for, pollen needs will be low. So the huge crop of foragers will collect nectar like crazy and make a lot of honey in a very short time—which they will store in the newly build comb.

• The new hive won’t swarm because there are no foragers. It will take several weeks to build up a foraging force.

Rusty