How big can, I allow my hive to become before spliting?

[labradorfarms]

Next summer I have a big hive. I know will have to be split, but how big can I allow that hive to become?  Before danger of swarming?

I have heard of some hives with 3 deep brood boxes with 3 or 4 supers on at one time. The Bee Population was est to be 90,000 strong.... But I heard this guy requeens ever year and spends much more time than a hobbist would......

I know that is a long time Beek with a hive like that.....

So as a average hobbist  how big can a hive get before I  have to split???????
I bet 90,000 bees could  make short work of drawing comb bringing in honey etc..
But I don't expect those results with only one season under my belt.

If it matters I run Italians and wont reqeen but about ever 2 years unless the need arrives.
This spring my big hive had 2 deeps drawn out and heavy and also drew out 20 med supers and filled them both with honey.
They were started from a package about the middle of april...

[iddee]

A single medium will swarm if it gets full. The big hives you see are kept from swarming by never letting them run out of space. They can run out of space with 3 empty supers on, if the broodnest has a large honey cap above it. That means the space has to be in the right place at the right time.

Then a hive will sometimes swarm in spite of all you do.

Swarm prevention is a full college category all by it's self.

[tjc1]

Good question and answer - I have wondered about this myself.

[GSF]

20 medium supers? Frames right? ;)

[BeeMaster2]

It all depends on the queens genetics.
A friend runs about 70 hives every year and has been doing so for at least 30 years. He talks about one hive that a few years ago grew higher than he could reach and then they swarmed. He found the swarm and hived it 4 times and it left every time because he really wanted her genetics. He watches them closely and his neighbors call him every time they get a swarm in their yard.
Most of his hives swarm long before they get higher than he can reach.
Jim

[Michael Bush]

Dave Berg in Roger Kaputnik and God when speaking of that group tells this story:

 "One day a scorpion arrived at the bank of a river he wanted to cross, but there was no bridge. He asked a frog that was sitting nearby if he would take him across the river on his back. The frog refused and said, 'I will not, because you will sting me.' "The scorpion replied, 'It would be foolish for me to sting you because then we would both drown.' "The frog saw the logic in the scorpion's words, and agreed to carry the scorpion across. But when they were halfway across the river the scorpion stung the frog. The stunned frog asked, 'Why did you sting me? Now we will both die!' "The scorpion replied, 'Because I'm a scorpion … and that's what scorpions do.'"

[RHBee]

Thanks Michael for confirming what I have learned also. They are just bugs and they are going to do what bugs do, no matter what you do. :shock:

[Michael Bush]

I don't know how that post got here... but I guess you could apply it.  I posted it elsewhere...