Cutdown Split

[Bush_84]

My two remaining hives will both require requeening this year. One is going into its third year. It showed no signs of slowing down last year but I figure it?s time to put it in a nuc this year. The second I caught from a swarm last year. My initial thought would be to requeen using a cutdown split. My main flow here is June/July. So I was thinking that I?d remove the old queen and make a nuc sometime in June. I?d replace her with a queen cell. Anybody have experience with this?

[jalentour]

Bush 84,
i am doing the same with about 17 hives this year.  I plan on splitting a little earlier.  I'm going to check with some of the local bee keepers and see what they have done in the past.  Right now my thoughts are for splitting around Mothers Day in order to give the nuc more time to prep for winter.  I'm a little south of you.

[beepro]

You can try to split before the flow.  This way they can make a new
queen and take advantage of the main flow.  You have to time it right so that
there is a mated queen when the flow is on.  I don't know much about your bee
environment so cannot advise further.  My main flow is around April/May depending
on rain fall either early or late.  This year it is late so the flow will be extended
to June maybe.  So taking advantage of this nice weather now I already made a new laying
queen for the 1st split last month.  Now I'm making a 2nd split with more QCs on the way prepping for the main flow.  Will get more bees for these new queens in mid-March.  It is all about local timing when weather permits.   And every year it is different so be prepare and plan ahead.

[Michael Bush]

The ideal time for a cut-down split is two weeks before the main flow.

http://bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm#cutdown