I'm down to one kinda strong hive. I had two until a few weeks ago - I've had at least two since I began beekeeping - reaching a max of four once. I plan to set swarm traps near my sister's place about a dozen miles away - there are feral bees out where she is, but I can't guarantee I'll catch any.
I have had 'little to no' honey in a couple years thanks to a drought so bad there was only enough nectar about for the bees to feed themselves - and the next year a "gotcha" spring that had everything blooming followed by a freeze with nothing much for blossoms after.
I had planned to split into more hives anyway, but I'm only working with one, now.
Our big spring flow usually runs from about the last week of march into the end of May - with barely anything until the goldenrod in the fall.
This year looks like it might be pretty nice for honey - plenty of rain - cold spells getting less harsh all the time. (a massive gotcha freeze isn't out of the question up to about Easter, but I can live in fear of that.)
I was hoping to spend half the flow collecting honey, and doing my splits in the middle, so they can feed themselves as they increase. (I don't sell anything so far, so hurting my honey harvest will only hurt my table, and friends and family will get quarts instead of half-gallons)
The hive is a Langstroth 10 frame (9-1/2") deep on top of a medium honey super. I was thinking of splitting them in tothree - four if they fill down into the medium.
If they fill down - I can remove the deep, and place another one (I did this before and they moved to the top) - and then I'll take 3 frames into a 10 with a reducer.
How does this sound?