How to Split a Beehive: Complete Guide to Making Increase

Splitting hives is one of beekeeping's most valuable skills. A good split prevents swarming, expands your apiary for free, and teaches you how colonies reproduce. Once you've successfully made a split, you'll never need to buy bees again—your colonies can sustain and multiply themselves.

Why Split a Hive?

There are several reasons to divide a colony:

1. Swarm Prevention

When a hive gets congested, bees prepare to swarm—half the colony leaves with the old queen to find a new home. You lose half your workforce (and your honey crop). Splitting relieves congestion and mimics the swarming impulse, satisfying the colony's reproductive drive without losing bees. More on swarm prevention.

2. Increase Your Apiary

One strong colony can become two (or more). You don't need to buy packages or nucs—you raise your own. Bees you raise from your own stock are already adapted to your local conditions and genetics.

3. Replace Losses

If you lose a hive over winter, a spring split from a surviving colony gets you back to your desired count without additional expense.

4. Queen Replacement

If your queen is failing or you want to change genetics, a split is an opportunity to let the queenless portion raise a new queen or introduce purchased queen stock.

When to Split

Best Time of Year

Spring is ideal—roughly 2-6 weeks before your main nectar flow. At this point:

Colonies are building up rapidly
Drones are present (required for queen mating)
Weather is warm enough for queen mating flights
The split has time to build before winter

In most of the US, this means late April through early June depending on your region.

Signs Your Hive Is Ready to Split

Colony must have:

✓ 8+ frames covered with bees – Splitting a weak colony makes two weak colonies
✓ 4+ frames of brood – Mix of eggs, larvae, and capped pupae
✓ Fresh eggs present – Critical if making a walk-away split (for queen rearing)
✓ Drones flying in your area – Virgin queens need drones to mate
✓ Good weather ahead – At least 2-3 weeks of temps above 60°F for mating flights

⚠️ When NOT to Split

Colony has fewer than 6 frames of bees
No drones present (early spring before drone production)
Late season when new queen won't have time to build up for winter
Colony is already stressed, diseased, or queenless
Nectar flow is over (bees may not accept new queen well)

What You Need

Second hive body – Nuc box (5-frame) or full hive body for the split
Frames with foundation – To fill empty space
Bottom board, covers – If using a full hive
New queen (optional) – If not doing a walk-away split
Feeder and syrup – The split will need food, especially if queenless
Entrance reducer – Small opening while colony establishes

Method 1: Walk-Away Split (Easiest)

The walk-away split is the simplest approach: you divide the colony and let the queenless half raise their own queen. It's called "walk-away" because once you make the split, you literally walk away and let the bees handle the rest.

How It Works

When a colony becomes queenless but has eggs or young larvae (less than 3 days old), workers will convert some of these into emergency queen cells. They feed the larvae royal jelly, expand the cells, and raise a new queen. The first virgin queen to emerge kills any remaining queen cells, then goes on mating flights before returning to start laying.

Step-by-Step Walk-Away Split

Locate the Queen

Find the queen and note which frame she's on. You don't need to cage her—just know where she is so you can ensure she stays with one half.

Prepare the Split Box

Set up your nuc box or second hive body next to the parent colony. Have frames with foundation ready to fill empty space.

Divide the Resources

Move 2-3 frames of brood (including eggs—this is critical), 1 frame of honey/pollen, and the adhering bees into the split box. The frame with eggs goes to the queenless side.

You're aiming for roughly equal division. The queen stays with the parent hive OR goes with the split—either way, one half will be queenless and need eggs to raise a new queen.

Add Empty Frames

Fill remaining space in both boxes with frames of foundation. The parent colony especially will need room to continue building.

Move the Split

Relocate the queenless split at least 3 feet away (preferably more, or to another yard). If left next to the parent, foragers will drift back to the original location, weakening the split.

Feed and Reduce Entrance

Install a feeder with 1:1 syrup on the split. Use the smallest entrance reducer setting—they need time to build population before defending a large entrance.

Walk Away

Leave both hives alone for at least 3 weeks. The queenless half needs time to raise queen cells (10-16 days from egg to emerged virgin), mate (5-14 days), and start laying (2-3 days after mating).

Timeline for Walk-Away Split

Day	What's Happening
Day 0	Split made. Bees realize they're queenless.
Day 1-3	Workers select young larvae, begin building queen cells.
Day 8	Queen cells capped.
Day 16	First virgin queen emerges (may kill other cells).
Day 18-25	Virgin queen matures, takes mating flights.
Day 25-35	Queen begins laying. You should see eggs!

Don't inspect during the mating period (days 16-25). Opening the hive can disturb mating flights or cause you to accidentally injure the virgin queen—they're smaller and faster than mated queens.

Method 2: Queenright Split (Faster Results)

A queenright split gives the queenless half a mated queen immediately, eliminating the 4-5 week wait for queen development. This is faster but costs $30-50 for a purchased queen.

When to Use This Method

Late in the season when there's no time for queen rearing
When you want to introduce new genetics
If your local drone population is unreliable
For faster buildup (split can grow immediately)

Step-by-Step Queenright Split

1. Follow steps 1-5 from the walk-away split above.
2. After making the split, wait 24 hours for the queenless bees to realize they have no queen.
3. Introduce the purchased queen in her cage, candy-end up, between two brood frames. Detailed queen introduction guide.
4. Check queen release in 3-5 days.
5. Verify eggs within 7-10 days of release.

The queenright split can be laying eggs within a week, compared to 4-5 weeks for a walk-away split. The tradeoff is cost and availability of purchased queens.

After the Split: What to Expect

The Parent Colony (Queenright)

Will continue as normal but with reduced population
Queen continues laying; brood cycle continues
Should recover to full strength in 3-4 weeks
May still produce a honey crop if done before nectar flow

The Split (Queenless → Raising Queen)

Population will drop initially (no new bees emerging, foragers drifting away)
Keep feeding 1:1 syrup—they need energy to raise the queen
Inspect after 4 weeks to look for eggs or a laying queen
If successful, population rebounds quickly once queen is laying

Feeding the Split

Feed the split continuously until:

Queen is laying and brood cycle is established
Natural nectar flow is strong
They've drawn out all empty frames

A queenless split working hard to raise a queen needs resources. Don't let them starve.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

No queen cells after 5 days

The split may not have had eggs young enough, or the original queen was accidentally included. Check for eggs—if you see them, the queen is there. If not, add a frame with fresh eggs from another hive.

No eggs after 5 weeks

Queen may have failed to mate (weather, eaten by bird, no drones). The colony is likely laying workers or hopelessly queenless. Combine back with the parent or introduce a purchased queen. Signs of queenlessness.

Split is weak and not building up

Common if split didn't have enough bees or too many drifted back to the parent. You can boost it by adding a frame of capped brood (no bees) from a strong hive. The emerging bees increase population.

Multiple queen cells—which survives?

Normal. The first virgin to emerge usually kills the others in their cells. Sometimes two emerge and fight. Let nature take its course—interference usually causes more problems.

Bees are aggressive after the split

Queenless colonies can be crankier due to lack of queen pheromone. This usually resolves once a new queen is established. Wear protection and work gently during this period.

Tips for Success

More bees is better – Err on the side of giving the split more bees. They'll lose foragers to drift; the parent will recover faster anyway.
Include eggs AND capped brood – Eggs for queen rearing, capped brood to boost population as they emerge.
Move the split far enough – At least 3 feet, ideally to a different yard or 2+ miles away. Foragers return to their original location.
Don't check too early – Opening during queen development or mating is risky. Wait the full timeline.
Have a backup plan – Know where to get a queen if the split fails to make one. Don't let them become laying workers.

Your First Split

Making your first split is a milestone in beekeeping. You're moving from keeping bees to propagating them—understanding how colonies reproduce and guiding that process. It's immensely satisfying to turn one hive into two using nothing but your bees' natural instincts.

Start with a walk-away split in spring when conditions are good. Once you've done it successfully, you'll gain confidence to experiment with other methods: introducing purchased queens, making multiple splits, even grafting your own queen cells. But the basics stay the same: give queenless bees eggs, food, and time, and they'll make a new queen.

🎯 Key Takeaways

In This Guide