Handy way to make a split

(Not that we are planning on doing much of that, but just in case...)

Found in the BioBees forum Natural beekeeping discussions & questions

You move the original hive to a new site a few metres away on a day when the foragers are working well.

Find the comb with the queen on (check there are no queen cells as well) & put it & her into an empty hive placed on the original site.

The older foraging bees will naturally migrate to the old site & queen.

The young nurse bees haven't taken any orienteering flights so will stay with the brood combs on the new site.

So in effect very similar to a natural swarm.

It wouldn't hurt to give the old queen a comb or two of honey 

as well if there's spare.

Unlike a natural swarm the bees wont be gorged with honey.

Possibly brush bees from another comb or two to reinforce her artificial swarm but you don't want to leave the brood combs short of bees, as they have a lot of brood to rear.

I would only do it when the weather is warm & when there is a good flow.

The old queen should be able to feed themselves if so, although if the nectar flow stops may require more food.

More care with regards to the young nurse bees as they have few foragers & lots of brood to feed, so if stores run low you will need to feed them.

After more thought if your hive is packed with brood & has little honey it might be better to just perform a straight split unless you want to feed sugar.

Knowing how to perform a shook swarm is a good thing to know though for future reference.

It's a recognised way of reducing the risk of brood diseases & in cases where brood disease is present a recognised treatment in some countries.

The only differences in instances of infection are all the bees are shook onto new clean bars/frames in a new or flame sterilised hive, & all the brood & combs destroyed.

Brood diseases are caused by infected stores & comb, through contamination from the dead larvae, not by adult bees. Although they do spread the disease around the hive if you remove them from the source & force them to build new comb with any surplus honey they have in their gut you break the cycle.