After I had split the colonies by taking some frames from the parent colonies and installing them into some nucs, I went back and put the new queens in the hives and nucs. I found the rest of the old queens and sob-sob, I killed them so I could replace them.

I put 2-3 frames of open and sealed brood along with pollen into the nucs and placed a frame of honey and an frame of foundation in the nuc so the bees will have something to do. I will feed sugar water or corn syrup to the nucs when I get back from the Florida State summer meeting. When splitting hives, one needs to feed them because of their small numbers in the nucs. I also moved the nucs with the bees to another apiary so the bees would not fly back to the parent colonies. I will leave them in their new location for about one month and then I can take them back to the original apiaries without worrying about the bee leaving the nucs. They kind of forgot where the old hive was and will not abandon the nucs.

Now if they survive the winter, then I can place them in a regular hive body and they will continue to grow and make honey. That is one way to make increases. That is the main goal.

Now I am ready to clean boxes and frames. Putting foundation in and painting the boxes will be next. Swarming season will be here before you know.