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🐝 Split a bee colony

🎯 Purpose​

Split your strong hives with confidence by visually selecting which frames to move to a new colony. Perfect for preventing swarming, expanding your apiary, or creating nucleus colonies while keeping complete digital records.

🎭 User Story​

  • As a beekeeper managing growing colonies
  • I want to split a strong hive by selecting specific frames
  • So that I can prevent swarming, increase my colony count, and maintain detailed records of the split

📹 Demo​

🚀 Key Benefits​

  • Visual Frame Selection: See thumbnail images of both sides of each frame before deciding what to move
  • Swarm Prevention: Proactively split strong colonies before they swarm naturally
  • Colony Lineage: Track parent-child relationships between hives automatically
  • Data Preservation: All frame photos, bee counts, and cell analysis move with the frames
  • Smart Naming: Auto-generated hive names in your language with one-click refresh
  • Fast Workflow: Select 1-10 frames with instant visual feedback and smooth operation

💡 Use Cases​

Prevent Swarming Your strongest hive shows signs of preparing to swarm? Quickly split it by selecting frames with brood and bees, creating a new colony while keeping the parent hive productive.

Expand Your Apiary Turn one successful colony into two or more. Select the best frames with mixed brood, adequate food stores, and nurse bees to create strong nucleus colonies.

Create Nucleus Colonies for Sale Build nucleus colonies for sale by selecting 3-5 quality frames with brood pattern, honey stores, and young bees. Track each nuc's origin for customer records.

🎓 How to Use​

  1. Navigate to your hive - Select the strong hive you want to split
  2. Click "Split Hive" button in the hive actions
  3. Name your new hive - Use the auto-generated name or edit it
  4. Select frames - Click 1-10 frames you want to move (both sides shown as thumbnails)
  5. Complete split - Click "Split Hive" to create the new colony

📋 Recommended Frame Selection​

For Nucleus Colony (3-5 frames):

  • 2 frames of brood (1 capped, 1 with eggs/larvae)
  • 1 frame of honey
  • 1 frame of pollen
  • 1 foundation or drawn comb

For Full Split (6-10 frames):

  • 3-4 frames of brood (mix of capped and open)
  • 2-3 frames of food (honey/pollen stores)
  • 2-3 frames with nurse bees
  • 1-2 drawn combs or foundation

⏰ Best Timing​

  • ✅ Best: Spring/early summer during nectar flow
  • ✅ Good: Mid-summer with strong colony
  • ⚠️ Caution: Late summer (less time to build up)
  • ❌ Avoid: Late fall or winter

Last Updated: December 5, 2025