Getting ready

It's spring and soon I will be dividing my hive, that is if there is enough brood in by present hive. There should be 6 frames of brood, and on last look, I only had 1-2.  There are different ways of doing a split, but they all involve pretty much the same thing.  Often it is recommended that the new hive be moved several miles away to prevent drift of the bees back to the old hive.  But I read of one method that uses grass to block the opening, and by the time the grass has dried out, the bees have become accommodated to their new home.
I have decided, for the nonce, not to replace my present queen and to get a new one for the split.  I will email Jeremy Rose today to order one of his Russians. If my present hive is not robust enough, I'll probably get a nuc.

Olea's top-bar hive

I'm keeping my eyes open for a swarm to put in Olea's top-bar hive as I drive around.
 I even have a box and duct tape in my car in order to capture it- I truly (foolishly) expect to run across one.  I'm still hoping a swarm will find the hive on its own.
This week-end, I will be replacing the hive stand with the one I built some time ago.  This involves moving the hive, preparing the space for the new stand and then putting the hive back.  I'm going to need help to move it.  Noah will be here this week-end, but I don't know if he'll be free.