The procedure involves creating two or more colonies from a single, established honeybee colony. It’s a form of artificial swarming, mimicking the natural process by which bees reproduce at the colony level. This usually entails transferring frames containing brood, honey, pollen, and bees from the original hive into a new hive body, ensuring each resulting colony has a queen or the means to raise one.
This practice allows beekeepers to increase their apiary size without purchasing new colonies, manage colony health and prevent natural swarming, which can lead to loss of bees. Furthermore, it is useful for requeening strong hives with superior genetics and can be timed to coincide with honey flow to maximize honey production. Historically, this method of colony multiplication has been used for centuries as a cornerstone of beekeeping management.