Speaking of queens, here's one I prepared earlier : ) I have recently split a hive that seems to be struggling with producing a queen. What I have done with other splits, rather than buying a new queen and adding her to the hive, was to let the bees sort it out themselves. As long as there is some fresh brood in the split, the bees will be able to make their own queen. If you aren't in a hurry this can be an easy, and cheaper way of achieving a hive split. If you want faster results, you can purchase a queen and add her to the hive at the time of splitting to give them a head start.
The process of transferring the queen is through the use of a queen cage (the clear plastic tube in the photos below.) The queen is placed in the cage with a single worker and the entrance is blocked with a candy plug. The queen cage is placed in between two frames and left this way. In the time it takes the workers to eat through the plug (and the queen to eat her way out), the new hive is familiar with the smell of the new queen and should accept her. Since there can only be one queen per hive, it is important to make this transfer as soon as the hive is split to prevent the workers from making their own queen first.
Bought queens can be marked - a non-toxic paint dot is dabbed on her back, to aid with easy location in future. Queens can be posted in the cage and will survive several days with a worker and candy plug as supplies. As per the previous post, queens can be specifically bred to have desirable qualities, such as gentle temperament or tolerance of plastic. Expect to pay $40 - 100 for a queen (higher costs for marking or specific qualities).
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