Strengthening Local Bees, Naturally

Making Increases

Making increases is a practical and rewarding way to grow your apiary while supporting the health of our local bee population. By raising new colonies from locally adapted, naturally varroa-resistant bees, beekeepers can replace losses, reduce reliance on imports, and help strengthen resilient bees across the LLEBKA area.

Jump to Step by Step Guide

Welsh Black Bees at the hive entrance at the LLEBKA association apiary on the Llŷn Peninsula

Why Local Bees Matter

Bees reared anywhere in the world perform best in the place they have adapted to — with their local climate, weather patterns, forage, and the genetics of nearby drones. This is now widely accepted. Bees brought in from “foreign” areas often fail to thrive as hoped and are frequently introduced for commercial reasons, without sufficient regard for the bees themselves or the wider environment.

Beekeeping should be enjoyable and rewarding. It should also give us the satisfaction of supporting our local environment, strengthening our native bee population, and producing honey for ourselves, friends, and perhaps customers. Making increases from locally adapted bees is one of the best ways to achieve all of this.

How Bees Make Increase Naturally

Frame of Welsh Black Bees with brood with a marked queen LLEBKA

Left to their own devices, bees living in a clean and balanced environment will reproduce naturally. They make increases to compensate for losses caused by weather, forage availability, ageing queens, and the natural lifespan of bees themselves.

As beekeepers, we choose to guide and assist this process. By doing so, we help rebalance the environment, maintain healthy colonies, and — where conditions allow — produce a surplus of honey. This approach aligns closely with long-established principles of farming, hunter-gathering, and environmental stewardship.

Why Making Increases Is Worthwhile

Welsh Black Honey Bee and a Bumble Bee on allium sphaerocephalon near Caernarfon

Making increases can be enjoyable, challenging, and deeply rewarding — both physically and mentally. It develops a deeper understanding of bee behaviour, instincts, and welfare.

We house bees in hives so we can manage and care for them, but once colonies are well established, we can explore how they survive, reproduce, and make increase — to the benefit of both the bees and the beekeeper.

Basic Methods for Making Increase

Below are three commonly used approaches for colonies with sufficient strength and resources.

More detailed information can be found in the WBKA "Simple Methods of Making Increase" publication.

WBKA Simple Methods of Making Increase

LLEBKA members inspecting a colony during a practical apiary session in North West Wales

Key Principles of Making Increase

To encourage a colony (or part of it) to make increase, bees must believe they have lost their queen and need to raise a replacement.

For this to succeed:

The parent colony must be strong enough to split
Both sides of the split need:
- Bees of mixed ages
- Eggs on clean comb
- Brood
- Adequate food stores
You must consider:
- Time of year
- Availability of drones for mating
- Weather conditions
- Ongoing forage or the need for supplementary feeding

You’ll also need to decide whether you’re aiming to make one additional colony or several.

Increases Guide

Basic options for making increase from colonies with adequate strength and resources.

Below are three commonly used approaches for colonies with sufficient strength and resources.

A Simple Nuc Split

The most basic split involves removing from the parent colony:

Three frames with eggs and brood
Two frames of food (honey, nectar, some pollen)

These are placed into a nuc box, ensuring there are enough bees of varying ages.

A nuc box may be:

A purpose-made five or six-frame nuc, or
A full brood box reduced with dummy boards

The nuc is moved to a new stand in the apiary. The parent colony — with the queen — remains on the original stand and is refilled with drawn comb or foundation.

beekeeper learning to inspect a bee brood box and make a split to form a new nuc at the association apiary between criccieth and pwllheli

Brood frame covered with honey bees during a spring inspection—strong locally adapted stock

Encouraging Comb Building Before Splitting

If the parent colony lacks sufficient drawn comb or bees, you can encourage further development first.

This is done by:

Adding a second brood box without a queen excluder
Allowing the queen to lay through both boxes
Encouraging wax production and fresh comb

At the right time, frames of brood are divided between the two boxes, flanked by foundation, stores, and dummy boards if needed.

The boxes are then separated:

One colony keeps the original queen (usually on the original stand)
The other is moved to a new stand to raise emergency queen cells

Balancing Returning Flying Bees

Traditionally, the queen-right colony stays on the original stand, with the queen-less colony moved away. However, this is not universally agreed upon, and there are useful alternatives.

One option is to:

Keep both colonies close together
Face entrances in the same direction
Place a board or screen between entrances

This helps divide returning flying bees more evenly between colonies.

If this isn’t practical, moving hives further apart or angling entrances can achieve a similar effect. Observation and judgement are key.

Poly Nuc with bees after a split preformed at a teaching session at the LLEBKA apiary in North Wales.

Welsh Black Honey Bees (Dark Bees) on a frame with a marked queen with a yellow dot

Alternative Approaches

With the above methods, it is not always essential to find the queen beforehand, provided each split has adequate strength and resources.

Another valid approach is to:

Leave the queen-less colony on the original stand to receive returning foragers
Move the queen-right colony three or more metres away

With sufficient bees, the queen-right colony can rebuild quickly, while the queen-less colony raises a new queen. From a strong parent colony, this can allow more rapid increase.

A Final Word for New Beekeepers

For those new to making increases, the most important advice is simple: have a go.

Read, think about your aims, consider your options, and talk things through with other beekeepers. LLEBKA mentors and members are always keen to help, share experience, and support you as you build confidence.

Making increases is as much about learning as it is about bees — and every season brings new understanding.