Two days ago I got asked "How old is your oldest colony?" It was a good question and unlike other livestock that have definitive birth and death dates, honey bee colonies (or at least part of the original genetics) can live on for years via splits and swarms. I couldn't answer the question right then, but remembered that I had a journal at home that held the answer.
Before you get your first colony, get yourself a journal and vow to write down all your bee yard activities. It will help you learn about the seasonality of life in the hive, when and what to feed, when to apply mite treatments, honey production records..... I find myself going back time and time again to refresh my failing memory on dates and rates.
So the answer is four years. It was the first 'split' that I had ever made. The 2006 parent colony was a loaner from UM being used in a MSU research program and was preparing to swarm. I removed five frames that included a couple of queen cells and put them in a nuc box. That colony grew so strong, that by 2009 I was able to divide it into four nucs. The "Grizzly" bees are thriving in Bobcat country!
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