I has able to take 65lb first year with 2 hives and second year 200lb from 4 hives. So you can get honey first and second year. And each year they came out very strong. This year I’m at 16 hives and 7 nucs.
First year beekeeper here, 2 hives. Thank you so much for this! We have a huge white clover flow going on right now! We have 2 hives instead of one because the first got honey bound and capped over a swarm cell so I made an artificial swarm and now there are two hives! Never expected them to build up the way they have.
Thanks for your videos. I very much enjoy them. I didn't rob the first year and very little the 2nd but caught 3 swarms off of it. I had also purchased another and this year caught 4 more swarms so I'm up to 9 now and plan on robbing this week. Hopefully 🤞 will do better this year. Where I live this year we have went from an early summer with rain every few days to burning up. Every Beekeeper I know says not much honey this year. Anyway just wanted to comment and say your videos are to the point and you don't get off track. I appreciate that.
Yeah, that's the go to statement for people talking to beginning beekeepers. I don't get it, or agree with it. Let me know what you end up with when you harvest!
I'm a first year beekeeper, started with two nukes just last month. Love your videos, especially since you are close to me geographically, I'm in southern Ontario, just across the river. I noticed you have your hives on the ground or very near the ground. I've been wondering how high my hives need to be to avoid the deep snow closing the entrance during winter, I've heard that it's really important they get good ventilation during winter.
Very encouraging, This is my second year and first harvest. Most satisfying and rewarding thing. Only problem is I am a firefighter and I don't have a beard. 😉
Queen excluder between hives with new foundation without comb? I have heard it say that to make it easier for bees to draw out brand new comb, if you don't use a queen excluder and if your brood box is full that it helps keep from swarming while also allowing the bees quicker access since they don't have to get through the excluder. What are your thoughts with a full 9 to 10 full frame deep drawn out? First year beekeeper question.
It seems like people also underestimate the importance of good pollen stores to get through winter. The bees can use sugar or honey for energy but they really also need diverse stores of bee bread. I think you are right about people being a little too paranoid about replacing honey with sugar syrup
this is my first year and my mentor told me i cant get honey the first year and just to feed as soon as i got them and build them up, then they became honey bound....eye roll. i really wish i would have let them build up some natural honey and attempted to harvest some. Live and learn. I have been speaking with a new mentor and he wants me to try to get another nuc in early spring, let them build up and introduce them to a second box then shake them down add the queen excluder and let them go after the honey super, then once i extract the honey put it back on without an excluder then let them build up for winter......that seem correct?
We currently have 84 deep honey boxes full of honey in our kitchen. As we were pulling them we'd try to get all of the bees out but inevitably some always come home. We have bee poop everywhere, lol.
Hello from Lansing. My 7 hives in my yard are full of bees in 2 deeps. Starting to access honey supers with partially drawn comb. 3 hives overwintered. Honey flow starting. Trying to get them to store more. High brood production. Giving some brood to others to keep from swarming. Took a graffing class Saturday. Graffed 32 cells
Heck yeah, you're well on your way. I'd stop taking brood frames from those production hives though, let them grow so they can bring that honey back for ya.
Damn straight enjoy that honey! The wife thinks I’m crazy with my time inputs and some financial. So I was pressured into harvesting honey and providing to friends and family. Certainly the right thing to do. Excellent take home point about bees over wintering better on sugar water than honey. Started with one hive last spring took 6 through winter have 20-21(a lot of nucs) right now hope to be over 30 before winter comes. Enjoying splitting and letting the girls make new queens.
Hey man I’m a first time beekeeper from New Brunswick Canada we have some really harsh winters.. I just picked up 2 nucs last Friday and brought them to there new home, for boxes I have deep supers and plan on double stacking once they’re used to each of there single boxs and fill about 80% of the slides I’ll give them more room but I was wondering if I would be able to take a slide or 2 from each of my colonies and replenish with syrup around fall when it’s not too cold yet? Also what would you recommend for a ratio 2-3 or 3-3 cause I don’t wanna give them 1-1 and there be humidity/condensation and then go into winter like that.. thanks in advance
Nice video but 2 things whic take away from the message. 1 You add formic acid but you don't explain what that is for. 2. You talk about removing frames of honey but you don't show that so one could be confused by exactly what you mean.. Your message would be more powerful if you are doing what you are talking about and show it as you do it. Anyway good video and good info. One more thing explain your climatic conditions ie. length of seasons. I live in Houston and our season is much longer. Would like to see this in the about section. Gratz on 15k subs!
I have a safety emergency question here I like to have a plan for when things go wrong so Im hoping you can help. I have not seen you or anyone else make a vid on what to do if something bad happens while doing a hive inspection or extrating frames and the bees get mad and attack. Im asking because Im new and have 5 hives and recently for some reason one hive became aggressive and I had to stop and there were maybe only 50 bees on my bee suit and they were all over my camera and my head and vail. It was not an Alfred Hitchcock type situation but still scary for me and I was getting nervous. It made me think what would I do if there was a worse situation such as maybe I slip and knock over the hive or something extreme like this. I should have a plan. Would you bring along a moving blanket to throw over the hive? And maybe another over your body and maybe Have extra smoke to smoke your suit and hood? Garden hose or 5 gallon bucket of water? Some kind of a chemical? fly swatter? It seems like someone like you would know. Can you please tell me? Thanks Chris
Great video. My first year I started with 2 nucs and got 80 lbs. it was a ton of fun. Question: If you use a migratory cover, do you add a cloth layer as an inner cover or some other material?
I don't run migratory tops, except for the nucs, but, yes, it's a great idea to use something to separate the frames from the lid. You'll have a frustrating time taking those lids off if you don't. I use reflectix, it's an insulation product for water heaters, works great for inner covers.
1st year of beekeeping 2 hives. 1st hive has 2nd deep super full of honey. putting a medium on it this week second hive , made from the first has same setup but they are arcing the honey in the second one and the queen is up there laying. I will have enough (I think) honey to winter both hives and still harvest 4 or 5 frames for me.
atm running 116 and last week pulled 300+ boxs full. atm they are filling about a box a week here on the Farm. I feed them up with sugar syrup for winter because i pull ALL honey. I winter single deeps and each going into winter weighs no less then 90 lbs
if you guys are pulling all honey and feeding syrup through winter, how do you mitigate the risk of cold exposure when you need to re-feed? Do you just feed at the beginning of winter? If so what's the feeding method? Northern Lower Peninsula Michigan
I have a horizontal hive that started as a package in April and they've expanded to almost 30 deep frames already. I *have* to take honey from them or they'll run out of room before winter this year!
Great video. I could have used this reassurance earlier in the season as a first year beekeeper. My question is how late is too late? I'm in Texas so we've got quite a bit of warm weather left. What causes bees to stop storing sugar water in existing comb?
Availability of nectar is the big deciding factor of whether bees will store food. You won't have any issue feeding into October/November. I'd suggest taking what you want to take now or soon. Then put the feed out for the bees to make that weight up.
Thanks for all the videos love watching your progress from sideliner to big timer. A quick question for you I have a rare window of cool weather for the next couple weeks where I live. Was considering putting on the formic acid. But Im hesitating because I have honey supers on. Do you notice any off flavors in your honey after you add the formic pro
Thanks for the detailed information in your videos. What are your thoughts on the green drone comb frames and do you use them in your pest management for mites?
Thanks for the support, Naveed! If you have the time for it, and are prepared to take further action if the load gets above 2%, I think drone brood removal can be a great asset.
Just leave yourself enough time to get them back up to weight. Around here that would be the beginning of September, but that could be later for you depending on where you're at.
Great video I Brett. I could have used it 5 years ago. Lol Question for you. This was my 6th year. I mismanaged my 9 hives in the spring and ended up with 18 hives after all the swarms. What do you do in the spring if you have as many hives as you need. If I split every one next spring I’d have 36 hives. I guess the question is, how do you keep a steady number of hives from year to year?
Selling nucs. There's no other way, other than letting them swarm to the trees. Don't take a list, or promise anything to anyone, but if I were you I'd plan on making 10 or 15 nucs, advertise them on Facebook when they're ready to go. Advertise them initially for a lot, like $200, you'll sell a decent amount at that price, but be willing to cut people deals, like buy 3 get 'em for $150.
@@BKBees Man….that’s a lot of drawn comb to take out of circulation. I feel like we finally got to a point this year where we have enough to accommodate all the boxes we have.
Yeah, there's not a perfect situation unless you're cool growing perpetually. The $200 makes me feel a bit better about the loss of those drawn frames though :)
Tab Tittle ... You can shake Bees off Frames, you can't deal with # ... No, no no, no more Nucs ! I can't cope.... 😱Freeze them (!) Then Thaw them out, add back to (the over sized it's going to Swarm (not) Colony. Why you say ? 🙄 Because any unwanted / or undesired population / Swarm 'explosion' can killed (freezed) and fed back as a Protein Source when coming out of a hard Winter, at a time of Dearth, spell of Bad weather. etc... Win, Win. You keep the Frames you want (best Brood/Genetics) keep to the Number of Hives you want (and not lose any equipment or resources in doing so many Nucs. 🥺) And if you have a decent sized Freezer, you can go through your Freezer Frame 'Library' 😏 and un-thaw a Protein Source (unneeded Brood) a Comb Frame (one with old Wax, bit dodgy in construction, those with to much Drone Comb etc etc ?) Bees can clean it up, or you scratch out the naff part, and let the bees rebuild it ! Get the notion.... 👍 Hope this helps. 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 # You can cut up some Frames linear wise, so you have say 2" (inch) deep Wax Panels. As : Protein (brood), Resources (no dried nectar) Wax (Full Wonky / Strip OK !) As.... Perfect Pre-made(s) that you can Rubber Band into those Frames "you didn't lose in Selling Nucs... When the Bees you want, can be kept in a Royal manner. 💪
Tab Tittle : 👀 PS. Works to break Varroa Mites, as you can 'force' a Brood Break.... You give the Queen lots of empty Frames, to lay up... No Brood in Brood Box, as you selectively remove it up, above a Queen Excluder to get the Number of Nurse Bees you want ! They will migrate back down as Brood hatches. If it's a Box or two away from the Queen... It's like a Swarm (reduce population) without 'losing population' !?! 🤗 Get the notion .... Forgot to say.... Do these Cut Outs, re 2" Deep Strips BEFORE Freezing !!! Or you will struggle once frozen. Hope this helps. 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Great video ! ... when you put on the deep yellow and the blue deeps, was the un-painted section a spacer for the formic ? or just an unpainted part of a deep ?
I'm in my third year and have 4 hives. The first two years I got 20 and 17 pounds of honey respectively. I've had to re-queen about three times and this year is not looking so good. Havent taken any honey yet. you're right. its discouraging and hard to stay motivated. I think I put supers on too soon or something. Im going to go into brood and take some from there. Is it ok to scrape the honey around brood on the frame and then put the frame back into the box? i have rarely seen a pure honey frame. please advise.
I'd try to just get the frames that are most filled with honey, and scrape the honey for harvest, then feed the brood to your chickens. Scraping off some wax on those frames and giving the frame back is likely to result in some crazy comb.
You won't know that no sugar syrup went into it, but if there is a decent amount of time between stopping feeding and you pulling that frame, I'll guarantee it will taste like the best honey you've ever had.
Second year keeping bees on my own. Did my first split the other week with a mated queen and they seem to be taking off. I'll be going into winter with 5 colonies all of different sizes. Hopefully they all come out on top. I know it's early to think about but what's your take on overwintering in a shed or barn with smaller colonies?
I know people who have had lots of success keeping bees in sheds, some with thousands of hives and some with 10 or fewer. Honestly though, I think it's way more important to learn to keep bees over winter, than trying that right off of the bat. Healthy bees survive. Get 'em happy heavy and healthy before October and you'll be fine. Well done on that split. Splitting with mated queens or cells is not the easiest way to do it, so well done.
do you not get stung on your arms ? and where is the best place to purchase a good veil .. i have been wearing a jacket but want to switch down to a veil
We get most of our stuff from Mann Lake. I don't know where that veil came from honestly, I've had it for a long time. I do get stung, I have a jacket in the truck if things get really crazy, but I'd say I average like 2 stings per day when I work bees like this.
It's not the number of hives it's the age and strength of the hive that determines the amount of honey you'll get from the hive.at well the nectar flow. You really had me confused at first .
Well, firstly, I wasn't talking about "how much honey will you get", I'm talking about "how to guarantee yourself some honey at the end of the year". In that discussion it totally matters how many hives you have. If you have 10 brand new packages, you're essentially guaranteed to have some honey frames. If you have one brand new package, not so much.
I’m running all 8 frame deeps and was wondering if I should switch all my honey supers to mediums? And if so other then weight was is the advantages of mediums?
Yep, all of those tall hives you see in this video or any other of my recent videos are above one single brood chamber. As Kamden said, as long as the bees keep that box free of nectar, there's more than enough room for the queen to lay all she wants.
I got 300 lbs of honey from 2 nucs the first year I kept bees. Perfect weather and no competition and some sugar water to grow them. I did buy a box of deeps and a box of medium Better Comb which really helped.
Very cool. We got something like a full medium off of our first hive the first year. The second year I think we had something like 250 or 300 lbs off of 3 packages.
@@billyknippers6983 Yah, you would think so but it did happen. This year with 5 overwintered strong hives I will struggle to get 300 lbs. The bees were in a small town with lots of ornamental plants in yards and quite a few basswood trees. No mites and lots of TLC.
Third year here, still having trouble getting my colonies to even draw out wax in my supers... Should I stop feeding and add boxes earlier in the spring rather than waiting till June to add my supers?
Yes, add boxes as soon as they're split in the spring. There are a lot of spring blooms that can help to get those boxes built up. Either way, just be patient, they'll get up there at some point, if the nectar is flowing.
gingerneering, I have to agree with MoonMan, your idea that June is the beginning of the dearth is REALLY regional, and not true of Michigan at all. June is the start of the big flows, around here.
Thanks for the replies all, I am in New England so I'm assuming the timing of the flows is little different than down south and more closely aligned with that of Michigan.
The first year, if you fed them by the sugar syrup, and tried to get some honey from them, that is not honey. That is just sweet sugar water. If you want some real honey, I will recommend do not feed them before harvesting.
I disagree..if you pack the nest mostly with syrup, when the flow hits they will always finish packing the broodnest with nectar and then if you super em it'll be honey.. some may argue that the bees could move syrup up..🙄 ok fair enough,by 2nd super raw honey.if you pull it outta broodnest then yeah, but I can get real honey from any decent nuc no problem.btw good video 👍I agree..
I has able to take 65lb first year with 2 hives and second year 200lb from 4 hives. So you can get honey first and second year. And each year they came out very strong. This year I’m at 16 hives and 7 nucs.
Sweet, literally and figuratively.
Really appreciated this video. Gives me confidence to take a frame from a strong hive and enjoy some first year honey. Will do it early!
First year beekeeper here, 2 hives. Thank you so much for this! We have a huge white clover flow going on right now! We have 2 hives instead of one because the first got honey bound and capped over a swarm cell so I made an artificial swarm and now there are two hives! Never expected them to build up the way they have.
Very cool. Yeah bees will boom in the right conditions, sounds like you guys have a lot of nectar flowing.
Thanks for your videos. I very much enjoy them. I didn't rob the first year and very little the 2nd but caught 3 swarms off of it. I had also purchased another and this year caught 4 more swarms so I'm up to 9 now and plan on robbing this week. Hopefully 🤞 will do better this year. Where I live this year we have went from an early summer with rain every few days to burning up. Every Beekeeper I know says not much honey this year. Anyway just wanted to comment and say your videos are to the point and you don't get off track. I appreciate that.
First year of bee keeping and have been told several times not to expect honey this year. Your words are inspiring!!
Yeah, that's the go to statement for people talking to beginning beekeepers. I don't get it, or agree with it. Let me know what you end up with when you harvest!
You just answered my question (harvesting a deep frame) as I continued to watch the video.
Thx,
DS
I'm a first year beekeeper, started with two nukes just last month. Love your videos, especially since you are close to me geographically, I'm in southern Ontario, just across the river. I noticed you have your hives on the ground or very near the ground. I've been wondering how high my hives need to be to avoid the deep snow closing the entrance during winter, I've heard that it's really important they get good ventilation during winter.
I got honey my first year! A whole box of it and it was awesome
Yeah I think we did too, we definitely got more than just a couple of frames, I think it was a full medium. Not 100% sure though.
Very encouraging, This is my second year and first harvest. Most satisfying and rewarding thing. Only problem is I am a firefighter and I don't have a beard. 😉
Completely agree!! Great idea for a video! Several new beeks are unsure of this and I was warned not to take any as well.
Queen excluder between hives with new foundation without comb? I have heard it say that to make it easier for bees to draw out brand new comb, if you don't use a queen excluder and if your brood box is full that it helps keep from swarming while also allowing the bees quicker access since they don't have to get through the excluder. What are your thoughts with a full 9 to 10 full frame deep drawn out? First year beekeeper question.
It seems like people also underestimate the importance of good pollen stores to get through winter. The bees can use sugar or honey for energy but they really also need diverse stores of bee bread. I think you are right about people being a little too paranoid about replacing honey with sugar syrup
Agreed, but this isn't a bee nutrition video, or a video on how to get your bees through winter.
this is my first year and my mentor told me i cant get honey the first year and just to feed as soon as i got them and build them up, then they became honey bound....eye roll. i really wish i would have let them build up some natural honey and attempted to harvest some. Live and learn. I have been speaking with a new mentor and he wants me to try to get another nuc in early spring, let them build up and introduce them to a second box then shake them down add the queen excluder and let them go after the honey super, then once i extract the honey put it back on without an excluder then let them build up for winter......that seem correct?
Awesome explanation! Subscribed!
Great video. Was "UP" in Newago a couple weeks ago for a mite presentation.
Cool, where at?
Yeah. The yellow slime trail is something to beehold in the middle of January. Something that's not in the manual is the bee poop.
We currently have 84 deep honey boxes full of honey in our kitchen. As we were pulling them we'd try to get all of the bees out but inevitably some always come home. We have bee poop everywhere, lol.
Hello from Lansing. My 7 hives in my yard are full of bees in 2 deeps. Starting to access honey supers with partially drawn comb. 3 hives overwintered. Honey flow starting. Trying to get them to store more. High brood production. Giving some brood to others to keep from swarming. Took a graffing class Saturday. Graffed 32 cells
Heck yeah, you're well on your way. I'd stop taking brood frames from those production hives though, let them grow so they can bring that honey back for ya.
Ok. They were so full with brood I had to give them more room so wouldn't swarm
Fellow Michigan-der here - where did you take your grafting class at?
@@joecnc3341 The East Lansing bee club COMB hosted 15 people with Paul Muzic from Ann Arbor? As instructor. Got 12 of 16 cells drawing out.
@@joecnc3341 where are you located. Im downtown Lansing
If I take a frame of honey from a deep brood box the only way to harvest the honey would be "crush and strain" correct?
Thx
DS, South East Ohio
Damn straight enjoy that honey! The wife thinks I’m crazy with my time inputs and some financial. So I was pressured into harvesting honey and providing to friends and family. Certainly the right thing to do. Excellent take home point about bees over wintering better on sugar water than honey.
Started with one hive last spring took 6 through winter have 20-21(a lot of nucs) right now hope to be over 30 before winter comes. Enjoying splitting and letting the girls make new queens.
Hey man I’m a first time beekeeper from New Brunswick Canada we have some really harsh winters.. I just picked up 2 nucs last Friday and brought them to there new home, for boxes I have deep supers and plan on double stacking once they’re used to each of there single boxs and fill about 80% of the slides I’ll give them more room but I was wondering if I would be able to take a slide or 2 from each of my colonies and replenish with syrup around fall when it’s not too cold yet? Also what would you recommend for a ratio 2-3 or 3-3 cause I don’t wanna give them 1-1 and there be humidity/condensation and then go into winter like that.. thanks in advance
You just made me all kinds of happy!!! Thanks for the video!
This is exactly why I made this video. Thanks for the comment. Enjoy that honey!
Brother, thanks for these videos!
Thank you, Coach!
Nice video but 2 things whic take away from the message. 1 You add formic acid but you don't explain what that is for. 2. You talk about removing frames of honey but you don't show that so one could be confused by exactly what you mean.. Your message would be more powerful if you are doing what you are talking about and show it as you do it. Anyway good video and good info. One more thing explain your climatic conditions ie. length of seasons. I live in Houston and our season is much longer. Would like to see this in the about section. Gratz on 15k subs!
in late winter/early spring what is the "trigger" that tells me to start adding honey medium supers?
I have a safety emergency question here
I like to have a plan for when things go wrong so Im hoping you can help.
I have not seen you or anyone else make a vid on what to do if something bad happens while doing a hive inspection or extrating frames and the bees get mad and attack. Im asking because Im new and have 5 hives and recently for some reason one hive became aggressive and I had to stop and there were maybe only 50 bees on my bee suit and they were all over my camera and my head and vail. It was not an Alfred Hitchcock type situation but still scary for me and I was getting nervous. It made me think what would I do if there was a worse situation such as maybe I slip and knock over the hive or something extreme like this. I should have a plan. Would you bring along a moving blanket to throw over the hive? And maybe another over your body and maybe Have extra smoke to smoke your suit and hood? Garden hose or 5 gallon bucket of water? Some kind of a chemical? fly swatter? It seems like someone like you would know. Can you please tell me? Thanks Chris
You are right on! Thanks for all the information.
Thank you i took one frame out of my only box i have currently the honey was great
Heck yes.
shouldn't you feed hard sugar in winter?
Good video Bro, thanks a lot. Your Bro from another mom in the other part of the world called Kenya Africa.
Hey, thanks, Ryan.
Great video. My first year I started with 2 nucs and got 80 lbs. it was a ton of fun.
Question:
If you use a migratory cover, do you add a cloth layer as an inner cover or some other material?
I don't run migratory tops, except for the nucs, but, yes, it's a great idea to use something to separate the frames from the lid. You'll have a frustrating time taking those lids off if you don't. I use reflectix, it's an insulation product for water heaters, works great for inner covers.
1st year of beekeeping 2 hives.
1st hive has 2nd deep super full of honey. putting a medium on it this week
second hive , made from the first has same setup but they are arcing the honey in the second one and the queen is up there laying.
I will have enough (I think) honey to winter both hives and still harvest 4 or 5 frames for me.
Heck yeah. That sounds great.
hOw DaRe YoU! Lmao feeding bees like any other livestock we are tasked to manage for the future of life tisk tisk 🤣
lol
atm running 116 and last week pulled 300+ boxs full. atm they are filling about a box a week here on the Farm. I feed them up with sugar syrup for winter because i pull ALL honey. I winter single deeps and each going into winter weighs no less then 90 lbs
Sounds really similar to our way of doing things.
if you guys are pulling all honey and feeding syrup through winter, how do you mitigate the risk of cold exposure when you need to re-feed? Do you just feed at the beginning of winter? If so what's the feeding method? Northern Lower Peninsula Michigan
I have a horizontal hive that started as a package in April and they've expanded to almost 30 deep frames already. I *have* to take honey from them or they'll run out of room before winter this year!
Beautiful. If I was cheesy I'da typed bee-utiful, but I'm not cheesy, lol.
@@BKBees -- Thank you 🤣
I find it easier to scrape the frames then I let them drain into a strainer that is over a bucket.
Yeah, agreed.
Another informative video! Thanks 👍
Thank you, Timothy!
Great video. I could have used this reassurance earlier in the season as a first year beekeeper. My question is how late is too late? I'm in Texas so we've got quite a bit of warm weather left. What causes bees to stop storing sugar water in existing comb?
Availability of nectar is the big deciding factor of whether bees will store food. You won't have any issue feeding into October/November. I'd suggest taking what you want to take now or soon. Then put the feed out for the bees to make that weight up.
What is your varroa treatment threshold? Or do you just treat all your hives in all of your yards at this time?
It's 2%, but I assumed it to be higher than that this time (ida bet anything it was) since they hadn't been treated since last August.
How do you not get stung?
Thanks for all the videos love watching your progress from sideliner to big timer.
A quick question for you I have a rare window of cool weather for the next couple weeks where I live. Was considering putting on the formic acid. But Im hesitating because I have honey supers on. Do you notice any off flavors in your honey after you add the formic pro
Nope. It won't affect your honey at all.
@@BKBees Thanks man
HA!! i finnaly found a fellow MICHI-gander! HELLO from ALGER county
Heck yeah, we are over in Baraga County but I was just over your way like two weeks ago to bring some family to Pictured Rocks.
Thanks for the detailed information in your videos. What are your thoughts on the green drone comb frames and do you use them in your pest management for mites?
Thanks for the support, Naveed!
If you have the time for it, and are prepared to take further action if the load gets above 2%, I think drone brood removal can be a great asset.
What is considered too late to pull honey frames?
Just leave yourself enough time to get them back up to weight. Around here that would be the beginning of September, but that could be later for you depending on where you're at.
Great video I Brett. I could have used it 5 years ago. Lol
Question for you. This was my 6th year. I mismanaged my 9 hives in the spring and ended up with 18 hives after all the swarms. What do you do in the spring if you have as many hives as you need. If I split every one next spring I’d have 36 hives. I guess the question is, how do you keep a steady number of hives from year to year?
Selling nucs. There's no other way, other than letting them swarm to the trees. Don't take a list, or promise anything to anyone, but if I were you I'd plan on making 10 or 15 nucs, advertise them on Facebook when they're ready to go. Advertise them initially for a lot, like $200, you'll sell a decent amount at that price, but be willing to cut people deals, like buy 3 get 'em for $150.
@@BKBees Man….that’s a lot of drawn comb to take out of circulation. I feel like we finally got to a point this year where we have enough to accommodate all the boxes we have.
Yeah, there's not a perfect situation unless you're cool growing perpetually. The $200 makes me feel a bit better about the loss of those drawn frames though :)
Tab Tittle ... You can shake Bees off Frames, you can't deal with # ... No, no no, no more Nucs ! I can't cope.... 😱Freeze them (!)
Then Thaw them out, add back to (the over sized it's going to Swarm (not) Colony.
Why you say ? 🙄
Because any unwanted / or undesired population / Swarm 'explosion' can killed (freezed) and fed back as a Protein Source when coming out of a hard Winter, at a time of Dearth, spell of Bad weather. etc...
Win, Win. You keep the Frames you want (best Brood/Genetics) keep to the Number of Hives you want (and not lose any equipment or resources in doing so many Nucs. 🥺)
And if you have a decent sized Freezer, you can go through your Freezer Frame 'Library' 😏 and un-thaw a Protein Source (unneeded Brood) a Comb Frame (one with old Wax, bit dodgy in construction, those with to much Drone Comb etc etc ?)
Bees can clean it up, or you scratch out the naff part, and let the bees rebuild it !
Get the notion.... 👍
Hope this helps.
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# You can cut up some Frames linear wise, so you have say 2" (inch) deep Wax Panels. As : Protein (brood), Resources (no dried nectar)
Wax (Full Wonky / Strip OK !)
As.... Perfect Pre-made(s) that you can Rubber Band into those Frames "you didn't lose in Selling Nucs... When the Bees you want, can be kept in a Royal manner. 💪
Tab Tittle : 👀
PS. Works to break Varroa Mites, as you can 'force' a Brood Break.... You give the Queen lots of empty Frames, to lay up... No Brood in Brood Box, as you selectively remove it up, above a Queen Excluder to get the Number of Nurse Bees you want ! They will migrate back down as Brood hatches.
If it's a Box or two away from the Queen... It's like a Swarm (reduce population) without 'losing population' !?! 🤗
Get the notion ....
Forgot to say....
Do these Cut Outs, re 2" Deep Strips BEFORE Freezing !!! Or you will struggle once frozen.
Hope this helps.
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So nice....great work
Thankya!
Great video and thanks for all your information! I'm getting ready to invest in a manual extractor 2 or 4 frame. Any suggestions? Thanks👍👍🏴☠️
I've not used too many 2 or 4 framers, but if it says maxant or mann lake it's usually a decent piece of equipment.
@@BKBees Thanks buddy ✅😁👍👍🏴☠️
Great video ! ... when you put on the deep yellow and the blue deeps, was the un-painted section a spacer for the formic ? or just an unpainted part of a deep ?
Just an unpainted part of the box. The bottom box in the stack of boxes that were getting painted in the barn last year.
Awesome
They like sugar water better over winter then honey
I'm in my third year and have 4 hives. The first two years I got 20 and 17 pounds of honey respectively. I've had to re-queen about three times and this year is not looking so good. Havent taken any honey yet. you're right. its discouraging and hard to stay motivated. I think I put supers on too soon or something.
Im going to go into brood and take some from there. Is it ok to scrape the honey around brood on the frame and then put the frame back into the box? i have rarely seen a pure honey frame. please advise.
I'd try to just get the frames that are most filled with honey, and scrape the honey for harvest, then feed the brood to your chickens. Scraping off some wax on those frames and giving the frame back is likely to result in some crazy comb.
My bees are doing great now, I would like to take a frame or two of honey. Is it too late in the year to take them?
No, it's not too late. Just make sure you have some syrup ready to feed that weight back.
If I take honey from the brood area, how can I be sure it’s not produced from sugar syrup I fed this spring?
You won't know that no sugar syrup went into it, but if there is a decent amount of time between stopping feeding and you pulling that frame, I'll guarantee it will taste like the best honey you've ever had.
Second year keeping bees on my own. Did my first split the other week with a mated queen and they seem to be taking off. I'll be going into winter with 5 colonies all of different sizes. Hopefully they all come out on top. I know it's early to think about but what's your take on overwintering in a shed or barn with smaller colonies?
I know people who have had lots of success keeping bees in sheds, some with thousands of hives and some with 10 or fewer. Honestly though, I think it's way more important to learn to keep bees over winter, than trying that right off of the bat. Healthy bees survive. Get 'em happy heavy and healthy before October and you'll be fine.
Well done on that split. Splitting with mated queens or cells is not the easiest way to do it, so well done.
Looks like you helped a lot of new Beeks.
Well done,
B&K bees.
Bee well.
Thankya!
do you not get stung on your arms ? and where is the best place to purchase a good veil .. i have been wearing a jacket but want to switch down to a veil
We get most of our stuff from Mann Lake. I don't know where that veil came from honestly, I've had it for a long time.
I do get stung, I have a jacket in the truck if things get really crazy, but I'd say I average like 2 stings per day when I work bees like this.
It's not the number of hives it's the age and strength of the hive that determines the amount of honey you'll get from the hive.at well the nectar flow. You really had me confused at first .
Well, firstly, I wasn't talking about "how much honey will you get", I'm talking about "how to guarantee yourself some honey at the end of the year". In that discussion it totally matters how many hives you have. If you have 10 brand new packages, you're essentially guaranteed to have some honey frames. If you have one brand new package, not so much.
I’m running all 8 frame deeps and was wondering if I should switch all my honey supers to mediums? And if so other then weight was is the advantages of mediums?
There are no other advantages other than weight. In fact, there's a disadvantage, because having all of the same frame sizes is really awesome.
@@BKBees awesome thank you! I currently have 20 hives but will be adding at least 40 by next year and didn’t want to waist money if I didn’t have to.
I installed a package and a 5 frame nuc, 7 weeks ago and they are both at 7 frames. Shouldn't the nuc be farther along than that?
Yeah that nuc should be into two boxes by now. Is that queen laying a good pattern?
Why not just add a honey super after the 2nd deep frame? If you do it early enough, you should have a honey super full
I think people do, and those that do usually do get some honey from it, but they leave it on the hive because that's the dogma.
I'm still reluctant to do single brood boxes. Will I have enough bees to make a good crop of honey?
If you do the math, even if the queen layed 3000 eggs a day she could only ever lay enough brood to fill 5 frames at a time
Yep, all of those tall hives you see in this video or any other of my recent videos are above one single brood chamber. As Kamden said, as long as the bees keep that box free of nectar, there's more than enough room for the queen to lay all she wants.
Thanks 🙏
I got 300 lbs of honey from 2 nucs the first year I kept bees. Perfect weather and no competition and some sugar water to grow them. I did buy a box of deeps and a box of medium Better Comb which really helped.
Very cool. We got something like a full medium off of our first hive the first year. The second year I think we had something like 250 or 300 lbs off of 3 packages.
i call bs on this
@@billyknippers6983 Yah, you would think so but it did happen. This year with 5 overwintered strong hives I will struggle to get 300 lbs. The bees were in a small town with lots of ornamental plants in yards and quite a few basswood trees. No mites and lots of TLC.
@@billyknippers6983 same
Third year here, still having trouble getting my colonies to even draw out wax in my supers... Should I stop feeding and add boxes earlier in the spring rather than waiting till June to add my supers?
June is the beginning of the dearth in most areas. Usually may is the heavy flow.
@@kade426 In the South, sure. The timing will be different up north.
Yes, add boxes as soon as they're split in the spring. There are a lot of spring blooms that can help to get those boxes built up.
Either way, just be patient, they'll get up there at some point, if the nectar is flowing.
gingerneering, I have to agree with MoonMan, your idea that June is the beginning of the dearth is REALLY regional, and not true of Michigan at all. June is the start of the big flows, around here.
Thanks for the replies all, I am in New England so I'm assuming the timing of the flows is little different than down south and more closely aligned with that of Michigan.
Where are you? 👀
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The first year, if you fed them by the sugar syrup, and tried to get some honey from them, that is not honey. That is just sweet sugar water.
If you want some real honey, I will recommend do not feed them before harvesting.
I guess that depends on when you fed them, but yeah, you can't feed sugar and make honey.
@@BKBees, refractometer says over 20% water :)
I disagree..if you pack the nest mostly with syrup, when the flow hits they will always finish packing the broodnest with nectar and then if you super em it'll be honey.. some may argue that the bees could move syrup up..🙄 ok fair enough,by 2nd super raw honey.if you pull it outta broodnest then yeah, but I can get real honey from any decent nuc no problem.btw good video 👍I agree..
@@badassbees3680, I am talking from my experience which is obviously much different than yours. :)
@@namentatic4978 it's all good man 👍
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whats bs
#512👍
Sir mee number kavali