Jim, I first came for the bee videos, and then the barn videos, and then the planting/building videos, but now I realize that I'm just here for the videos. You clearly demonstrated in the first 20 seconds your complete mastery of video editing. Bravo sir.
Same season over here in the Pacific Northwest. We all thought because of the early spring that it was going to be an awesome year... Mother Nature is snubbing her nose at us now... Cold, rainy, miserable weather for the bees. On the plus side, less chance of fire danger this year... Your bees are looking great! Keep up the great work Sir. Glad to see a video so soon after the last one. 😃
I don't have bees, I don't think I'll ever have bees, but I still enjoy these videos. You make them interesting, and it never hurts to learn new things! Hopefully, the summer gets going there!
Great beekeeping video as always! I checked my nuc Colin I made on June 6th and the capped emergency/supersedure cell hatched! I will check them in two weeks and hopefully will mark a mated Queen! Thank you for making these videos, it helps a lot. Keep making videos!
Jim, I've got to tell you - I think I have made my first successful walkaway split following your (previous) method! Ten days in, they have at least 5 or 6 capped queen cells and are storing honey. Thank you for your clear and informative videos!!
Constructing colonies via splits using different techniques and encouraging new queen production has got to be the most fun part of beekeeping for me. Thanks for showing your methods, I have so much to learn.👍😎🐝
Currently in my first season of bee keeping and am absolutely in love with your videos. I've learned so much just by watching and listening, keep doing what you do! Vino Farm subscriber for life!!
That's how I normally do my splits on a really strong hive. If you don't remove the queen and they are in swarm mode they will most likely still swarm but if you remove the queen it tricks the hive into thinking they already swarmed which will keep them from swarming.
Not realy! I did this with 2 of my hives this spring and swarm hapened with the new queens. Best way is to leave the old queen with 3 empty frames, 2 food and polen, shake a frame or two with young bees and rest newframes ready to be build. The rest of family, frames you can move on a new position. Al the workers go back on the place with old queen and start like a new hive and the other make a new queen.....that is the best way.
@@sandornelu6614 I've heard about that method too but haven't tried it. Did you remove the excess swarm cells when you did the split the other way? If you leave a bunch of queen cells in the hive when you split it then they may swarm. I usually remove all but 2 or 3 of the best ones when I do the split.
If a hive swarms or is about to swarm I spring into action. I grab two queen castles. That's six 3-frame mating nucs. If I find the queen I put her in a box. Usually the big mother one. I try and put a frame with cell or cells into each spot in the two queen castles. I don't always get 6 splits plus the laying queen still in her home box but ideally that's what I want. Once all the queen cells are gone with most of the bees and brood it's not going to swarm at least not this week. Usually 4 of the 6 splits gets a mated queen and I build them up to bigger and bigger boxes until next year those are my honey makers hopefully.
Kudos for including the date and location for you video. So many beekeeping videos fail to include that and it is key to understand the climate and time of year, in order for me to benefit. I'm in upstate NY and believe a Mass beekeeper's experience is much more valuable to me than someone in the warm south. Thanks!
I did exactly what you did and moved Queens to my resource hive. I've pulled several frames of brood out already and moved them to my other hives. Have another resource hive on order so I'll end up running 2. Thanks for sharing Jim.
A new twist in the saga. I hope it is the right move. I think your decision is the right one, mainly because you are now focused on building the genetic base of your hives. This logic goes hand in hand with expanding the population with your queens. Thanks for a great video.
Vino I did it backwards too. What helped me the most was ... Well I asked a pro for help. Yes. I asked a woman who actually gets paid by a university to keep bees to show me and God bless her she did. She met me way out in a field to split someone else's bees. Thank you Karen...
I picked up my first nuc on June 1st, and found your site about a week later. I just finished bingeing from the very beginning. I'm already looking forward to putting your wintering tips to work. I'm about 4 hours NORTH of you (central Maine). I really appreciate you showing your mistakes as well as your success stories. We learn best from our mistakes, but I'm hoping I can learn from yours too! Keep up the great work. (Now that I'm caught up, I might have to go learn how to make sourdough bread)
Your bees always seem so chill. Even the Russian hive being your most aggressive, they're so much more chill than other beekeepers hives Ive seen. Other Ive watched have to go in the full suit with the gloves and covered head to toe and even then still end up with some stings. Your girls you can handle the frames barehanded and with just the net for extra protection for your face. Its amazing.
I have learned how to handle the frames gently. I see a lot of beekeepers grabbing frames pretty roughly. And I recently had a guy telling me I was beekeeping wrong because I didn't SHAKE the bees off the frames before inspecting them. He actually said I needed to get the bees off the frames and THEN look at them. That's a great way to stir up a colony. Ugh. Smoke and patience and respect goes a long way in the bee yard.
Another great video. I am in my second year and have been following you since before my first hive. I have started doing my splits this way this year too. The other way has been hit or miss for me but this way always works. Thank you for sharing your journey with us.
I’ve got 5 colonies currently and one is about a week and a half behind the others. Hopefully when I check it tonight it’ll start working on it’s second box like the others. Thanks for the inspiration!
We did our splits on the same day ..I did mine the opposite I did have some drift not too bad though .. My girls are on it here in western mass honey supers should be full in another 3 or 4 days I'm feeling truly blessed..I'm sure your yards about to explode with resources!!!!! Thank you for your great informative videos..
Yay I bee waiting for bee update I hope there doing ok I love every video how the deer trap going I hope we can see more bee update but I now your busy but it's ok these videos make me more interested in bees and I hope you are doing well
I have turkeys in my neighborhood and backyard in Boston. It's kind of funny to see that hen do the play injured tactic to protect her chicks. Here they just attack you. No fear. It reminds me of the scene from Jurassic Park... "That one... she's working things out."
We move queen and the frame she is on. 1 capped brood frame. 1 open brood. 1 food. 1 blank to be drawn. Then add honey super to parent hive. Because without new brood being laid the foragers will mostly collect nectar. Can fill a couple supers before new queen is laying
I know you and I are not that far apart but it's crazy what a little bit of distance will do. Yesterday I was out pulling fully capped honey off my hives. And in probably another week to a week and 1/2 I will have to pull more. The one problem I have been having this year is it's hard to keep the bees in the box as they are wanting to swarm a lot. And this year they all seem to want to go 100 feet up in a tree LOL. Thanks for sharing.
It does look like a lovely day! That whole winter thing just passed us by down here - we had 90F days back in March, and with the exception of almost a week straight of rain, things have been jamming down here. Right this second, I'm in the middle of a small batch extraction (well, paused for the moment for some coffee). But your bees are alive, they're trucking along to the point you can do splits, and Mother Nature is cooperating - what could be better? It looks good from where I'm sitting, trying to get propolis off my hands. LOL
It makes so much sense to move the queen to the split all of the time, not just when swarm cells are seen. Funny no one has mentioned this process, not that I've heard anyway. Wish I had seen this tip in the spring. I have had a bad spring with the new queens getting back to their box. Not sure what's happening to them. Gonna have to start combining, or buy queens.
It seems like an obvious move, but for two years now, I've always taken the brood out. I've been lucky and almost every walk away split I've tried has worked out, but this way leaves both hives in a strength position. Doing it the other way leaves the split totally weak. Sorry to hear of your troubles. Buying queens can be fun!
Jim my humble opinion: on a side-by-side bee boxes with entrances facing the same way will put your queens in jeopardy, returning forages going in the wrong box will find a strange queen and they may kill her. Also on a split I always move the queen to a new box away from the original box. Happy late spring and may the Bee Gods bring lots of nectar-rich flowers :)
I've seen people with the double nucs facing the same direction and had not heard of problems. I know there's a bit of risk, but I guess I'll just see what happens. I doubt a single stray forager would mount an attack on a queen in a strange hive. I will be sure to let you guys know if this turns out to NOT work.
@@vinofarm Jim thank you for your reply. Yes bees are difficult to predict. A note about splitting: There are some beekeepers that split a hive by moving 3 frames of brood and 2 frames of honey and pollen to a nuc on a new location "before there are swarm cells" and wait a day and introduce a mated queen, Supposedly the foragers will return to the original hive to the old queen. The remaining bees on the new nuc should be nurse bees and they will accept a new queen easier than the old bees. This method will reduce bee population on the original hive and before the bees increase in numbers the honey flow should begin and the bee will be busy collecting nectar and pollen and not be building swarm cells.
Hi do look into a split board, for your splits. I use them when I have a swarm cells and benefit from honey from the parent colony and raising a new queen on the split.
My pleasure! For the past year, I always center the queen in the frame on the zoom-in. If it's really hard to see her, I'll drop in an arrow. But I like to give people a little challenge. You can always pause. The videos are 4k now!
The milkweed in the yard just started flowering today. I don't know where the nectar is coming from? The bees show no interest in the 1:1 syrup I gave them.
Love your videos. Just a suggestion to consider. Those big hives will make a lot of queen cells. Use some to start some new hives in your nucs. Whenever I left more than 1 or 2 in a big hive they would swarm with a virgin queen. Also, a virgin queen or newly mated queen could possibly fit through a queen excluder.
With 2 separate Nuce entrances close by, if there is a breeze blowing when the queens return from their mating's, a queen may be blown into the wrong Nuce, a fight to the death will occur & only one queen will survive I generally have at least about 18 inches between entrances or have Nuce entrances opposite ( front & back )
@@vinofarm Oooops, Comprehended but lost when looking at the Nuces - Thanks! Having entrances very close, can get drift - generally one hive gets stronger & the other weaker - suggest to keep an eye on
HoneyBEE TEK I had a look in there tonight and due to a problem on one side, I added some brood and switched the entrances back around. So they’re facing opposite directions again.
Whoops, guess that the Turkey had her nest over there.. 😁 And I follow 'A Canadians Beekeeper ' I believe that that is Ian's channel name and he is a big one in beekeeping. He also had no spring and then it all came at once. Now, I am absolutely a noob but what I understood is that he didn't went for honey early, he sold a lot of nucs and he now is going to try and build it up for some honey. But what I understand is that he and his brothers have cattle, seed and grow crops (2 kinds what I know) and he has bees to help those crops and he sells whatever honey he can harvest. But he is also documenting every day for himself so he can look back in his sort of 'diary'. But, with doing that he also helped so many beekeepers.. But then again, everybody lives in different circumstances so nothing is or can be the same.. nor that everybody will do the same. But I think that you follow loads of other beekeepers and you only can take something from left or right in consideration 😊 But I hope that it will work out and I'm very curious!
I like Ian, but we have very different situations and very different operations. Every location is different. My hives would look very different if they lived next to several hundred acres of canola!
Thanks Paul for the response Are you finding it effective. I’ve treated twice and saw no might drop on screened bottom board. Have one more to go. I didn’t test. The reason being I’ve been seeing some bees with K wing thinking Varroa was the cause. Using the Johno’s easy vape.
Jim....just an fyi....that turkey was showing you a "distraction display". You spooked her off her nest. What she was doing was to try and lure you away from her nest
Exactly!! It's the old "my wing is broken, don't chase me, I can't fly away" distraction dance! It has a good chance of working if you are a predator.... lol
That was my initial thought as well. The next thing I said on the video was, "Did I scare you off your nest?" I spent a few minute looking around and did not find anything. This is right next to the bee yard in a pretty high traffic area. I don't think they'd nest right there. I think they were just having an afternoon siesta and I startled them.
@@vinofarm what may have also been the case is she had her brood of chicks with her that were not old enough yet to run away and hid in the grass...their ability to go unnoticed is amazing! (take it from a former wildlife biologist that went on turkey nest surveys). If that hen were truly not with eggs or chicks right there she would have just flown away.
@@hyfy-tr2jy I hear you... I see this couple almost every day. They hop right over the electric deer fence and graze in the field. I haven't noticed the trail of chicks yet. It's amazing to see a pack of turkeys with 20 little turklings walking across the yard.
I did the same my first time splitting, i moved the eggs not the queen. Hive swarmed, I got them back though. Last couple of years I have moved out the Queen and let old hive make new queen. And yes you get more honey when there is no new brood for 30 days. However, this year i moved out the queen, but left too many bees and resources in the old hive. They made a lot of new queens and did a Multiple Virgin swarm. luckily I caught them (they always go to the same tree) and brought them back. Next time I have to keep an eye on how many queen cells they make. i should have made more splits with the same hive. Good Luck!
I'm hoping they make cells on more than one frame in the old hive and I can grab one of the frames of queen cells and make a second split of the Vermont queens. But if not, I will keep an eye on how many cells they make and take some of them out.
We call that a "walk away" split. In your spare time, you might research OTS split. Essentially the same thing but you actually 'notch' the frame in several spots to give them room to create a queen cell. You also choose the larvae instead of letting them choose.
They still choose which one you notched and if they don't like any of them they will find their own QC. Got to wait until the next day to notch or they will close them up before they realize they're queenless. Good way to help them.
Just starting my beekeeping journey this year with a couple nucs. Been following and watching you videos the last year as I am also in Mass. I've watched and researched Snelgrove or 'double screen divider boards' for making splits you might be interested in. Seems like a good way to make splits that gives you some options depending on the outcomes (new queen fails, decide not to expand, etc)
You can Snelgrove with a honey super. The board and new brood box goes on top of the supers in this case but works just the same. One of the benefits of this is you can do it during a flow to maintain, and even increase production in some cases.
Nice job on the splits. All the while when you started I was like, "Jim what are you doing, you're going to hurt their honey production?" Then you explained your goal and I was like, "Oh, well good call." My bees are doing well here but the year has been so odd I have not anywhere near met my goals I started with. We were so wet, it depressed my ability to work with them early on and new queens had a rough time getting back from mating. Now we're hot and dry as an oven. I'm so behind on everything this year it's just depressing. The only thing that's gone well is my cattle project. I guess it'll all work out eventually.
Currently the slowest hive in the yard. Not sure what's up. They're always slow to start and this year EVERYONE is behind, so I'm not too worried. I gave them a frame of brood from the Adrian hive last week to give them a bump.
Hey Jim, good stuff. One suggestion, have you looked into OTS (on the spot) splits? Your method is 80% of it, but you also use your hive tool to notch the bottom of a bunch of cells with young larvae and eggs, in the middle of frames, making it easy for the bees to make new queen cells. You can find lots of videos on here, and the web about it. Helps make tons of great queen cells.
Yes, I've read about OTS, but was a little turned off because it involved killing off the queens. This is sort of the same idea, but no one dies. I know about the notching the comb, but I don't trust myself to make those decisions for the bees quite yet.
@@vinofarm - Killing queens to requeen isn't distinctly OTS, nor is it mandatory. I'm referring more to the notching side. Yeah, I can't always get the right ones either, but I get some of them, and the girls pick other ones besides the one I notch.
@@vinofarm - I just "OTS'd" 10 days ago, without killing any productive queens. I moved them into new nuc boxes, and then did my notches. In some cases they made QCs where I notched, in others they made them at the bottoms of the frames, but I had frames with 9 or 10 QCs on them, and it was crazy trying to find as many homes as possible! Turned 5 hives into 19! Not all will work out, obviously.
Great video! It's been too cool here in Orangeville NY. Last 3 mornings 40 degrees at daybreak. My bees are hutled up until mid-afternoon but busy collecting lots of necter. Are you making turkey flavored honey?
I made some splits this year the same way. However, after the remaining big hives swarmed multiple times on me, I learned that I should have removed all but one queen cell. Just fyi in case you're not into swarm catching. 😉 Since you want to do more splits those extra cells might be a good start for this.
I am surprised you responded... you do great work and you are truly an inspiration for my beekeeping. I made winter protection per your way (coroplast and styrofoam) and had great success, thank you so much for videos!
Hi Jim, how is the resource hive working out for you? My resource hive is awesome always taking something out of one mostly to boost other hives or make splits or cell starter. - I want to swap out the other queen with a queen I'm grafting from last years queen. She is an egg laying monster !
I just did this same kind of split a week ago ( 9 days). Had multiple queen cells being drawn in the original hive and I have removed all but 2. Fingers crossed I'll have a virgin queen in 8-10 days.
I know we spoke about this a year or two back but what you just did is nearly classic "OTS" beekeeping. You now are going to get the benefit of a brood break and decrease in the mite population.
I remember talking about that. I see the benefits, but I just didn't like the idea of killing all my queens. This is a gentler solution. I like that it leaves both splits in a strong position. The other way weakens both. Thanks.
Awnings. Shade, rain diversion, protects the woodenware, allows bees to hang outside while it's raining. It's just something I offer them and doesn't seem to cause any trouble.
I have made my splits that way for years however I move the parent hive to a different location in the yard and leave a nuc in the old location with eggs and nurse bees along with honey the nuc will fill up with the field bees. The old hive will replace the field bees in no time and be back to its old self in a short time. If the nuc fails to get a laying queen not much is lost your way if the hive fails you have lost some comb if not caught in time I had a n 80% take this year on my splits 75+. I start harvesting my crop this Friday looks to be a little less than average the main honey flow was 20 days early.
I'm not sure what you mean by, "If the nuc fails to get a laying queen". I put the laying queens INTO the nucs. They will start laying right away. The original hives will be making new queens.
@@vinofarm You make a nuc with the old queen I make a nuc with the old bees and some brood and other resources my nuc is in the hive original location your nuc is in the new location.. If my nuc fails to get a laying queen and I do not catch it in time I will only loose 4or 5 frames
I need to run something by you to give me your thoughts. Two weeks ago we added a 2 brood box apon checking them today we discovered the second box basically 85% drawn and eggs laid in alot of cells. We seen there were queen cells in all of them and some of them had jelly in them we tore all of them down and added supers with queen excluders above them hoping this stops that activity. The most agressive hive had some serious issues I discovered several swarm cells nearly capped and 1 fully capped........ I took the queen and about 4 full frames of bees and capped brood and a full frame of resources from this hive and moved them about 15 feet(walk away)leaving a very strong colony queenless with several queen cells including the capped one.... My hope is the new queen emerges and gets mated and starts laying again! Your thoughts?
Jim, about your hive making a new queen - If they make multiple queen cells - I suggest you try to pull any cells you can for resource hives and future need. Since this hive's production capability is now turned to making queens, it makes sense to get all you can. To make this more possible, when your relocated queen has given you a frame with a few eggs - you might want to pull it immediately and put it back in the queenless hive so you know you will have at least two frames with cells. Get the first frame cells building, move that frame to the second hive needing a queen, repeat as needed. Ah. You doubled down. With two of them doing this - you should have frames for your last three little resource nucs in no time! Great to see a bee video from you, makes the summer a happy time!
@@timothyodonnell8591 Thank you sir! Wow! Yes, trolls are a problem - they wallow in an attitude of just wanting to be shocking or hurting to others. Pity them, and don't feed them, best advice i ever heard on the subject.
Do you use plastic foundations or wax? Do you use wire to attach the plastic foundations to the frame if you use plastic? How thick is the sides of the frames, bottoms and tops 1/4, 5/16 etc ?
In the deeps (brood boxes) I use standard Langstroth frames with wax-coated plastic foundation. In the supers, it's a mix of wood with wax coated plastic foundation, all plastic "Acorn Bee" frames or foundationless wooden frames. I don't use any wax/wire foundation at all.
I've never heard of this clover trick could you please elaborate on it a bit? Mainly asking because I would like to split my hive as well but am concerned that the older bees will just fly back to the original hive 15ft away...But if this trick forces them to re-orient themselves I'm all ears.
I don't know if it works, but it's one of those beekeeping tall tales, the theory being that when the foragers leave the hive the next time they come across some foreign obstacle and it makes them realize they are in a new place and that they need to re-orient before flying off to forage. Some people pile tree branches in front of the entrance. I just grabbed some clover outside the bee yard and stuffed it into the entrance. That way they'd really need to push through it. Who knows if it works? (But it can't hurt.) There were so many nurse bees on those frames that even if a bunch of foragers flew back to the old hive, there would still be enough population in there.
I think only bees that don't fly yet will stay in your new splits. all other will go to their old hives because they remember the way and will not pay attention that they left from another (but very close) place. Also, i am afraid some clover and different color is not enough for the bees to understand where is their entrance and where is their so close neighbors.
Probably too late (as you probably did this a while ago) but when you do it this way and they make emergency cells a) they can go overboard on the number of cells b) the population is bigger = potential for cast swarms. I do it this way to prevent swarming but check in 5 days and remove excess cells leaving the nicest one with big fat larvae :)
Yes, This was just done two days ago. I plan to go in there in about a week and if there are queen cells on more than one frame, I can make another walk away split into a nuc.
@@vinofarm My husband runs into them a lot when he goes cycling, and the males can be REALLY aggressive. He's Australian, and had NO idea what they were the first time he encountered them, other than "surprisingly angry bird that wasn't a Canadian goose." 😂
@@formulafish1536 😂 I am well familiar! I love those murderbirds so much - they're SO majestic and cranky. And you can SEE the dinosaur in their eyes! (I have a great photo of me sitting on the other side of a plate of glass from a cassowary, who was resting on the ground yet still managing to give me a "I could kill you if I wanted to" glare. I'm really hoping to get to the Daintree next year, to see their native territory before it's lost to climate and human incursion.)
Exciting that you're managing to split even with the bad weather Slightly worried about your nucs facing the same direction, dont bees get confused which hive is theirs if they are too close? I thought there was a certain distance you had to space hives so the wind doesnt blow bees (particularly returning mated queens) into the wrong hive?
These are nucs. They will never get huge, so if bees drift from one to the other or back and forth, it's not a big deal. Since they will be "resource" hives, I am going to be stealing brood from them as the queens continue to lay. Their brood will wind up in the weaker hives to build them up.
BEN and JERRY! ..... One thing you may need to do is feed the splits with the old queens. They have no foragers and will need food soon for the queen to keep laying.
Hey vino my bee hive doesn't have a queen and a normal bee started laying eggs(i know that because there was aroud 5 eggs in 1 cell) What should i do with the hive? Buy s new queen?and all thr bees look like young queens much longer than normal bees this is the 1st time happend in the 7 years im beekeeping
@@IISheireenII You can watch what I did, but I don't recommend copying what I did. If I was going to do it again, I'd add frames of newly laid eggs from another hive until they decided to make a new queen.
@@vinofarm i did the same i took a frame full of new eggs and brood and put it in the other hive,i dont think they will make a queen as they think theres one laying
There is a color code for queens. Each color represents the year they mated. So if you have a lot of queens, you can tell by color how old they are. Then there are breeders who don't go by the code (like the one in this video) and just mark them according to their own systems. The main color code is pretty widely used, though.
Jim, I first came for the bee videos, and then the barn videos, and then the planting/building videos, but now I realize that I'm just here for the videos. You clearly demonstrated in the first 20 seconds your complete mastery of video editing. Bravo sir.
Same season over here in the Pacific Northwest. We all thought because of the early spring that it was going to be an awesome year... Mother Nature is snubbing her nose at us now... Cold, rainy, miserable weather for the bees. On the plus side, less chance of fire danger this year...
Your bees are looking great! Keep up the great work Sir. Glad to see a video so soon after the last one. 😃
I don't have bees, I don't think I'll ever have bees, but I still enjoy these videos. You make them interesting, and it never hurts to learn new things! Hopefully, the summer gets going there!
Great beekeeping video as always! I checked my nuc Colin I made on June 6th and the capped emergency/supersedure cell hatched! I will check them in two weeks and hopefully will mark a mated Queen! Thank you for making these videos, it helps a lot. Keep making videos!
Jim, I've got to tell you - I think I have made my first successful walkaway split following your (previous) method! Ten days in, they have at least 5 or 6 capped queen cells and are storing honey. Thank you for your clear and informative videos!!
Constructing colonies via splits using different techniques and encouraging new queen production has got to be the most fun part of beekeeping for me. Thanks for showing your methods, I have so much to learn.👍😎🐝
Currently in my first season of bee keeping and am absolutely in love with your videos. I've learned so much just by watching and listening, keep doing what you do! Vino Farm subscriber for life!!
Great to hear!
That's how I normally do my splits on a really strong hive. If you don't remove the queen and they are in swarm mode they will most likely still swarm but if you remove the queen it tricks the hive into thinking they already swarmed which will keep them from swarming.
Not realy! I did this with 2 of my hives this spring and swarm hapened with the new queens. Best way is to leave the old queen with 3 empty frames, 2 food and polen, shake a frame or two with young bees and rest newframes ready to be build. The rest of family, frames you can move on a new position. Al the workers go back on the place with old queen and start like a new hive and the other make a new queen.....that is the best way.
@@sandornelu6614 I've heard about that method too but haven't tried it. Did you remove the excess swarm cells when you did the split the other way? If you leave a bunch of queen cells in the hive when you split it then they may swarm. I usually remove all but 2 or 3 of the best ones when I do the split.
@@gapey for sure select 2, maximum 3.
If you keep removing swarmcells they dont swarm and they need to keep building here we work on a method called renson
If a hive swarms or is about to swarm I spring into action.
I grab two queen castles. That's six 3-frame mating nucs.
If I find the queen I put her in a box. Usually the big mother one.
I try and put a frame with cell or cells into each spot in the two queen castles. I don't always get 6 splits plus the laying queen still in her home box but ideally that's what I want. Once all the queen cells are gone with most of the bees and brood it's not going to swarm at least not this week.
Usually 4 of the 6 splits gets a mated queen and I build them up to bigger and bigger boxes until next year those are my honey makers hopefully.
Kudos for including the date and location for you video. So many beekeeping videos fail to include that and it is key to understand the climate and time of year, in order for me to benefit. I'm in upstate NY and believe a Mass beekeeper's experience is much more valuable to me than someone in the warm south. Thanks!
I did exactly what you did and moved Queens to my resource hive. I've pulled several frames of brood out already and moved them to my other hives. Have another resource hive on order so I'll end up running 2. Thanks for sharing Jim.
Jim, they look great! Since we're simulating a swarm, I always move the queen with the split. I love the coverage on your frames, nice work!🙂
A new twist in the saga. I hope it is the right move. I think your decision is the right one, mainly because you are now focused on building the genetic base of your hives. This logic goes hand in hand with expanding the population with your queens. Thanks for a great video.
Vino I did it backwards too.
What helped me the most was ...
Well I asked a pro for help. Yes. I asked a woman who actually gets paid by a university to keep bees to show me and God bless her she did. She met me way out in a field to split someone else's bees. Thank you Karen...
Well, I guess I figured it out by accident. And now I'm sharing that tip with the world.
I picked up my first nuc on June 1st, and found your site about a week later. I just finished bingeing from the very beginning. I'm already looking forward to putting your wintering tips to work. I'm about 4 hours NORTH of you (central Maine). I really appreciate you showing your mistakes as well as your success stories. We learn best from our mistakes, but I'm hoping I can learn from yours too! Keep up the great work. (Now that I'm caught up, I might have to go learn how to make sourdough bread)
Welcome aboard!
Your bees always seem so chill. Even the Russian hive being your most aggressive, they're so much more chill than other beekeepers hives Ive seen. Other Ive watched have to go in the full suit with the gloves and covered head to toe and even then still end up with some stings. Your girls you can handle the frames barehanded and with just the net for extra protection for your face. Its amazing.
I have learned how to handle the frames gently. I see a lot of beekeepers grabbing frames pretty roughly. And I recently had a guy telling me I was beekeeping wrong because I didn't SHAKE the bees off the frames before inspecting them. He actually said I needed to get the bees off the frames and THEN look at them. That's a great way to stir up a colony. Ugh. Smoke and patience and respect goes a long way in the bee yard.
I um I don't think I've ever been so early to a video. But I love the start of it😂 I love the entire video
By any chance is Eric your brother or dad? Olympic gold medal winner in the family?
@@mikeries8549 unfortunately no, but we have an Earling (grandfather) and he used to be an Olympic cyclist so funny coincidence
Another great video. I am in my second year and have been following you since before my first hive. I have started doing my splits this way this year too. The other way has been hit or miss for me but this way always works. Thank you for sharing your journey with us.
Glad to hear it!
Enjoyed the video! First year bee keeping and it’s fantastic to have the videos as a learning source.
love the clouds!!
Hi Ian. You must have heard people talking about you in my comments!
I’ve got 5 colonies currently and one is about a week and a half behind the others. Hopefully when I check it tonight it’ll start working on it’s second box like the others. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks for the video I am going to make some splits today.
We did our splits on the same day ..I did mine the opposite I did have some drift not too bad though .. My girls are on it here in western mass honey supers should be full in another 3 or 4 days I'm feeling truly blessed..I'm sure your yards about to explode with resources!!!!! Thank you for your great informative videos..
Yay I bee waiting for bee update I hope there doing ok I love every video how the deer trap going I hope we can see more bee update but I now your busy but it's ok these videos make me more interested in bees and I hope you are doing well
Love the videos! I'm guessing that turkey has a nest right there?
I did the same thing a few weeks ago the one queen hatched now waiting for her to get mated and start laying
I have always wanted to become a beekeeper. I never knew how complicated it is. I enjoy your channel very much.🖒
I have turkeys in my neighborhood and backyard in Boston. It's kind of funny to see that hen do the play injured tactic to protect her chicks. Here they just attack you. No fear. It reminds me of the scene from Jurassic Park... "That one... she's working things out."
The highlight of the video was definitely the turkey (?) walking backwards back into its hiding spot lol :)
We move queen and the frame she is on. 1 capped brood frame. 1 open brood. 1 food. 1 blank to be drawn. Then add honey super to parent hive. Because without new brood being laid the foragers will mostly collect nectar. Can fill a couple supers before new queen is laying
I know you and I are not that far apart but it's crazy what a little bit of distance will do. Yesterday I was out pulling fully capped honey off my hives. And in probably another week to a week and 1/2 I will have to pull more. The one problem I have been having this year is it's hard to keep the bees in the box as they are wanting to swarm a lot. And this year they all seem to want to go 100 feet up in a tree LOL. Thanks for sharing.
Great video! Just a name suggestion for the two Nuc’s Lavern and Shirly
You sound old, like me.
Vino Farm Let’s just say my beard is antique blonde just like yours.
It does look like a lovely day! That whole winter thing just passed us by down here - we had 90F days back in March, and with the exception of almost a week straight of rain, things have been jamming down here. Right this second, I'm in the middle of a small batch extraction (well, paused for the moment for some coffee). But your bees are alive, they're trucking along to the point you can do splits, and Mother Nature is cooperating - what could be better? It looks good from where I'm sitting, trying to get propolis off my hands. LOL
Finally got my first hive up and running with some mut bees. So far so good. Good to see your bees doing well. Hardly any loses.
I love your content and have binged watched several videos! Keep em coming?
It makes so much sense to move the queen to the split all of the time, not just when swarm cells are seen. Funny no one has mentioned this process, not that I've heard anyway. Wish I had seen this tip in the spring. I have had a bad spring with the new queens getting back to their box. Not sure what's happening to them. Gonna have to start combining, or buy queens.
It seems like an obvious move, but for two years now, I've always taken the brood out. I've been lucky and almost every walk away split I've tried has worked out, but this way leaves both hives in a strength position. Doing it the other way leaves the split totally weak. Sorry to hear of your troubles. Buying queens can be fun!
Jim my humble opinion: on a side-by-side bee boxes with entrances facing the same way will put your queens in jeopardy, returning forages going in the wrong box will find a strange queen and they may kill her.
Also on a split I always move the queen to a new box away from the original box.
Happy late spring and may the Bee Gods bring lots of nectar-rich flowers :)
I've seen people with the double nucs facing the same direction and had not heard of problems. I know there's a bit of risk, but I guess I'll just see what happens. I doubt a single stray forager would mount an attack on a queen in a strange hive. I will be sure to let you guys know if this turns out to NOT work.
@@vinofarm Jim thank you for your reply. Yes bees are difficult to predict.
A note about splitting: There are some beekeepers that split a hive by moving 3 frames of brood and 2 frames of honey and pollen to a nuc on a new location "before there are swarm cells" and wait a day and introduce a mated queen, Supposedly the foragers will return to the original hive to the old queen. The remaining bees on the new nuc should be nurse bees and they will accept a new queen easier than the old bees.
This method will reduce bee population on the original hive and before the bees increase in numbers the honey flow should begin and the bee will be busy collecting nectar and pollen and not be building swarm cells.
Hi do look into a split board, for your splits. I use them when I have a swarm cells and benefit from honey from the parent colony and raising a new queen on the split.
Thank you for the arrow pointing out the quean. I really appreciate the visual que. Love your videos
My pleasure! For the past year, I always center the queen in the frame on the zoom-in. If it's really hard to see her, I'll drop in an arrow. But I like to give people a little challenge. You can always pause. The videos are 4k now!
The milkweed in the yard just started flowering today. I don't know where the nectar is coming from? The bees show no interest in the 1:1 syrup I gave them.
We have SO much milkweed this year. It should be opening in a week or so for us. That was a huge source of nectar for us last year.
great content
Love your videos. Just a suggestion to consider. Those big hives will make a lot of queen cells. Use some to start some new hives in your nucs. Whenever I left more than 1 or 2 in a big hive they would swarm with a virgin queen. Also, a virgin queen or newly mated queen could possibly fit through a queen excluder.
Yup... it's already in the plan. I'll split off a frame of queen cells into my other resource hives and get at least two more Vermont queens.
With 2 separate Nuce entrances close by, if there is a breeze blowing when the queens return from their mating's, a queen may be blown into the wrong Nuce, a fight to the death will occur & only one queen will survive
I generally have at least about 18 inches between entrances or have Nuce entrances opposite ( front & back )
Queens that went into these are mated and laying already.
@@vinofarm Oooops, Comprehended but lost when looking at the Nuces - Thanks!
Having entrances very close, can get drift - generally one hive gets stronger & the other weaker - suggest to keep an eye on
HoneyBEE TEK I had a look in there tonight and due to a problem on one side, I added some brood and switched the entrances back around. So they’re facing opposite directions again.
That Intro Though!!!
Whoops, guess that the Turkey had her nest over there.. 😁
And I follow 'A Canadians Beekeeper ' I believe that that is Ian's channel name and he is a big one in beekeeping. He also had no spring and then it all came at once. Now, I am absolutely a noob but what I understood is that he didn't went for honey early, he sold a lot of nucs and he now is going to try and build it up for some honey.
But what I understand is that he and his brothers have cattle, seed and grow crops (2 kinds what I know) and he has bees to help those crops and he sells whatever honey he can harvest.
But he is also documenting every day for himself so he can look back in his sort of 'diary'. But, with doing that he also helped so many beekeepers..
But then again, everybody lives in different circumstances so nothing is or can be the same.. nor that everybody will do the same.
But I think that you follow loads of other beekeepers and you only can take something from left or right in consideration 😊
But I hope that it will work out and I'm very curious!
I like Ian, but we have very different situations and very different operations. Every location is different. My hives would look very different if they lived next to several hundred acres of canola!
@@vinofarm Lol, Ian's operation is unlike most anyone elses operation. From the northern climate to the forage base it's very unique.
Thanks Paul for the response Are you finding it effective. I’ve treated twice and saw no might drop on screened bottom board. Have one more to go. I didn’t test. The reason being I’ve been seeing some bees with K wing thinking Varroa was the cause. Using the Johno’s easy vape.
Jim....just an fyi....that turkey was showing you a "distraction display". You spooked her off her nest. What she was doing was to try and lure you away from her nest
Exactly!! It's the old "my wing is broken, don't chase me, I can't fly away" distraction dance! It has a good chance of working if you are a predator.... lol
That was my initial thought as well. The next thing I said on the video was, "Did I scare you off your nest?" I spent a few minute looking around and did not find anything. This is right next to the bee yard in a pretty high traffic area. I don't think they'd nest right there. I think they were just having an afternoon siesta and I startled them.
@@vinofarm what may have also been the case is she had her brood of chicks with her that were not old enough yet to run away and hid in the grass...their ability to go unnoticed is amazing! (take it from a former wildlife biologist that went on turkey nest surveys). If that hen were truly not with eggs or chicks right there she would have just flown away.
@@hyfy-tr2jy I hear you... I see this couple almost every day. They hop right over the electric deer fence and graze in the field. I haven't noticed the trail of chicks yet. It's amazing to see a pack of turkeys with 20 little turklings walking across the yard.
@@vinofarm
Cool! Then we know what that lady has on her mind!
I did the same my first time splitting, i moved the eggs not the queen. Hive swarmed, I got them back though. Last couple of years I have moved out the Queen and let old hive make new queen. And yes you get more honey when there is no new brood for 30 days. However, this year i moved out the queen, but left too many bees and resources in the old hive. They made a lot of new queens and did a Multiple Virgin swarm. luckily I caught them (they always go to the same tree) and brought them back. Next time I have to keep an eye on how many queen cells they make. i should have made more splits with the same hive. Good Luck!
I'm hoping they make cells on more than one frame in the old hive and I can grab one of the frames of queen cells and make a second split of the Vermont queens. But if not, I will keep an eye on how many cells they make and take some of them out.
We call that a "walk away" split. In your spare time, you might research OTS split. Essentially the same thing but you actually 'notch' the frame in several spots to give them room to create a queen cell. You also choose the larvae instead of letting them choose.
They still choose which one you notched and if they don't like any of them they will find their own QC. Got to wait until the next day to notch or they will close them up before they realize they're queenless. Good way to help them.
Just starting my beekeeping journey this year with a couple nucs. Been following and watching you videos the last year as I am also in Mass. I've watched and researched Snelgrove or 'double screen divider boards' for making splits you might be interested in. Seems like a good way to make splits that gives you some options depending on the outcomes (new queen fails, decide not to expand, etc)
I was going to suggest that also but he had honey supers on already.
You can Snelgrove with a honey super. The board and new brood box goes on top of the supers in this case but works just the same. One of the benefits of this is you can do it during a flow to maintain, and even increase production in some cases.
@@ThomasDMcDonald I suppose you could. Good idea. Thanks!
Cold and behind here in central Oregon . Not much blooming.
However, the fight is on with the yellow jackets and wasps.
love your videos. Its winter over here in nz and if i cant checkup on my bees at least i can see yours
Nice job on the splits. All the while when you started I was like, "Jim what are you doing, you're going to hurt their honey production?" Then you explained your goal and I was like, "Oh, well good call."
My bees are doing well here but the year has been so odd I have not anywhere near met my goals I started with. We were so wet, it depressed my ability to work with them early on and new queens had a rough time getting back from mating. Now we're hot and dry as an oven. I'm so behind on everything this year it's just depressing. The only thing that's gone well is my cattle project. I guess it'll all work out eventually.
You're smart. You diversify!
@@vinofarm Haha, yeah...we'll go with that! ;)
can we get an update on the Balboa hive? still rooting for the underdog. That's what got me & I'm sure others to watching your channel. Thanks!
Currently the slowest hive in the yard. Not sure what's up. They're always slow to start and this year EVERYONE is behind, so I'm not too worried. I gave them a frame of brood from the Adrian hive last week to give them a bump.
Love the bee videos! But I need to see that barn get completed!!
I need to see it completed, too.
Hey Jim, good stuff. One suggestion, have you looked into OTS (on the spot) splits? Your method is 80% of it, but you also use your hive tool to notch the bottom of a bunch of cells with young larvae and eggs, in the middle of frames, making it easy for the bees to make new queen cells. You can find lots of videos on here, and the web about it. Helps make tons of great queen cells.
Yes, I've read about OTS, but was a little turned off because it involved killing off the queens. This is sort of the same idea, but no one dies. I know about the notching the comb, but I don't trust myself to make those decisions for the bees quite yet.
@@vinofarm - Killing queens to requeen isn't distinctly OTS, nor is it mandatory. I'm referring more to the notching side. Yeah, I can't always get the right ones either, but I get some of them, and the girls pick other ones besides the one I notch.
@@vinofarm - I just "OTS'd" 10 days ago, without killing any productive queens. I moved them into new nuc boxes, and then did my notches. In some cases they made QCs where I notched, in others they made them at the bottoms of the frames, but I had frames with 9 or 10 QCs on them, and it was crazy trying to find as many homes as possible! Turned 5 hives into 19! Not all will work out, obviously.
Great video! It's been too cool here in Orangeville NY. Last 3 mornings 40 degrees at daybreak. My bees are hutled up until mid-afternoon but busy collecting lots of necter. Are you making turkey flavored honey?
Yeah, we've been in the 40s at night here. The heat is coming, though!
That turkey hen has a nest started there more than likely. 😊
I couldn't find one.
@@vinofarm There's one there somewhere. They intentionally act like a decoy trying to draw attention away from their nest.
I like doing artificial splits when splitting my hives. The key is finding the queen to do so. 😊🐝
I made some splits this year the same way. However, after the remaining big hives swarmed multiple times on me, I learned that I should have removed all but one queen cell. Just fyi in case you're not into swarm catching. 😉
Since you want to do more splits those extra cells might be a good start for this.
Yup! I'll be stealing a frame with queen cells on it from the big hives to make more walk away splits.
Turkey was on a nest ya fruit loop....hahaha! Great find!
I looked all over. There was no nest or eggs. This is 25 feet from the bee yard. I doubt they're nesting in such a high traffic area.
@@vinofarm Then she may of had a couple of young nearby is my guess.
I am surprised you responded... you do great work and you are truly an inspiration for my beekeeping. I made winter protection per your way (coroplast and styrofoam) and had great success, thank you so much for videos!
Hi Jim, how is the resource hive working out for you? My resource hive is awesome always taking something out of one mostly to boost other hives or make splits or cell starter. - I want to swap out the other queen with a queen I'm grafting from last years queen. She is an egg laying monster !
Wat do you burn in your smoker???....always wondered... And thank for another great video👍
I made a video: ua-cam.com/video/57wFPAsNbvI/v-deo.html
I just did this same kind of split a week ago ( 9 days). Had multiple queen cells being drawn in the original hive and I have removed all but 2. Fingers crossed I'll have a virgin queen in 8-10 days.
I know we spoke about this a year or two back but what you just did is nearly classic "OTS" beekeeping. You now are going to get the benefit of a brood break and decrease in the mite population.
I remember talking about that. I see the benefits, but I just didn't like the idea of killing all my queens. This is a gentler solution. I like that it leaves both splits in a strong position. The other way weakens both. Thanks.
Good technique. I would like to know what purpose does the plastic on top of the covers serve? Insulation? Or a rain drop?
Awnings. Shade, rain diversion, protects the woodenware, allows bees to hang outside while it's raining. It's just something I offer them and doesn't seem to cause any trouble.
Hey Jim. Have an idea for your next video. How do you store the honey suppers? And what to do when you have a moth.
It would be wicked cool to invite Dr Leo sharashkin to your place and do a couple of bee videos together.
I have made my splits that way for years however I move the parent hive to a different location in the yard and leave a nuc in the old location with eggs and nurse bees along with honey the nuc will fill up with the field bees. The old hive will replace the field bees in no time and be back to its old self in a short time. If the nuc fails to get a laying queen not much is lost your way if the hive fails you have lost some comb if not caught in time I had a n 80% take this year on my splits 75+. I start harvesting my crop this Friday looks to be a little less than average the main honey flow was 20 days early.
I'm not sure what you mean by, "If the nuc fails to get a laying queen". I put the laying queens INTO the nucs. They will start laying right away. The original hives will be making new queens.
@@vinofarm You make a nuc with the old queen I make a nuc with the old bees and some brood and other resources my nuc is in the hive original location your nuc is in the new location.. If my nuc fails to get a laying queen and I do not catch it in time I will only loose 4or 5 frames
I need to run something by you to give me your thoughts. Two weeks ago we added a 2 brood box apon checking them today we discovered the second box basically 85% drawn and eggs laid in alot of cells. We seen there were queen cells in all of them and some of them had jelly in them we tore all of them down and added supers with queen excluders above them hoping this stops that activity. The most agressive hive had some serious issues I discovered several swarm cells nearly capped and 1 fully capped........ I took the queen and about 4 full frames of bees and capped brood and a full frame of resources from this hive and moved them about 15 feet(walk away)leaving a very strong colony queenless with several queen cells including the capped one.... My hope is the new queen emerges and gets mated and starts laying again! Your thoughts?
Jim, Great video. Can you tell me who in Vermont you got your queens from ?
I think I said the name 5 times and put it on screen at least twice. Singing Cedars Apiary.
Why not leave the frame with the swarm cups? Wouldn't have help them make a new queen faster?
Jim, about your hive making a new queen - If they make multiple queen cells - I suggest you try to pull any cells you can for resource hives and future need. Since this hive's production capability is now turned to making queens, it makes sense to get all you can. To make this more possible, when your relocated queen has given you a frame with a few eggs - you might want to pull it immediately and put it back in the queenless hive so you know you will have at least two frames with cells. Get the first frame cells building, move that frame to the second hive needing a queen, repeat as needed. Ah. You doubled down. With two of them doing this - you should have frames for your last three little resource nucs in no time! Great to see a bee video from you, makes the summer a happy time!
EXACTLY. You're thinking like a beekeeper.
@@vinofarm
Oh thank you!! That made my day - with a month or two to spare!
@C B I have not noticed more aggression from subsequent generations. In fact, my Russians got WAY more gentle after they queen was superceded.
@@julieenslow5915 I always enjoy reading your comments. They are positive and helpful. That is appreciated given all the trolls and their comments.
@@timothyodonnell8591
Thank you sir! Wow!
Yes, trolls are a problem - they wallow in an attitude of just wanting to be shocking or hurting to others. Pity them, and don't feed them, best advice i ever heard on the subject.
Look into the AZ hive, its my country's specific type.
What's your thoughts on the plastic foundation? Do you have to put melted wax on to encourage the bees to draw out?
Cheers
I just buy the pre-waxed plastic. It has never been an issue whatsoever. The bees take to it with no delay.
is your cover a regular size for 10 frame boxes?
sir i love this video
Do you use plastic foundations or wax? Do you use wire to attach the plastic foundations to the frame if you use plastic? How thick is the sides of the frames, bottoms and tops 1/4, 5/16 etc ?
In the deeps (brood boxes) I use standard Langstroth frames with wax-coated plastic foundation. In the supers, it's a mix of wood with wax coated plastic foundation, all plastic "Acorn Bee" frames or foundationless wooden frames. I don't use any wax/wire foundation at all.
@@vinofarm thanks I asked because I thought the foundation material might bend and come undone from the frame under the weight of the honey.
@@dlfabrications The bees glue that foundation in really well. It's very sturdy.
I've never heard of this clover trick could you please elaborate on it a bit? Mainly asking because I would like to split my hive as well but am concerned that the older bees will just fly back to the original hive 15ft away...But if this trick forces them to re-orient themselves I'm all ears.
I don't know if it works, but it's one of those beekeeping tall tales, the theory being that when the foragers leave the hive the next time they come across some foreign obstacle and it makes them realize they are in a new place and that they need to re-orient before flying off to forage. Some people pile tree branches in front of the entrance. I just grabbed some clover outside the bee yard and stuffed it into the entrance. That way they'd really need to push through it. Who knows if it works? (But it can't hurt.) There were so many nurse bees on those frames that even if a bunch of foragers flew back to the old hive, there would still be enough population in there.
Jim, newbie here! Are you still using oxalic acid vapor to treat your bees? If so how is it doing to keep the mite count down?
I will use Oxalic in the fall for sure. Our varroa levels do not usually increase until August/September. I have not treated since last October;
what is your opinion on those fully plastic frames? i can see you got some.
OK for honey supers, but I don't like them in the brood box.
I think only bees that don't fly yet will stay in your new splits. all other will go to their old hives because they remember the way and will not pay attention that they left from another (but very close) place. Also, i am afraid some clover and different color is not enough for the bees to understand where is their entrance and where is their so close neighbors.
Do you clean your marker notes eventually to make room for more?
I have not needed to yet.
I've wondered how do you protect your apple trees from ant farming aphids? Is it a thing for you?
I have never heard of ant farming aphids!
Probably too late (as you probably did this a while ago) but when you do it this way and they make emergency cells a) they can go overboard on the number of cells b) the population is bigger = potential for cast swarms. I do it this way to prevent swarming but check in 5 days and remove excess cells leaving the nicest one with big fat larvae :)
Yes, This was just done two days ago. I plan to go in there in about a week and if there are queen cells on more than one frame, I can make another walk away split into a nuc.
@@vinofarm You do know you will have 100 hives sometime soon lol
What editing software do you use?
Final Cut Pro on an iMac.
I've never seen a wild Turkey before, that's a pretty birb
Scary birb, too - they remember they're dinosaurs.
@@khills They're really smart but very skittish. I've never come that close to one.
@@vinofarm My husband runs into them a lot when he goes cycling, and the males can be REALLY aggressive. He's Australian, and had NO idea what they were the first time he encountered them, other than "surprisingly angry bird that wasn't a Canadian goose." 😂
@@khills At least it wasn't a cassowary! Those things are about 2-3 times the size, just as ancient and even more aggressive...
@@formulafish1536 😂 I am well familiar! I love those murderbirds so much - they're SO majestic and cranky. And you can SEE the dinosaur in their eyes! (I have a great photo of me sitting on the other side of a plate of glass from a cassowary, who was resting on the ground yet still managing to give me a "I could kill you if I wanted to" glare. I'm really hoping to get to the Daintree next year, to see their native territory before it's lost to climate and human incursion.)
my splits are not doing well, we ordered queens from Kona... I think the weather has just been wonky
Exciting that you're managing to split even with the bad weather
Slightly worried about your nucs facing the same direction, dont bees get confused which hive is theirs if they are too close? I thought there was a certain distance you had to space hives so the wind doesnt blow bees (particularly returning mated queens) into the wrong hive?
These are nucs. They will never get huge, so if bees drift from one to the other or back and forth, it's not a big deal. Since they will be "resource" hives, I am going to be stealing brood from them as the queens continue to lay. Their brood will wind up in the weaker hives to build them up.
@@vinofarm thanks for the clarification, that makes sense :)
Def a slow and cold spring. Very behind.
BEN and JERRY! ..... One thing you may need to do is feed the splits with the old queens. They have no foragers and will need food soon for the queen to keep laying.
Yup. I'll check on them tomorrow. They had a lot of food on the frames I moved.
Hey vino my bee hive doesn't have a queen and a normal bee started laying eggs(i know that because there was aroud 5 eggs in 1 cell)
What should i do with the hive? Buy s new queen?and all thr bees look like young queens much longer than normal bees this is the 1st time happend in the 7 years im beekeeping
@@IISheireenII You can watch what I did, but I don't recommend copying what I did. If I was going to do it again, I'd add frames of newly laid eggs from another hive until they decided to make a new queen.
@@vinofarm i did the same i took a frame full of new eggs and brood and put it in the other hive,i dont think they will make a queen as they think theres one laying
@@zimmateja Try again. Eventually they will adopt a frame and make a queen.
@@vinofarm ill wait a few days more been a day since i did it but still all the bees are getting longer like queens and jts weird
Man that sucks that there is not as much flowers there there is a tone of nector coming intoy hives
When do beekeepers put dots on their bees?
It's called queen marking. You can mark queens anytime you find them, but a lot of breeders do it after they are mated, before they are sold.
There is a color code for queens. Each color represents the year they mated. So if you have a lot of queens, you can tell by color how old they are. Then there are breeders who don't go by the code (like the one in this video) and just mark them according to their own systems. The main color code is pretty widely used, though.
Jim, where did you get your hat and veil? I’m looking to go away from a jacket and need a good veil. (Edit) link in comments. . Lol
The one I have originally came from Brushy Mountain (CLOSED) but the one linked in the description is pretty close.
Vino Farm Thanks much. I liked Brushy, got all my Vivaldi’s from them.
Please put a pointer on the queen bee...I never see her unless you point her out 😁
Hit pause. For the past year or so, I've always centered them in the frame!
Vino Farm aaah ok, will try that 👍
How far are you from New Hampshire because I am not having any trouble with the weathe In fact is been awesome.
I thought you were in MA?
Yes, central MA, but we are at 1200' elevation. The weather is warmer 1/4 mile away at the bottom of our hill.
@@vinofarm
Well I hope it warms up For you soon weather forecast for my area is saying in 80 to 90ﾟ for the next 7 to 10 days.
@@leonardohenriquez5041 Yes, we are supposed to get a mini heat wave, too!
Why did one of the sca queen have a red mark when she is only on her second season. She should be marked green
They came marked with pink dots last summer. The breeder has their own system.
Vino Farm are you going to remark them green.
Any chance you sell honey locally? Am in the area.
Eventually, but not at the moment with the COVID situation.
Honestly, I don’t care how good a friend I was with my bees, I wouldn’t wear stagged pants for any amount of money. 🤭
99% of my stings are on my hands and fingers. I have never been stung on my legs.
You need to leave the old queen room to lay
Each box had a fully drawn out empty frame.