Hopefully we get some rain here in north alabama soon i have some goldenrod trying to bloom here. Last year it bloomed in dry weather and no nectar from it. You have really done a great job expanding your business and Hopefully you have a great harvest.
We are experiencing the best summer flow I've seen in last 5 years. I'm at 1950' and bees work 1800' to 2200'in elevation. You can see every Sourwood tree in bloom on our ridge tops. Upon inspection they are doing the same thing and backfilling the second deep brood box. I plan to take some from that box this year. Congrats on the Sourwood location!
You have done a pretty dang good job of getting combs drawn the last couple years!!! You've got some serious infrastructure accomplished! ...I have all the boxes /frames , equipment etc but not nearly enough drawn combs, & that sure does hold everything back bigtime, i bet it's gonna take me a whole nother season just to get to 50 -60 hives, & that's without buying nucs, just from splitting what I got
I had the same thing happen in Virginia this year. I was seeing all this nectar coming in with no rain I couldn’t figure it out because the clover was gone. I drove my 4 wheeler on the mountain across the street and you could smell the sweet smell all through the woods. I’m going to keep it separated and see if I can bottle it as sourwood. Great video!
See, that's good beekeeping. You go on a break and come back to that. It would be great if they didn't had to draw.. but when it's unexpected... it's still great that its sourwood. Nice present when you need it. It will be much easier when you get enough frames...
@@DuckRiverHoney yeah, I get it but I wouldn't trust it when it comes to drawed frames or wood. It would really have to be someone l know and believe. One time I bought a big batch of those black frame feeders you guys use.. used from a beekeeper. In stacks. Every stack had only the ends cleaned up. He sow l'm in a hurry and took the opportunity. A friend of mine got wax in bloks for a great deal and found a nice big rock in every block. But the diseases are to be scared of. People get careless until AFB spreads. Than you light a nice fire and start to wash and disinfect everything.. praying it won't come back. Scared for a couple of years. It's not a nice experience. I actually know how it is for you. My father will melt everything he finds older than 5-6 years. I have to keep my equipment hidden away from him. It used to drive me nuts when I was younger 🤣. Took me years to make reserves. The plastic foundation saved me.
My best yards this year. Spring nucs made early in a single deep with an excluder. They made an unbelievable amount of honey. The rest of my operation is 2 deeps and no excluder. I found the doubles harder to manage.
I find bigger hives a bit easier to overwinter, and they have more girth for splitting in spring, but a compressed broodnest makes more honey during the flow.
What a wonderful unexpected oddity to have so much sourwood. PNW Washington blackberry flow is still going strong and my 6 colonies are looking strong.
Always something going on in beekeeping- hurray for your sourwood flow. Hope you get lots of drawn comb, too. I’m trying a couple of double mediums this year in Michigan with extra food ready for winter.
You look refreshed. Dont see the stress you showed in previous videos. In my experience it could of been perfect sleeping weather and you still wouldn't have gotten any sleep at the cub scout camp.
Running double 8 frame medium brood boxes on 20 package bees shook April 20. All in same yard, few working on 3rd super most on second super, and a few have no honey above the excluder. Currently I am seriously consider replacing those zero honey queens. The rest of my overwintered bees are going gang busters on honey right now.
Yeah. Remember when that crazy old beek a couple of days back wrote.. I'm about to get an unexpected flow. I will put them all on 7 brood frames, an empty feeder and one frame on the outside. And no way they will be allowed to lay more. I would absolutely pull that as a variety. It's what we do here. Always extracting and moving on. I'm happy for the gift you got. Imagine if you prepared for it. Who knows maybe there's something to learn about the surroundings. People here always time they spring for black locust. And that year they get the flow.. well then we put only 6 frames for honey super. Did you ever seen honey frames that thick ?
You're making me jealous with the sourwood... I'm at 1,200 ft and have very few around, I'm at the foot of Appalachia in northern Pulaski County, Ky. The remnants of Hurricane Beryl looks to be tracking toward you in a few days, if you don't mind, send some of that up my way, we are in desperate need of rain. It looks like you have a pretty good helper with Parker, he seems to be doing quite well. Keep up the great work.
I agree with you on the Italian and Caucasian differences. 3 years ago i decided to try and move darker. I have been grafting from dark carni/caucasian queens for the last 2 years. The italian drone side/caucasian queen mix last year was great. When i grafted from caucasian again this year over dark drones i ended up with mostly caucasian and i noticed a tremendous change. Lots of backfilling in the briod nest and a much smaller colonies. The good side is they will require less feed but honey production suffered greatly. I will definitely be putting some italian back in next year.
I have some honey flowing in right now that looks just like the sourwood honey you are getting. It’s very clear and my sourwood trees are full bloom. I’ve tasted it and it’s mild with like a citrusy flavor. I’ve never had good sourwood before but I feel like it’s either basswood or sourwood but do not know the difference in flavor. My sourwoods have been in bloom now for roughly 2 weeks. Do you have any guidance on the favor difference or color differences between basswood and sourwood?
I like the idea of knocking the three down to two brood and adding an excluder. Similar to Ian's shaking down his doubles. Nathan, you look like a load was taken off of your shoulders. Hope things keep going good for you.
How are you selling your honey now that you have grown the business. My operation has also grown. Got 30 5gallon buckets of quality honey. You selling wholesale? Just looking for some ideas on how to sling
Hopefully we get some rain here in north alabama soon i have some goldenrod trying to bloom here. Last year it bloomed in dry weather and no nectar from it. You have really done a great job expanding your business and Hopefully you have a great harvest.
Thanks Michael!
I love your videos. I'm a lifelong businessman. I started with four hives in the spring I am now up to 15. Be blessed man of God.
Thanks Phillip!
Discovering the "power" of the syrup pump. Its timing can release the bees' full potential.
Congrats on the Sourwood!
We are experiencing the best summer flow I've seen in last 5 years. I'm at 1950' and bees work 1800' to 2200'in elevation. You can see every Sourwood tree in bloom on our ridge tops. Upon inspection they are doing the same thing and backfilling the second deep brood box. I plan to take some from that box this year. Congrats on the Sourwood location!
Glad you have a helper that wants to help. I'm sure both of you will benefit. Thanks for your updates
Thanks!
You have done a pretty dang good job of getting combs drawn the last couple years!!! You've got some serious infrastructure accomplished! ...I have all the boxes /frames , equipment etc but not nearly enough drawn combs, & that sure does hold everything back bigtime, i bet it's gonna take me a whole nother season just to get to 50 -60 hives, & that's without buying nucs, just from splitting what I got
Comb is a struggle.
Hey Nathan just because you go on vacation we still need our Sunday episode...... Just kidding hope you had a good time.
😆
I had the same thing happen in Virginia this year. I was seeing all this nectar coming in with no rain I couldn’t figure it out because the clover was gone. I drove my 4 wheeler on the mountain across the street and you could smell the sweet smell all through the woods. I’m going to keep it separated and see if I can bottle it as sourwood. Great video!
I feel your pain with queen excluders slowing honey production and bees back filling brood box. My bees swarmed before filling 2nd super.
Get that honey quick.
See, that's good beekeeping. You go on a break and come back to that. It would be great if they didn't had to draw.. but when it's unexpected... it's still great that its sourwood. Nice present when you need it. It will be much easier when you get enough frames...
I’m afraid it’ll be years before I have enough frames. Wish I could find someone reputable who was downsizing and had drawn boxes for sale.
@@DuckRiverHoney yeah, I get it but I wouldn't trust it when it comes to drawed frames or wood. It would really have to be someone l know and believe. One time I bought a big batch of those black frame feeders you guys use.. used from a beekeeper. In stacks. Every stack had only the ends cleaned up. He sow l'm in a hurry and took the opportunity. A friend of mine got wax in bloks for a great deal and found a nice big rock in every block. But the diseases are to be scared of. People get careless until AFB spreads. Than you light a nice fire and start to wash and disinfect everything.. praying it won't come back. Scared for a couple of years. It's not a nice experience.
I actually know how it is for you. My father will melt everything he finds older than 5-6 years. I have to keep my equipment hidden away from him. It used to drive me nuts when I was younger 🤣. Took me years to make reserves. The plastic foundation saved me.
Two or three years of good flows would solve my issues, but that’s hard to plan.
My best yards this year. Spring nucs made early in a single deep with an excluder. They made an unbelievable amount of honey. The rest of my operation is 2 deeps and no excluder. I found the doubles harder to manage.
I find bigger hives a bit easier to overwinter, and they have more girth for splitting in spring, but a compressed broodnest makes more honey during the flow.
Enjoy the good help!😀
What a wonderful unexpected oddity to have so much sourwood. PNW Washington blackberry flow is still going strong and my 6 colonies are looking strong.
Always something going on in beekeeping- hurray for your sourwood flow. Hope you get lots of drawn comb, too. I’m trying a couple of double mediums this year in Michigan with extra food ready for winter.
Thanks Mary, good to hear from you.
You look refreshed. Dont see the stress you showed in previous videos. In my experience it could of been perfect sleeping weather and you still wouldn't have gotten any sleep at the cub scout camp.
I generally sleep ok camping out, at least after the first night.
Running double 8 frame medium brood boxes on 20 package bees shook April 20. All in same yard, few working on 3rd super most on second super, and a few have no honey above the excluder. Currently I am seriously consider replacing those zero honey queens. The rest of my overwintered bees are going gang busters on honey right now.
1/3 bigger than a single would be ideal
I think it would work quite well.
Yeah. Remember when that crazy old beek a couple of days back wrote.. I'm about to get an unexpected flow. I will put them all on 7 brood frames, an empty feeder and one frame on the outside. And no way they will be allowed to lay more.
I would absolutely pull that as a variety. It's what we do here. Always extracting and moving on. I'm happy for the gift you got. Imagine if you prepared for it. Who knows maybe there's something to learn about the surroundings.
People here always time they spring for black locust. And that year they get the flow.. well then we put only 6 frames for honey super. Did you ever seen honey frames that thick ?
You're making me jealous with the sourwood... I'm at 1,200 ft and have very few around, I'm at the foot of Appalachia in northern Pulaski County, Ky. The remnants of Hurricane Beryl looks to be tracking toward you in a few days, if you don't mind, send some of that up my way, we are in desperate need of rain. It looks like you have a pretty good helper with Parker, he seems to be doing quite well. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Greg! Parker is a fine young man.
What scale system are you using on your hives?
I agree with you on the Italian and Caucasian differences. 3 years ago i decided to try and move darker. I have been grafting from dark carni/caucasian queens for the last 2 years. The italian drone side/caucasian queen mix last year was great. When i grafted from caucasian again this year over dark drones i ended up with mostly caucasian and i noticed a tremendous change. Lots of backfilling in the briod nest and a much smaller colonies. The good side is they will require less feed but honey production suffered greatly. I will definitely be putting some italian back in next year.
Agreed! I think a hybrid is good, but I like the yellow bees.
Yes! And those lighter queens are so much easier to find.
I'm just worn out... Thanks for the video
That sourwood looks beautiful-do you have a web site where you are going to sell it?
I have a website - duckriverhoney.com - but not sure I’ll sell it as a varietal yet. I may have it tested for purity.
Ive had black widows under the lid before but...can they get threw bee gloves? How many hives total do you have now?
I work gloveless almost all the time. Not sure if widows can bite through gloves but I would suspect not.
I have some honey flowing in right now that looks just like the sourwood honey you are getting. It’s very clear and my sourwood trees are full bloom. I’ve tasted it and it’s mild with like a citrusy flavor. I’ve never had good sourwood before but I feel like it’s either basswood or sourwood but do not know the difference in flavor. My sourwoods have been in bloom now for roughly 2 weeks. Do you have any guidance on the favor difference or color differences between basswood and sourwood?
Basswood is easy to identify, it has a mint flavor. Sourwood is also easy to identify once you’ve tasted good sourwood you won’t forget it.
@@DuckRiverHoney okay good to know. This definitely doesn’t have a mint flavor that I’m getting
Hot at the beach also.
what a pleasant SURPRISE only if you could rinse and repeat
Not sure how you call a hive with three boxes a nuc. Maybe I don’t understand the definition. Congrats on the sourwood!
It was a hive I made in the spring.
I like the idea of knocking the three down to two brood and adding an excluder. Similar to Ian's shaking down his doubles. Nathan, you look like a load was taken off of your shoulders. Hope things keep going good for you.
Russ a tough honey year got a little less tough.
Spray foam the outside of the shipping container then put a siding on it.
You won’t lose square footage I’ve even seen people paint the foam after spraying the outside of the building. This protects it from the UV.
How are you selling your honey now that you have grown the business. My operation has also grown. Got 30 5gallon buckets of quality honey. You selling wholesale? Just looking for some ideas on how to sling
Yep, I’m wholesaling.
@@DuckRiverHoney who do you wholesale to? What price/pound you getting
I would need to see it tested esp at 700 ft elevation & that much hmmmm
I won’t market it as such unless it’s obviously a very high %.
@@DuckRiverHoney wouldn't mind a jar looks like it will be wonderful! Glad ur getting a good flow it's dead over my way mostly (Polk Co Tn)
Women and Homosexuals have taken over the former Boy Scouts-how is the cub scouts....is it still normal?