A long week, season starting to wear me down a bit. Support the channel - purchase honey, a t-shirt, or donate through our website: duckriverhoney.com/
That pup is having fun.😂Nathan take a look a Toro open face twine mower, one😅cut my bee yard out of a black berry patch.🤔They are like a weed-eater and a lawn mower had a beautiful brush/grass eating baby.😂 I know that saying, it's great to watch a beekeeper that grew up on a family farm, I can relate to so many of the things you talk about.
I've been building some of my own gear too. Migratory covers, bottom boards and an handful of nuc boxes. Saves a LOT of money but its time consuming. And (from my limited experience) I think it's a good idea to make queens while in a flow... More queens = more honey in the long run. Also... The sound of rain on a tin roof, so relaxing just add thunder for perfect immersion :)
Enjoyed the video as always. The blooms are ready with all the rain here in Oklahoma but it needs to quit raining so heavily. Seeing some nectar coming in between rains. Hope your flow goes well. Thanks and take care.
Thanks Garry! Holly is going well and I saw a few bees on Dutch white clover today. That could be good or bad news, clover is an irregular flow and bees usually only work it if nothing else is available.
the time of the year when we got to reach down and grab hold of what energy we can mustar up to get them queens we need for the future it is something that will be the most rewarding for next year if we get it done.hang in there Nat im pulling for u brother. God bless u
Keep killing it, bro. I was extracting honey last week and I was beat, beat, beat. It was a horrible yield because I had to rebuild this apiary from just a few boxes of sick bees, no comb, and no new queens. But, I came out of the other side with enough drawn comb to convert all hives to a double deep with an in-hive feeder. We might have a second run of mesquite and eucalyptus, but who knows. To top it off, Islamic Jihad in Gaza started firing rockets at us last week and I could feel the counterattack explosions as I was uncapping the supers. But....I love it. These bugs in a box just do something to me. Have a great week, Conner.
Thank you for taking time to produce these Friday Vlog videos. My apple tree has only just started to bloom now, but a peach tree sprouted early right beside it. Also, I have oak trees sprouting all over the place. The squirrels and oak trees conspired to overproduce this year.
I have hatched about 2 dozen queens this year in an incubator and marked them using the competitive advantage pens Chris Werner mentioned in Bobs video. I introduced them directly into splits and they have done great. The bees also accepted them with eggs and larvae in the split.
@@DuckRiverHoney I introduced after a few hours before they started cells. One hive killed the queen when they had a queen cell. I did run a test and introduced a virgin queen in the top box of a hive with brood in it and the main hive separated by two rimmed queen excluders so the queens can’t touch and the bee pheromones don’t pass so easily. The bees didn’t bother the queen but when I inspected the hive and the queen ran on the excluder, the bees coming up from the main hive balled her. I should add I sometimes open up the queen cells when hatching and wait a day for the queen to be strong and quick before putting her in the hive. Also, I use a cut cell protector in the roller cage that the queen cell goes in so the queen doesn’t get stuck and damage her wings between the cell cup and roller cage. When the food is gone in the cell and the queen is moving, she can be let out of the cell.
When I mark queens I have a worst acceptance rate then if they’re unmarked. I prefer to mark my queens so wanted to get better rate. When I introduce my queens now she is actually under a push in cage over the edge of a frame with emerging brood and a little nectar. That way she can begin to lay before she is released into the colony. I come back and direct release her a few days later. My acceptance rate went through the roof when I started doing this as a posed to candy release. Probably 99.5% success. My 2 cents and thank you for all your videos been a joy to watch!!
I was real luck with the mite just looking at cross brood comb between boxs. May be because my hives are on concrete pad and i did the oa vap early in season nov. Thru feb..
Nathan, thanks for the hard work and all the info you share with us. Do you have, or do you plan to make, a video dedicated to showing how you select from which queen the larvae you use to graft for your own queens and all the steps and info involved, such as making the cell builder and finisher, incubation, etc? Thanks, I'd like to watch and learn!
Outta boxes here too really hating going and getting more... but have had a bear show up on the property edge (only 2 acres) and it also took a lid off of a nuc one night. Wildlife folks won't do anything until real damage is done... they just hope the bear moves on and so do I. Not a comfortable feeling. Not ready to invest in electric fence for some odd bear who is traveling through in our residential area. I want to see a honey house update video!
Thanks Nancy! I’ll do a honey house video, but it’ll probably be during or after harvest when I figure out how everything needs to be set up to be efficient.
Thanks, Nathan. Here in SC, it appears our flow is over 2+ weeks early. Earlier, they would touch a set out nectar frame. Yesterday, they were all over it.
I beleave it has let up here in Darlington S.C. I've pulled some honey a week ago the bees were not interested in cleaning my mess. Now their all over it.
I read an article that the USDA is projecting the lowest CA almond pollination since 2005, that trickle effect from commercial nucs and packages could make nuc production even more profitable since the prices and availability could be impacted by commercial nucs after pollination could be reduced. Possibly too much coffee this morning haha
@@DuckRiverHoney obviously it isn’t easy to measure absolutes based on that kind of info, just interesting to see the potential increase in top dollar sales for splits, nuc sales, and overall worth of your apiary to go up a few or more points in value just based on scarcity of mega bee suppliers in the industry if they bank on volume deals from commercial guys coming off almonds. Mostly just speculation, but it is worth seeing the price point in how nuc sales become more lucrative next year
They won’t stop swarming…. You have to keep them on open comb! I haven’t had a swarm yet, remember I got a 100 colonies and I’m in my 3rd year. If she’s laying she’s not flying….
@@DuckRiverHoney crazy! This is a good thing, I killed too many girls and managed to have 200 empty boxes of comb 🙃…. But resales and growing my own nucs through packs has yielded amazing results in business. Business is endless. And I would like to talk to you sometime about it
When your bees swarm it obviously cuts your hives work force in half so does that change your plan on that production hive?and turn it into a resource hive for the rest of the year?
Dave most of them have 60-80 lbs of honey on them already, so it’s not as big a loss. If I found which hive it was I probably would have taken drastic measures, but I didn’t have time to dig into them all to figure it out. So I’ll use the box height at harvest time test to tell me which one swarmed. Those genetics will be in an out yard next year.
Hi Nathan, I have a nasty tick problem on my apiary property. Every time I go there a bunch of ticks are discovered on me and my clothes. I am really uneasy using bug repellents like deet or permethrin. I'm fairly certain permethrin would kill bees landing on me. Deet might repel or agitate them. Do you have any tick repellent suggestions? I don't want to hurt my bees. Thanks for all the good info!
I use permethrin on my pants every day. I’ll still get some ticks, but not many and usually on my hands from grabbing stuff. It hasn’t been a problem killing bees.
And you gotta start selling colonies if you’re growing… we really need to talk, I know we have info for each other haha (and get every drop build in the dearth)
@@DuckRiverHoney I started the year with 10 production colonies, I have sold 300 colonies and now have 120 in my own apiary. Each one of these colonies will do 100lbs guarantee
I checked too early, but what I’d recommend is 3 weeks. Some were laying in 2 weeks, but some took a full 3. The windy weather may have influenced that.
@@DuckRiverHoney Thanks. That’s what was hoping you would say that. I popped in a few just short of two weeks and bees were back filling with nectar like crazy. That concerned me a bit.
Yeah, gotta wait them out. Being on a flow is good though. When I went back through at 3 weeks I could instantly tell if they were queenright if they were drawing wax. Laying worker hives don’t seem to draw new wax, even on a flow.
![Building a Bee Business [Vlog #15]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YSr1kAdEYAc/mqdefault.jpg)
![Building a Bee Business [Vlog #15]](/img/tr.png)
That pup is having fun.😂Nathan take a look a Toro open face twine mower, one😅cut my bee yard out of a black berry patch.🤔They are like a weed-eater and a lawn mower had a beautiful brush/grass eating baby.😂 I know that saying, it's great to watch a beekeeper that grew up on a family farm, I can relate to so many of the things you talk about.
The pup has way too much fun sometimes, his chewing habits get him in trouble! Thanks! 😃
I want to thank you Nathan for putting the time and effort to make these videos! I look forward to them every week and learn every time.
Thanks Rainier!
I've been building some of my own gear too. Migratory covers, bottom boards and an handful of nuc boxes. Saves a LOT of money but its time consuming. And (from my limited experience) I think it's a good idea to make queens while in a flow... More queens = more honey in the long run.
Also... The sound of rain on a tin roof, so relaxing just add thunder for perfect immersion :)
Lol, thanks! We got a couple good rains this week. Hope it helps the nectar flow next week.
Enjoyed the video as always. The blooms are ready with all the rain here in Oklahoma but it needs to quit raining so heavily. Seeing some nectar coming in between rains. Hope your flow goes well. Thanks and take care.
Thanks Garry! Holly is going well and I saw a few bees on Dutch white clover today. That could be good or bad news, clover is an irregular flow and bees usually only work it if nothing else is available.
Busy bee Nathan...it will pay off. Thanks for sharing. Prayers for strength and endurance brother.
Thanks!
the time of the year when we got to reach down and grab hold of what energy we can mustar up to get them queens we need for the future it is something that will be the most rewarding for next year if we get it done.hang in there Nat im pulling for u brother. God bless u
Thanks Mark!
Keep killing it, bro. I was extracting honey last week and I was beat, beat, beat. It was a horrible yield because I had to rebuild this apiary from just a few boxes of sick bees, no comb, and no new queens. But, I came out of the other side with enough drawn comb to convert all hives to a double deep with an in-hive feeder. We might have a second run of mesquite and eucalyptus, but who knows. To top it off, Islamic Jihad in Gaza started firing rockets at us last week and I could feel the counterattack explosions as I was uncapping the supers. But....I love it. These bugs in a box just do something to me.
Have a great week, Conner.
Be safe over there Conner.
Thanks for making these videos. Enjoying them!
Thanks Tyler!
Remember if it was easy everyone would do it!
🤣
Thank you for taking time to produce these Friday Vlog videos. My apple tree has only just started to bloom now, but a peach tree sprouted early right beside it. Also, I have oak trees sprouting all over the place. The squirrels and oak trees conspired to overproduce this year.
🐿️ 🤣 thanks Barry!
Busy man, great work mate, thanks for the vid
Thanks Aidan!
As always, great information! If you get into queen rearing, I would absolutely get some queens from you!
Thanks!
I have hatched about 2 dozen queens this year in an incubator and marked them using the competitive advantage pens Chris Werner mentioned in Bobs video.
I introduced them directly into splits and they have done great.
The bees also accepted them with eggs and larvae in the split.
That’s awesome, did you introduce right away when you pulled open brood or let them sit queenless and start cells?
@@DuckRiverHoney I introduced after a few hours before they started cells.
One hive killed the queen when they had a queen cell.
I did run a test and introduced a virgin queen in the top box of a hive with brood in it and the main hive separated by two rimmed queen excluders so the queens can’t touch and the bee pheromones don’t pass so easily. The bees didn’t bother the queen but when I inspected the hive and the queen ran on the excluder, the bees coming up from the main hive balled her.
I should add I sometimes open up the queen cells when hatching and wait a day for the queen to be strong and quick before putting her in the hive.
Also, I use a cut cell protector in the roller cage that the queen cell goes in so the queen doesn’t get stuck and damage her wings between the cell cup and roller cage.
When the food is gone in the cell and the queen is moving, she can be let out of the cell.
👍
When I mark queens I have a worst acceptance rate then if they’re unmarked. I prefer to mark my queens so wanted to get better rate. When I introduce my queens now she is actually under a push in cage over the edge of a frame with emerging brood and a little nectar. That way she can begin to lay before she is released into the colony. I come back and direct release her a few days later. My acceptance rate went through the roof when I started doing this as a posed to candy release. Probably 99.5% success. My 2 cents and thank you for all your videos been a joy to watch!!
I think I’d only take the time for a push in cage on an expensive breeder.
I was real luck with the mite just looking at cross brood comb between boxs. May be because my hives are on concrete pad and i did the oa vap early in season nov. Thru feb..
I wax dip my metal covered telescoping covers! No problems here!
No issues with pooling on or under the metal? I was afraid a lot of wax would get trapped underneath.
Nathan, thanks for the hard work and all the info you share with us. Do you have, or do you plan to make, a video dedicated to showing how you select from which queen the larvae you use to graft for your own queens and all the steps and info involved, such as making the cell builder and finisher, incubation, etc? Thanks, I'd like to watch and learn!
Greg I haven’t filmed any of it yet. I’m just now becoming competent.
Outta boxes here too really hating going and getting more... but have had a bear show up on the property edge (only 2 acres) and it also took a lid off of a nuc one night. Wildlife folks won't do anything until real damage is done... they just hope the bear moves on and so do I. Not a comfortable feeling. Not ready to invest in electric fence for some odd bear who is traveling through in our residential area. I want to see a honey house update video!
Thanks Nancy! I’ll do a honey house video, but it’ll probably be during or after harvest when I figure out how everything needs to be set up to be efficient.
Thanks, Nathan. Here in SC, it appears our flow is over 2+ weeks early. Earlier, they would touch a set out nectar frame. Yesterday, they were all over it.
I beleave it has let up here in Darlington S.C. I've pulled some honey a week ago the bees were not interested in cleaning my mess. Now their all over it.
I put about 12 cases pint jars up from 5 of my 40 hives. I use shallow because that what I had.about 25 lb per super.. one med in the bunch.
Alot of dark amber from last year honey that they had back field the space that they had used during winter
That’s not a good omen…I need a long honey flow this year!
You’re adorable, virgins won’t die immediately after emergence, I have had them live without feed for 3 days… usually they last like 48 hours hahah
Can survive and good for them are two different things. The first thing they do after emergence is eat.
I read an article that the USDA is projecting the lowest CA almond pollination since 2005, that trickle effect from commercial nucs and packages could make nuc production even more profitable since the prices and availability could be impacted by commercial nucs after pollination could be reduced. Possibly too much coffee this morning haha
Interesting
@@DuckRiverHoney obviously it isn’t easy to measure absolutes based on that kind of info, just interesting to see the potential increase in top dollar sales for splits, nuc sales, and overall worth of your apiary to go up a few or more points in value just based on scarcity of mega bee suppliers in the industry if they bank on volume deals from commercial guys coming off almonds. Mostly just speculation, but it is worth seeing the price point in how nuc sales become more lucrative next year
I hope so!
They won’t stop swarming…. You have to keep them on open comb! I haven’t had a swarm yet, remember I got a 100 colonies and I’m in my 3rd year. If she’s laying she’s not flying….
I’m out of empty comb. Drawing foundations now.
@@DuckRiverHoney crazy! This is a good thing, I killed too many girls and managed to have 200 empty boxes of comb 🙃…. But resales and growing my own nucs through packs has yielded amazing results in business. Business is endless. And I would like to talk to you sometime about it
Can you show your honey house finished…love your videos
Thanks! I’ll post an update probably during extraction
When your bees swarm it obviously cuts your hives work force in half so does that change your plan on that production hive?and turn it into a resource hive for the rest of the year?
Dave most of them have 60-80 lbs of honey on them already, so it’s not as big a loss. If I found which hive it was I probably would have taken drastic measures, but I didn’t have time to dig into them all to figure it out. So I’ll use the box height at harvest time test to tell me which one swarmed. Those genetics will be in an out yard next year.
What type marking pin are you using?
Competitive Advantage MPD-15
Have you noticed an increase in swarms this year. I have had bees swarm to my yard some that need 2 deep boxes.
I’ve seen fewer swarms this year, far fewer.
Hi Nathan, I have a nasty tick problem on my apiary property. Every time I go there a bunch of ticks are discovered on me and my clothes. I am really uneasy using bug repellents like deet or permethrin. I'm fairly certain permethrin would kill bees landing on me. Deet might repel or agitate them. Do you have any tick repellent suggestions? I don't want to hurt my bees. Thanks for all the good info!
I use permethrin on my pants every day. I’ll still get some ticks, but not many and usually on my hands from grabbing stuff. It hasn’t been a problem killing bees.
And you gotta start selling colonies if you’re growing… we really need to talk, I know we have info for each other haha (and get every drop build in the dearth)
I’m keeping everything this year.
@@DuckRiverHoney didn’t see the other comment bout being out of drawn…
@@DuckRiverHoney I started the year with 10 production colonies, I have sold 300 colonies and now have 120 in my own apiary. Each one of these colonies will do 100lbs guarantee
Great video as always. Where are you getting your Caucasian queens from?
Shibu Raj at tworivershoneybees.com
Why would not be able to wax dip a telescopic cover? Just have it on its side when you do
I’ve been told by other guys with tanks that a lot of wax gets trapped under the metal.
How long did u wait before checking for eggs on Cory’s Virgin Queens? 3 weeks?
I checked too early, but what I’d recommend is 3 weeks. Some were laying in 2 weeks, but some took a full 3. The windy weather may have influenced that.
@@DuckRiverHoney Thanks. That’s what was hoping you would say that. I popped in a few just short of two weeks and bees were back filling with nectar like crazy. That concerned me a bit.
Yeah, gotta wait them out. Being on a flow is good though. When I went back through at 3 weeks I could instantly tell if they were queenright if they were drawing wax. Laying worker hives don’t seem to draw new wax, even on a flow.
What success rate did you have on the virgins you bought from Cory?
Edit: Never mind someone beat me to the question.
Ha!
Your tired?? Wait till you have 500 hives
Don’t know that I’ll get that big. Kids would be older by then too 👍