@Abraham Zaiden Abraham & Sawyer, you don't belong on this channel! This is for the discussion of Beekeeping, and that doesn't appear that is what YOU are discussion! Do you mind?
Wow fantastic video I’m first year bee keeper in Portugal I could not have any success without your video I bought one colony and by the end of doing splits I had 7 I lost 2 so had five and still have 5 at March. 20 /2021 they have plenty of bees and survived the winter I took your advice about mite control and feed and did an Oxcilic acid vapour October .As my hives were splits I fed all through the summer as well as winter .So thanks to you I’m a happy bee keeper
I keep tryjng to keep the kitten away from the bees but it doesn't mind getting stung every now and then I guess. Of all the cats I have been around this rescue kitten is the nicest.
Don’t keep him away. He wouldn’t be there if the bees were bothering him. I have a cat that hangs out with me while I take care of my bees. Thanks again.
Awesome video, especially for us mortals :) I’m a second year keeper up in Michigan had 3 last year got 45lbs of honey total from 2 packages and my NUC gave me nothing but stings. I lost 2 overwintered 1, so between adding another NUC and a package and splits I’m up to 6 going to be 7 this week. Recently subbed your channel and picking up a lot, really appreciate how you take the time and explain it so its very understandable. Your wife also does a good job keeping you in frame so we can see what material you’re covering. Once again really appreciate all you do, thanks for sharing!
Kamon,Thank you so much for passing on your knowledge! You help so many of us and being a first year bee keeper you also impart confidence to push ourselves. I just split a swarm I caught in late May that was filling 80% of a double deep setup. This is my first and only hive. I pray everything works out.
Love, your genteelness, with dealing with the frame extraction/return. Too many videos I’ve watched, their, Bulls in a China shop. Thank you! for taking the time, to do these vids. I learning a lot from you. Third year, beekeeper, Central New Jersey. Thanks Again. 👊🏻
Please don't take this the wrong way, i watch all your videos and really enjoy them and the important info they contain. Everyone and his dog shows how to make splits, 99%of which all add a queen to the second half and bobs your uncle. I think most of the people that would like to make splits are fairly new to beekeeping and maybe with thier first hive that want to increase to more. Its relativly easy to buy queens(if you have plenty of money) but as you regularly mention 'what do you get' it can be a bit of a lottery. Personally i like to use a good queen i already have to make new queens without having to go through raising your own in a prepaired hive for only 1 or 2. Could you do this again but using nothing but the one hive you have making into 2, using the bees own method from a very young larve, they will know which ones are best. I know both methods are similar but there are a few more details and things to watch for when letting the bees do what they have been doing for a milenium. Thanks, looking forward to your next video as always.
The bees Do a great job during a supersedure or when building swarm cells but in my experience when they are split and forced into an emergency queen situation you can end up with an inferior queen. I will definitely have a video on a walk away split soon. We will cover the things to watch out for and ways you can encourage the bees to only raise the best cells off of the youngest larvae.
Great info. If I wasn’t in rehab for a total knee replacement I would definitely give this a try! I need to get rolling before the Tide starts rolling. Thanks KR! RTR
🇩🇰 here. I have a ? or infact I have many regarding the same. Why are there beetles in the hive? How do they get there? Can you avoid Them by elevating the hive more? Are there a remedy thar Can eliminate them? Do they cause dammage to the hive or the bees? 🤔🧐🤓😜 I have become hive addicted and you all have different Way of handeling bees an honny an wax. You have a nice calm voice, you explain clearly and have humor. I totaly enjoy listening to you. Hopefully you Will keep making these videos so I Can get my daily fix. 😁
Unfortunately there is no good way to get rid of small hive beetles. Keeping colonies strong is the best way to deal with them. There are a few traps that can helps. Nothing eradicates them 100% thanks for the nice comment and for watching :)
I lost all my hives but a couple this year, but probably my fault because i felt i did not need to treat. This year i am going to hit it harder and get more serious about it and actually feed and treat when needed rather than thinking all the bees can handle themselves, they might can make the honey and put the food stores up for winter but they all are not going to be able to fight off mites. I am learning a lot from your videos even though most i am watching are older ones.
Walk away splits work great for me. 80-90 percent success rate for myself. However I evenly disperse resources and move the queen so the new colony always gets the foragers. Then a week later I come back and select the best queen cells and thin them down until there's only a couple left. If I somehow left the queen on the old location I switch hives at this time. 3 weeks later check for success. I think the term walk away makes people think you can just separate hive bodies then come back a month later to your new colony. This might work some of the time but the above is basically my version of it.
Hello from Wayne county Byran! Didn't realize you were on here. Exactly how I do mine although the reproductive and re-queening urge seems to drop off getting into mid Summer as the nectar & pollen flow falls off. I am still doing this but once I make the split, I place the split hive in the exact position of the original hive so the foraging bees will return to the split and move the original nuc/hive with the queen.
Awesome videos, thanks. I'm sure you already know this, but often you can just leave some of your smoker fuel sticking out of the top of your smoker to tighten the lid. Grass, pine straw etc laid over the top edge and pinch it down when closing. Old smokers have the opposite problem!
I’m very thankful for your videos. I’m pretty new at this. I have inherited 12 hives. I have a lot of questions. I did find a mentor. He comes in next week, questions 1 : what did you mean buy the last part of your season about you shook your bees off infront of other hives? Does Those bees get excepted buy other hives? And can you show more video on the fuzzy bees vs old bees? I do feel like I need to split way more hives. The guy I got them from didn’t split any this year so I just staked another supper with a queen Extruder so I’m at 4 high. I seen in the 3rd box about no room. Another problem is getting queens here. Man lake says jun for the next available for queens
Hey Kamon Great video!!! Here in Pa in a creek bottom we are beginning the LInden tree ( Basswood) flow the best one in the year for me. After this if there is enough rain we get some white clover and alfalfa BUT some years it is the start of our dearth. Rick in Pa.
Made the mistake of not feeding when the red maples started blooming and lost a hive to starvation. Most of the rest were in the verge, it was sad. But lesson learned
Have a question I have a eight frame box the queen will build on two frames one against the wall and the one next to it I move the entrance to the middle and move the frame to the middle in the top box and bottom box . And she will go right back to the wall to lay her eggs
Thank you both for this and every video you guys make for us! I just want to ask, sometime in future...if you could make a video on DOs and DON'Ts during inspections to keep your bees as calm as possible. Last year I had really calm Buckfast bees from a local queen breeder, they didn't make it through the winter, so this year I purchased a nuc from another local breeder who focuses on varoa/disease resistants, they breed mixed-breed bees, and Oh man they are feisty!!!
I installed a 5 frame nuc 5 1/2 weeks ago and they have already filled 2 double deeps, was not expecting to split them this year, but now I'm thinking I may have to split 2 times before winter... Also don't know if I should just stack another deep ontop and let them do their thing. Drawn comb may be more valuable to me than a 2nd colony.. Decisions are hard to make, just don't want to slow them down with a split, when they are operating at such a high level.. What are your thoughts? I live in Little Rock, AR so our winters are very mild.
I bot a 5 frame nuc and split it three times in 2 months then once more in August. I did that with three nucs so in the first year I went into winter with 12 hives from three nucs
I like your pallets. Could you explain how they're put together and the process of moving hives? I need to come up with something better for my apiary and I think those pallets with some cinder blocks to raise them would be a better method than what I use now.
Kamon, since you were putting those brood frames in the split, why did you shake the nurse bees off into the split? Why didn't you leave them on the frames? I'm just curious.
Hi Dee mainly so I could easily see what was underneath the bees in the cells. A couple times I changed my mind based off of what I had to work with. Trying to quickly do a video and split the hive to where both were fairly balanced was much of the reason.
For some reason, I have a lot of trouble finding the queen. Even marked queens manage to elude my eyes sometimes. Anyway, when you do a walkaway split, where you are unable to find the queen, how many days would you wait before looking for eggs or queen cells in the respective hives?
Where's the Queen ???? 🥺 Tip : If you 'read your frame' like a Book, eg scan your eyes across the bees, line by line, left to right, across and down the frame, and not eye balling all over the frame in a random manner, you 'Will see the Queen' better ! (Hopefully, with practice.)👌 Tip : If your not sure which box has the Queen, after a Split, one will have new eggs, like upright grains of rice ! (If you can't "see them" by eye,) take several close up pics with your Mobile/Cell Phone... You will see them, on zooming in when you review images !👍 In the other Box, was the Queen here or Not !..... 🥺 After about four days you will see drawn down Queen Cups ! Or lots of Queen Cups... [ QC's ] If the original Split you did, had freshly laid eggs in a frame... They will be "Hopelessly Queenless"... Will Make QC's, in a SOS manner. QC's get capped on Day 5./6. It will hatch on Day 16 !!! (Don't go into Hive at all until a Virgin hatches, matures, flies out, Mates, returns, and starts laying. That's at least x3 Weeks at least, after seeing those original drawn down, uncapped QC's with nice big fat larva (grubs) in them... 💪 So on seeing your QC's as capped, select the longest, widest, most bumpy surfaced * x1, or x2 (a spare,) max !!! Mash or cut down all others ! Close hive, >>Do Not Disturb for 3 weeks. * The first Queen out, will kill any any other Queen from a 2nd cell (!) If 1st doesn't hatch for some reason, the second is a spare to the rescue ! Hope this helps. 🐝
Hello Kamon I did a split the same way you did yesterday checked them this morning and one of my other hives was Robing it I only left a very small entrance replaced it with a vent The bees can’t get through what are you think
You can make a robbing screen but I find plenty of bee density and a good reducer typically works well. Now If I accidentally start robbing somewhere else in the yard it can start all the colonies attempting to rob each other. Keep me posted.
Kamon Reynolds - Tennessee's Bees they are robbing the half of the split with a lot of nurse bees closed them up today probably open tomorrow with small entrance THANKS YOU
Two questions please. One do hive Beatles go after the queen candy like the pollen substitute. Two you told one person that you make splits through September. How do you feed your splits to avoid the robbing during the dearth. I don't know what part of Tennessee you are in but when I lived in the Nashville area we didn't always get a fall nectar flow
Robbing happens no matter what we do when we feed. We reduce the entrances down and keep the colonies strong. SHB don't go after the queen candy near as much but they will eat it for sure. That candy won't last 48 hours
Since the foragers are going to return to the donor hive, how long (and how much) do you feed the split until they get up to speed with their own foragers?
I would rather purchase a queen myself. There is a huge brood drop when you do walk away splits. If you get a great queen it will be fine. If she doesn't come back then you are already at the 11 hour when it comes to a hive going laying worker. Even if you then ordered a queen they likely would not accept her. You could combine them with a colony though but alot of brood potential has already been lost. Many people say they like it and it works well for then but that has not been my experience.
If you move the split a couple miles out you will retain the forager bees. I prefer the split with the new queen to have young bees. This is due to younger bees accepting new queens quicker and easier than older bees.
Loving your videos, I've been spending hours watching them and I've learnt so much. One thing that puzzles me, is you don't seem to have any qualms about mixing bees from different hives. I've been taught that this is a no-no and they'll scrap with each other, and I've seen this when I did a (very amateur) split. (Which worked out OK) Is it that your queens are sisters or something, or do I really not have to worry too much about mixing bees? Regards from Suffolk UK.
I saw somewhere that you shouldn’t use pollen patties when you put honey supers on. Is that information correct or not? New beekeeper here! My bees are doing great, growing strong with the patties and feed I gave but I just put supers on last week. In Connecticut.
I haven't heard that before. I have never tried it just due to the fact that when my honey supers are on the bees are bringing in multiple types of pollens.
I went into a duplex that died on one side thinking I'd just transfer frames into a bigger box. Two frames in I found capped queen cells. It turned into a 4-part video. It's pretty rough but you get the idea of how I do it. The video is on my channel.
Hey Kamon, you’re hives aren’t really sitting high. Do you have any issues with skunks or other animals? My Frenchie just got a face full from a skunk first time in 20 yrs, so I know they’re out there somewhere!!
Hi Kamon , I'm a big fan of your channel. Could I please ask you why do you shake the nurse bees off the frames you are adding to your split ? Wouldn't it be quicker to just add the brood frame with the nurse bees still attached ? Is it that you are checking for queen cells possibly ?
Sometimes it was to see what was underneath the honeybees so I could determine what I was giving to the split and what I was leaving. Sometimes I shook unnecessarily so I could show what it was in the video. Thankfully shaking bees is not hard on the bees as their exoskeleton is tough. Thanks for watching!
I don't have an extra queen, but have two double hives that have a lot ofbees; too crowded so I feel like I need to split; so how do I split without a n extre queen?
Made the mistake of leaving half-full frames of honey and nectar out while I inspected other hives and they were full of bees later. I’ve left them out to just treat them all the last few days 🤪
The queen that you installed in the new hive/split... you said she was a new queen and laying. Two questions: How long had she been laying prior to being caged and put into the new split? What would you recommend, as the shortest time, once a new queen is laying that can she be caged and introduced to a new hive?
Hi Nancy I like to let them lay 3 weeks before we cage them. I have introduced them a week after laying and didn't notice a difference BUT she was not caged long since I only do that when I desperately need a queen for myself.
NO !!! They need a strong population to get through winter ! Large Colony's will dwindle in size, when x6 week okd summer bees die, and are replaced by x6 'month' old Winter bees. 😏 Do your Varroa management when the brood is at its lowest. Varroa Mite breed in brood cells just before these are capped. Best done in mid winter, when Queen lowers or stops laying eggs (to conserve what food they have) for themselves and not feeding 'baby bees'. Also honey is not removed in winter. Also VM treatment* must NOT be done when "Honey for human consumption" is in the hive.(This is mainly in the Summer.) 👍 * Certain treatments are toxic, so not to be in our food stuff when extracting our honey at harvest. 😱 [Honey left for Bee food 🐝 is OK re VM Treatment, when it's winter. Because bees eat it, we don't ! ]
I have plenty of dragonflies around my hives and I was worried that they would snag my bees Not so far. They where after small moth, flies, skeeters and small yellow jackets and other bugs that where circulating around the hive while trying to get into the hives. Seen one of them snatching one small hive beetle while flying. Dragon flies, blue hornet and the brown wasp are welcome here. They act as natural bug killers.
Hi Kamon. I just discovered your videos and really enjoying them. I just celebrated my first year of beekeeping. I have a question for you: why shake the bees into the box if you are going to give them the whole frame anyway? Thank you!
Your team is doing a great job with these videos. Thanks for sharing, I know it takes a lot of time and effort. Do you envision these splits will enter the winter as single deeps?
Hi jeff thanks for the compliment. I envision them drawing another deep ideally between the fall flow and the feed will give them. If they do as well as I want then we might split them again. Depends on how well our queens do, how good we feed, and how good we control the mites.
i notice that you wear a bee hat,, where can i get one? looks better then that snow white one,, ,, how often do you split your hives?,, thank you for the video
My old one (the one in this video) and the new white one are both from Kelly's but I've had this one for 16 years and they don't make this exact type anymore and the white one was the closest I could find anywhere now.
Excuse me but I recently watched a video of a beekeeper in middle Tennessee (you) that insisted that they're in dearth. You're making splits during a dearth! ?!
Sure...did you miss the parts where he said he's feeding them? He reiterated it about a dozen times. The bees don't know they're in a dearth nor do they care...they just need the resources to grow, be it provided by nature or Kamon.
Thanks for that question ... it makes me wonder whether the queen less colony has enough nurse bees, so adding nurse bees should really help with a queen introduction.
The man next door has bee hives . Just now while I was doing yard work I started to hear buzzing, then my whole yard was swarming everywhere with bees , why did this happen? What can I do about not being able to go in my yard ? It was like a Hora movie ; ATTACK of The Miniature Nabbers !! Haaaaaa
If I would have had teachers like you in school, I would have done better. Thanks for your videos and your wisdom and knowledge. Also, your humor!
@Abraham Zaiden Abraham & Sawyer, you don't belong on this channel! This is for the discussion of Beekeeping, and that doesn't appear that is what YOU are discussion! Do you mind?
Wow fantastic video I’m first year bee keeper in Portugal I could not have any success without your video I bought one colony and by the end of doing splits I had 7 I lost 2 so had five and still have 5 at March. 20 /2021 they have plenty of bees and survived the winter I took your advice about mite control and feed and did an Oxcilic acid vapour October .As my hives were splits I fed all through the summer as well as winter .So thanks to you I’m a happy bee keeper
thanks for posting! Very informative.
I have apparently found a good teacher for my new hobby with bees, Thanks for the easy-to-understand videos :)
Love the new cat. His appearances are great. Thanks for the tips.
I keep tryjng to keep the kitten away from the bees but it doesn't mind getting stung every now and then I guess. Of all the cats I have been around this rescue kitten is the nicest.
Don’t keep him away. He wouldn’t be there if the bees were bothering him. I have a cat that hangs out with me while I take care of my bees. Thanks again.
Real good video filled with great information! Thanks for sharing!
Awesome video, especially for us mortals :) I’m a second year keeper up in Michigan had 3 last year got 45lbs of honey total from 2 packages and my NUC gave me nothing but stings. I lost 2 overwintered 1, so between adding another NUC and a package and splits I’m up to 6 going to be 7 this week. Recently subbed your channel and picking up a lot, really appreciate how you take the time and explain it so its very understandable. Your wife also does a good job keeping you in frame so we can see what material you’re covering. Once again really appreciate all you do, thanks for sharing!
Enjoyed watching this. Very informative. I love how gentle you are with those precious girls. Sally 🇬🇧
Never get tired of listening to your knowledge. Keep it up
Kamon,Thank you so much for passing on your knowledge! You help so many of us and being a first year bee keeper you also impart confidence to push ourselves. I just split a swarm I caught in late May that was filling 80% of a double deep setup. This is my first and only hive. I pray everything works out.
Any update on your split?
Man I really like the way you do your videos the other guys make me fall asleep waiting till they get to the point.
I also just love to watch a Queen navigate her way through a frame full of workers, taking good care of her business!
Love, your genteelness, with dealing with the frame extraction/return. Too many videos
I’ve watched, their, Bulls in a China shop. Thank you! for taking the time, to do these vids.
I learning a lot from you. Third year, beekeeper, Central New Jersey. Thanks Again. 👊🏻
Please don't take this the wrong way, i watch all your videos and really enjoy them and the important info they contain. Everyone and his dog shows how to make splits, 99%of which all add a queen to the second half and bobs your uncle.
I think most of the people that would like to make splits are fairly new to beekeeping and maybe with thier first hive that want to increase to more. Its relativly easy to buy queens(if you have plenty of money) but as you regularly mention 'what do you get' it can be a bit of a lottery. Personally i like to use a good queen i already have to make new queens without having to go through raising your own in a prepaired hive for only 1 or 2.
Could you do this again but using nothing but the one hive you have making into 2, using the bees own method from a very young larve, they will know which ones are best. I know both methods are similar but there are a few more details and things to watch for when letting the bees do what they have been doing for a milenium. Thanks, looking forward to your next video as always.
The bees Do a great job during a supersedure or when building swarm cells but in my experience when they are split and forced into an emergency queen situation you can end up with an inferior queen. I will definitely have a video on a walk away split soon. We will cover the things to watch out for and ways you can encourage the bees to only raise the best cells off of the youngest larvae.
Thanks for the demonstration!
Thank you so much for all your great information! 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝☺️
Wow Kamon, great video and info, you are getting heaps of comments and interaction well done!
Thanks dstick this colony is ripped now. Going to likely split again.
Great info. If I wasn’t in rehab for a total knee replacement I would definitely give this a try! I need to get rolling before the Tide starts rolling. Thanks KR! RTR
Better get that knee in shape so you jump out of your chair when the ref makes a bad call!
That’s why I’m at rehab so I can recover ASAP other than the current pain I can tell it’s going to be much better!!! RTR
Good deal!
🇩🇰 here. I have a ? or infact I have many regarding the same. Why are there beetles in the hive? How do they get there? Can you avoid Them by elevating the hive more? Are there a remedy thar Can eliminate them? Do they cause dammage to the hive or the bees? 🤔🧐🤓😜
I have become hive addicted and you all have different Way of handeling bees an honny an wax. You have a nice calm voice, you explain clearly and have humor. I totaly enjoy listening to you. Hopefully you Will keep making these videos so I Can get my daily fix. 😁
Unfortunately there is no good way to get rid of small hive beetles. Keeping colonies strong is the best way to deal with them. There are a few traps that can helps. Nothing eradicates them 100% thanks for the nice comment and for watching :)
I lost all my hives but a couple this year, but probably my fault because i felt i did not need to treat. This year i am going to hit it harder and get more serious about it and actually feed and treat when needed rather than thinking all the bees can handle themselves, they might can make the honey and put the food stores up for winter but they all are not going to be able to fight off mites. I am learning a lot from your videos even though most i am watching are older ones.
Walk away splits work great for me. 80-90 percent success rate for myself. However I evenly disperse resources and move the queen so the new colony always gets the foragers. Then a week later I come back and select the best queen cells and thin them down until there's only a couple left. If I somehow left the queen on the old location I switch hives at this time. 3 weeks later check for success.
I think the term walk away makes people think you can just separate hive bodies then come back a month later to your new colony. This might work some of the time but the above is basically my version of it.
Hello from Wayne county Byran! Didn't realize you were on here. Exactly how I do mine although the reproductive and re-queening urge seems to drop off getting into mid Summer as the nectar & pollen flow falls off. I am still doing this but once I make the split, I place the split hive in the exact position of the original hive so the foraging bees will return to the split and move the original nuc/hive with the queen.
Great info. I gonna try this out.
Ohhh... This guy knows his shit
Awesome Vid! Love ur channel!
I know you are not a cat person, but I am loving your kitty addition to your videos!!
Haha thanks! She is a very calm beautiful cat and she is great for the family. Very friendly for a half starved rescue kitten
Awesome videos, thanks. I'm sure you already know this, but often you can just leave some of your smoker fuel sticking out of the top of your smoker to tighten the lid. Grass, pine straw etc laid over the top edge and pinch it down when closing. Old smokers have the opposite problem!
I’m very thankful for your videos. I’m pretty new at this. I have inherited 12 hives. I have a lot of questions. I did find a mentor. He comes in next week, questions 1 : what did you mean buy the last part of your season about you shook your bees off infront of other hives? Does Those bees get excepted buy other hives? And can you show more video on the fuzzy bees vs old bees? I do feel like I need to split way more hives. The guy I got them from didn’t split any this year so I just staked another supper with a queen Extruder so I’m at 4 high. I seen in the 3rd box about no room. Another problem is getting queens here. Man lake says jun for the next available for queens
Thanks !!
Great video buddy ✅👍👍🏴☠️🏴☠️
Evcellent comment about the space on that inner board, pollen patties and shb!!
Hey Kamon Great video!!! Here in Pa in a creek bottom we are beginning the LInden tree ( Basswood) flow the best one in the year for me. After this if there is enough rain we get some white clover and alfalfa BUT some years it is the start of our dearth. Rick in Pa.
Thanks. Basswood sure is a prime honey! Hopefully the rains will time it just right and help bring in that clover honey.
Nice canary 👍🙄
At 10:24 if you tilt your head a little to the left the brood pattern looks like a queen be portrait.
great video. Live in Ma doing grafting today if its not to windy, splits to follow
I too am mortal.
Made the mistake of not feeding when the red maples started blooming and lost a hive to starvation. Most of the rest were in the verge, it was sad. But lesson learned
👏👏👏👏tmj
Have a question I have a eight frame box the queen will build on two frames one against the wall and the one next to it I move the entrance to the middle and move the frame to the middle in the top box and bottom box . And she will go right back to the wall to lay her eggs
Thank you both for this and every video you guys make for us! I just want to ask, sometime in future...if you could make a video on DOs and DON'Ts during inspections to keep your bees as calm as possible. Last year I had really calm Buckfast bees from a local queen breeder, they didn't make it through the winter, so this year I purchased a nuc from another local breeder who focuses on varoa/disease resistants, they breed mixed-breed bees, and Oh man they are feisty!!!
We will try to do that in the near future thanks for the suggestion and for watching!
What do you do for hive beetles or how do you control them?
I installed a 5 frame nuc 5 1/2 weeks ago and they have already filled 2 double deeps, was not expecting to split them this year, but now I'm thinking I may have to split 2 times before winter... Also don't know if I should just stack another deep ontop and let them do their thing. Drawn comb may be more valuable to me than a 2nd colony.. Decisions are hard to make, just don't want to slow them down with a split, when they are operating at such a high level.. What are your thoughts? I live in Little Rock, AR so our winters are very mild.
Up to you! I'd make a small split not one this big and have a mated queen
I bot a 5 frame nuc and split it three times in 2 months then once more in August. I did that with three nucs so in the first year I went into winter with 12 hives from three nucs
How did they overwinter?
Chris Tuttle all 12 hives came out of winter happy and stronge
@@jackiecurrah3364 nice job! Inspiring
That's impressive. How did you go for honey and wax production with all that splitting?
Now I'm wondering what food supply your hives had.
I like your pallets. Could you explain how they're put together and the process of moving hives? I need to come up with something better for my apiary and I think those pallets with some cinder blocks to raise them would be a better method than what I use now.
Kamon, since you were putting those brood frames in the split, why did you shake the nurse bees off into the split? Why didn't you leave them on the frames? I'm just curious.
Hi Dee mainly so I could easily see what was underneath the bees in the cells. A couple times I changed my mind based off of what I had to work with. Trying to quickly do a video and split the hive to where both were fairly balanced was much of the reason.
@@kamonreynolds ah, that makes sense. Thank you!
For some reason, I have a lot of trouble finding the queen. Even marked queens manage to elude my eyes sometimes. Anyway, when you do a walkaway split, where you are unable to find the queen, how many days would you wait before looking for eggs or queen cells in the respective hives?
Where's the Queen ???? 🥺
Tip :
If you 'read your frame' like a Book, eg scan your eyes across the bees, line by line, left to right, across and down the frame, and not eye balling all over the frame in a random manner, you 'Will see the Queen' better ! (Hopefully, with practice.)👌
Tip :
If your not sure which box has the Queen, after a Split, one will have new eggs, like upright grains of rice ! (If you can't "see them" by eye,) take several close up pics with your Mobile/Cell Phone... You will see them, on zooming in
when you review images !👍
In the other Box, was the Queen here or Not !..... 🥺
After about four days you will see drawn down Queen Cups ! Or lots of Queen Cups... [ QC's ]
If the original Split you did, had freshly laid eggs in a frame... They will be "Hopelessly Queenless"... Will Make QC's, in a SOS manner.
QC's get capped on Day 5./6.
It will hatch on Day 16 !!! (Don't go into Hive at all until a Virgin hatches, matures, flies out, Mates, returns, and starts laying. That's at least x3 Weeks at least, after seeing those original drawn down, uncapped QC's with nice big fat larva (grubs) in them... 💪
So on seeing your QC's as capped, select the longest, widest, most bumpy surfaced * x1, or x2 (a spare,) max !!! Mash or cut down all others !
Close hive, >>Do Not Disturb for 3 weeks.
* The first Queen out, will kill any any other Queen from a 2nd cell (!)
If 1st doesn't hatch for some reason, the second is a spare to the rescue !
Hope this helps. 🐝
@@ME_MeAndMyBees thanks for the tips!
Give that smoker a few uses and it will be just right lots of soot and tar and goop to hold it shut just like it should be lol.
Hello Kamon I did a split the same way you did yesterday checked them this morning and one of my other hives was Robing it I only left a very small entrance replaced it with a vent The bees can’t get through what are you think
You can make a robbing screen but I find plenty of bee density and a good reducer typically works well. Now If I accidentally start robbing somewhere else in the yard it can start all the colonies attempting to rob each other. Keep me posted.
Kamon Reynolds - Tennessee's Bees they are robbing the half of the split with a lot of nurse bees closed them up today probably open tomorrow with small entrance THANKS YOU
Kamon, in your video you transferred a lot of nurse bees. It makes me wonder, do nurse bees protect the new colony?
Two questions please.
One do hive Beatles go after the queen candy like the pollen substitute.
Two you told one person that you make splits through September. How do you feed your splits to avoid the robbing during the dearth. I don't know what part of Tennessee you are in but when I lived in the Nashville area we didn't always get a fall nectar flow
Robbing happens no matter what we do when we feed. We reduce the entrances down and keep the colonies strong. SHB don't go after the queen candy near as much but they will eat it for sure. That candy won't last 48 hours
My bees won't take sugar water until deep dearth. Is it because they are a part of a split that they are taking the syrup in middle of Summer?
So who takes care of the larva if the nurse bees are shaken off?
Hi Kamon, I think I saw Princess Kitty Paws lol
I’m really not upset or complaining, things happen and I love my nabbers!
Since the foragers are going to return to the donor hive, how long (and how much) do you feed the split until they get up to speed with their own foragers?
If you don't have quick access to queens do you still not like walk away splits?
I would rather purchase a queen myself. There is a huge brood drop when you do walk away splits. If you get a great queen it will be fine. If she doesn't come back then you are already at the 11 hour when it comes to a hive going laying worker. Even if you then ordered a queen they likely would not accept her. You could combine them with a colony though but alot of brood potential has already been lost. Many people say they like it and it works well for then but that has not been my experience.
Thanks for the video. If you make a split now, will you just have one deep box going into the fall/winter or will you add another box on top?
We are going to try and get them to draw an additional box in September when our fall flow is going.
@kamon Reynolds, Where did you get the queen for the split? Did you purchase her or did she come from another super? Thank you!
Does it matter how far apart do you locate the splits
If you move the split a couple miles out you will retain the forager bees. I prefer the split with the new queen to have young bees. This is due to younger bees accepting new queens quicker and easier than older bees.
Sometimes I will make a split on the same pallet so the splits can be very close also.
Is that why you shake the bees off, to get rid of the older bees who simply fly off and back to the parent colony.
Loving your videos, I've been spending hours watching them and I've learnt so much. One thing that puzzles me, is you don't seem to have any qualms about mixing bees from different hives. I've been taught that this is a no-no and they'll scrap with each other, and I've seen this when I did a (very amateur) split. (Which worked out OK) Is it that your queens are sisters or something, or do I really not have to worry too much about mixing bees? Regards from Suffolk UK.
i didnt know you could add the queen on the same day as the split i thought they had to be hopelessly queenless
I was wondering if Nurse bees can't fly.... how do they do a cleansing flight?
I saw somewhere that you shouldn’t use pollen patties when you put honey supers on. Is that information correct or not? New beekeeper here! My bees are doing great, growing strong with the patties and feed I gave but I just put supers on last week. In Connecticut.
I haven't heard that before. I have never tried it just due to the fact that when my honey supers are on the bees are bringing in multiple types of pollens.
Thanks!
I went into a duplex that died on one side thinking I'd just transfer frames into a bigger box. Two frames in I found capped queen cells. It turned into a 4-part video.
It's pretty rough but you get the idea of how I do it. The video is on my channel.
Hey Kamon, you’re hives aren’t really sitting high. Do you have any issues with skunks or other animals? My Frenchie just got a face full from a skunk first time in 20 yrs, so I know they’re out there somewhere!!
I haven't had an issue at 1 cinder block or higher. when directly on the ground or close, it can be an issue!
Hi Kamon , I'm a big fan of your channel. Could I please ask you why do you shake the nurse bees off the frames you are adding to your split ? Wouldn't it be quicker to just add the brood frame with the nurse bees still attached ? Is it that you are checking for queen cells possibly ?
Sometimes it was to see what was underneath the honeybees so I could determine what I was giving to the split and what I was leaving. Sometimes I shook unnecessarily so I could show what it was in the video. Thankfully shaking bees is not hard on the bees as their exoskeleton is tough. Thanks for watching!
Can I raise queens with just 2 hives
I don't have an extra queen, but have two double hives that have a lot ofbees; too crowded so I feel like I need to split; so how do I split without a n extre queen?
Made the mistake of leaving half-full frames of honey and nectar out while I inspected other hives and they were full of bees later. I’ve left them out to just treat them all the last few days 🤪
The queen that you installed in the new hive/split... you said she was a new queen and laying. Two questions: How long had she been laying prior to being caged and put into the new split? What would you recommend, as the shortest time, once a new queen is laying that can she be caged and introduced to a new hive?
Hi Nancy I like to let them lay 3 weeks before we cage them. I have introduced them a week after laying and didn't notice a difference BUT she was not caged long since I only do that when I desperately need a queen for myself.
Kamon you mentioned the hive being in shade. My property is heavily shaded so I'm wondering what your thoughts are on this.
Thank you for wonderful video. I have a question please. Do we need to split our big hives before winter as well? Thanks for response.
NO !!! They need a strong population to get through winter ! Large Colony's will dwindle in size, when x6 week okd summer bees die, and are replaced by x6 'month' old Winter bees. 😏 Do your Varroa management when the brood is at its lowest. Varroa Mite breed in brood cells just before these are capped. Best done in mid winter, when Queen lowers or stops laying eggs (to conserve what food they have) for themselves and not feeding 'baby bees'. Also honey is not removed in winter.
Also VM treatment* must NOT be done when "Honey for human consumption" is in the hive.(This is mainly in the Summer.) 👍
* Certain treatments are toxic, so not to be in our food stuff when extracting our honey at harvest. 😱
[Honey left for Bee food 🐝 is OK re VM Treatment, when it's winter. Because bees eat it, we don't ! ]
I hate dragonflies. Stand guard with a 410 on mating flight day?
I have plenty of dragonflies around my hives and I was worried that they would snag my bees
Not so far.
They where after small moth, flies, skeeters and small yellow jackets and other bugs that where circulating around the hive while trying to get into the hives.
Seen one of them snatching one small hive beetle while flying.
Dragon flies, blue hornet and the brown wasp are welcome here. They act as natural bug killers.
@@FloryJohann I fear that they find fat, slow queens delicious.
For a purchased hive I watched a cage thing get attached to keep a queen in from a July video.......what’s that thing called and where available?
Hi Kamon. I just discovered your videos and really enjoying them. I just celebrated my first year of beekeeping. I have a question for you: why shake the bees into the box if you are going to give them the whole frame anyway? Thank you!
Queen introduction. Candy plug up, or down, and why?
You answered my question in the video. Thanks.
Thanks for the question though. Sometimes I forget to mention details like that
For the rest of us mortals.......lol
Your team is doing a great job with these videos. Thanks for sharing, I know it takes a lot of time and effort. Do you envision these splits will enter the winter as single deeps?
Hi jeff thanks for the compliment. I envision them drawing another deep ideally between the fall flow and the feed will give them. If they do as well as I want then we might split them again. Depends on how well our queens do, how good we feed, and how good we control the mites.
Kanin sorry to ask a question on an old post. These look like strong colonies, when will you add a second hive body?
i notice that you wear a bee hat,, where can i get one? looks better then that snow white one,, ,, how often do you split your hives?,, thank you for the video
My old one (the one in this video) and the new white one are both from Kelly's but I've had this one for 16 years and they don't make this exact type anymore and the white one was the closest I could find anywhere now.
Excuse me but I recently watched a video of a beekeeper in middle Tennessee (you) that insisted that they're in dearth. You're making splits during a dearth! ?!
Sure...did you miss the parts where he said he's feeding them? He reiterated it about a dozen times. The bees don't know they're in a dearth nor do they care...they just need the resources to grow, be it provided by nature or Kamon.
Yup dearth splits and we will be splitting till early September
can you put nurse bees in a laying worker hive
Yes you can.
Thanks for that question ... it makes me wonder whether the queen less colony has enough nurse bees, so adding nurse bees should really help with a queen introduction.
Kamon great video, please answer question the frame feeder do u use it like that. Thanks
50th comment
The man next door has bee hives . Just now while I was doing yard work I started to hear buzzing, then my whole yard was swarming everywhere with bees , why did this happen? What can I do about not being able to go in my yard ? It was like a Hora movie ; ATTACK of The Miniature Nabbers !! Haaaaaa
I like your hat and veil. Where can I get one like it?
I bought this one 16 years ago from Walter T Kelleys. They still make a similar one.
Mm
can you feed too much andmhow?
You can’t split 5 frames in 2.5🤪