Great series, looking good, great to have family around. Thanks for bringing us along you journey with the ups and downs. Looks like you are hanging to the riggin'. Peace, Brice
Hi Nathan, glad to hear your wife is recovering well. I am also an all medium hive guy. I agree that it does make everything simpler, and I don’t see myself changing any time soon. Standardization helps out greatly with inventory, and makes spring reversals a breeze. Keep up the good work! Scott
Hope your wife is doing ok, that will help relieve some of the stress from an already stressful situation. Rooting for you all the way, don't let it get you down when it feels like it's more than you can take. You'll be surprised how strong you are if you allow yourself to be tested. Looking forward to the next video.
So glad to hear your wife is doing good Nathan. Prayers for a speedy recovery. I always look forward to your videos. I really enjoy the way your information is delivered. Like talking to your best friend...a very genuine and honest delivery of information. I very much enjoy following your journey. I have said this before but to me its the most honest vlog on beekeeping for my level. I wish you continued success and enjoy watching your subscribers grow! Keep digging man!
I'm glad your wife is doing well. This is such a busy time of the year for you southern beeks which is stressful enough. Just lean on the big Guy when you need help.
I know it’s hard not to worry about money but if you keep your head down an focus on the work an not taking short cuts I now you’ll be fine Don’t get discouraged you’re still an old farm boy. Looking forward to seeing next week’s video WISH YOU AN YOUR FAMILY WELL
Less than ideal weather can contribute to fewer cells being drawn down. Give that queen bee of yours some "sugars" as my Aunt Jean would say! Hope she is doing well an you've picked her some daffodils. Yeah your mind and mine are always spinning and figuring on something. I'm looking to be pulling nucs out of hives for experienced beekeepers first days of April and the second week/end for the newbees - need to get them on their way so I can focus on the honey crop and making a few spring splits for later nuc sales. Here's hoping the weather cooperates. Found one hive with a queen cup with larvae, put the whole box above a double screen board and will check as soon as the rains clear out (3 days of rain). Another hive had an egg in a queen cup... gotta reduce the population and pull those nucs to keep them from potentially swarming so may have to add super early. Rains will stimulate all those flowering tree buds to pop. I've already rotated all the hive bottom boxes to top, added honey/removing honey like you (no syrup feeding). Going to get real busy fast!
Those cells do look juicy. A few tips that might help you get a higher take on your cells. Take a sharp knife and cut the comb way back where the larvae that you want are located. It makes grafting so much easier it almost feels like cheating. Also, just my personal opinion, those cheap amazon cups have a lower acceptance rate than the authentic jzbz cups. I actually figured this out by accident, i was grafting into the jzbz cups and i ran out so i filled the rest of the bar and a few more with the amazon cups. The difference was night and day. I went from 90%+ with the jzbz cups to right around 60% with the amazon ones... You may consider looking into how Michael Palmer does his queen rearing, I've tried several different methods and find his approach to produce the best results.
Interested to see more with the wax dipping tank, it looks well thought out like everything else you do. I attempted to not feed this year pollen or nectar and we have had a lot of large hives swarm these past few days. Playing catch up already. Thanks for sharing.
Congratulations! I graft into a 5 frame nuc, 40 cells at a time. I had 24 out of 40 take giving me 60% over all. I graft outdoors on the trunk of my car.
Did you also not give any pollen patty to your bees? Will you give your smaller hives any pollen? The steering wheel tray is a great tip! And I’m a medium box keeper, too. Moving to 8-framers because I need my back😁. I do have to harvest or move some supers during flow to keep from using a ladder, but I’m very happy with 8 frame mediums (in Michigan).
I did get pollen patty into everyone before the freeze, but it mostly wasn’t needed. We have pollen 12 month per year here, just some are sparse and some are heavy.
If you're going for honey production.. l would look into what Ian does with his triple 6 frame nucks.. and set up the same sistem with your mediums. Use double or triple brood box each, and two normal medium boxes for honey. I bet you could stack up skyscrapers
I may use that system but my flows and timing are very different. Making queens after the solstice means a low tendency to swarm, but after the solstice we have dearth, not flow. Ian has flow all summer so he has to super nucs.
@@DuckRiverHoney yeah, but I bet he doesn't supper because he has to. It's a sistem made for short flows.. doesn't give them the space for honey in brood boxes.. so they have to put it all above the excluders. It's made for Mediterranean.. for clean honey production. Make rosemary.. extract it. Make Sage, extract it... clean from other honeys. But it can be used for different purposes. Using the workforce from 3 queens.. has to be equalized. A big plus with it is that it takes very little space, on trailers and on land, hive stands. A lot of queens in a very small space. I seen the difference in honey production with it and with normal hives. These make much more, but take some equalizing and adapting to it. I didn't know you have a dearth at that time. Is it after Linden, basswood i think you call it
Thank you for your videos. i do have a question. how does your US system work with the lids. Here in europe we use some thin plastik that prevents glueing the frames to the lid with wax or propolis. we also are insulating the lids. your system must have something to do with the correct bee-space between tho frames and the lid? thanks for taking the time ;)
I'll give you a question. I'll send you 20 Carniolan queens from Europe if you answer it. Did anyone ever see AFB in drone brood..? and why didn't they ?😅 Those were nice cells. In a way it's good that they pick the best ones.. when you're not selling them. I did many experiments, many times with their swarm cells.. split 5 in 5 nucks and almost always end up with only one great one, one good one and three not worth the box they occupy. In my mind, with bees its always best to go for quality over quantity
@@DuckRiverHoney it bothers me for years. I rarely see any brood disease in drone brood. Especially not AFB and EFB. Whayting for those "not amateurs" just makes the years go by...
@Duck River Honey i wish you would do a video on this topic. Because I am in Canada, when I google the first hobby beekeeping supplies store that pops up, I find medium frames are 97% of the cost of deeps. Medium foundations are 93% of the cost of deeps. Medium hive bodies are 91%. So, a 10 frame medium with frames and foundations average is 94% of the cost of a deep. 100 lbs harvest is a nice round number, that supple store charges $59.45 for a medium with frames. It takes 3 mediums to hold 100 lbs or two deeps to hold 100. That's $178.35 in mediums. $63 for one 10 frame deep equipment, two deeps are $126. The math is 126/178=70.7%, meaning 30% cheaper in deeps. Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Double deeps with medium supers compares more favorably. All deeps is a different scale, makes sense if you have a skid steer, hummerbee, or ez loader.
You're grafting, meanwhile theres still over 3 feet of snow everywhere here. It's melting, but would you be so kind as to send us some of that beautiful weather? :)
I don't think it was the conversion to a finisher that affected that overall cell takes. more than likely the larvae dried out/or damaged and the bees didn't use them. Any % is a success in my eye, well done!
![Building a Bee Business [Vlog #8]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gvdT8B_4tQM/mqdefault.jpg)
![Building a Bee Business [Vlog #8]](/img/tr.png)
Great series, looking good, great to have family around. Thanks for bringing us along you journey with the ups and downs. Looks like you are hanging to the riggin'. Peace, Brice
Thanks Brice!
Hi Nathan, glad to hear your wife is recovering well. I am also an all medium hive guy. I agree that it does make everything simpler, and I don’t see myself changing any time soon. Standardization helps out greatly with inventory, and makes spring reversals a breeze. Keep up the good work!
Scott
Thanks Scott!
Hope your wife is doing ok, that will help relieve some of the stress from an already stressful situation. Rooting for you all the way, don't let it get you down when it feels like it's more than you can take. You'll be surprised how strong you are if you allow yourself to be tested. Looking forward to the next video.
Thanks Tommy, I appreciate it!
So glad to hear your wife is doing good Nathan. Prayers for a speedy recovery.
I always look forward to your videos.
I really enjoy the way your information is delivered. Like talking to your best friend...a very genuine and honest delivery of information.
I very much enjoy following your journey.
I have said this before but to me its the most honest vlog on beekeeping for my level.
I wish you continued success and enjoy watching your subscribers grow!
Keep digging man!
That’s very kind of you Greg, I appreciate it!
I'm glad your wife is doing well. This is such a busy time of the year for you southern beeks which is stressful enough. Just lean on the big Guy when you need help.
Thanks Russell!
Hope momma feels better soon bud!
Thanks Brian!
Great intro. I was interested in the wax dipping how to
I’ll do a video after I’ve got it down better.
I know it’s hard not to worry about money but if you keep your head down an focus on the work an not taking short cuts I now you’ll be fine
Don’t get discouraged you’re still an old farm boy. Looking forward to seeing next week’s video
WISH YOU AN YOUR FAMILY WELL
An on the tote’s you may look into a small dedicated trailer if you could use that much syrup
Thanks Jeffrey!
Less than ideal weather can contribute to fewer cells being drawn down. Give that queen bee of yours some "sugars" as my Aunt Jean would say! Hope she is doing well an you've picked her some daffodils. Yeah your mind and mine are always spinning and figuring on something. I'm looking to be pulling nucs out of hives for experienced beekeepers first days of April and the second week/end for the newbees - need to get them on their way so I can focus on the honey crop and making a few spring splits for later nuc sales. Here's hoping the weather cooperates. Found one hive with a queen cup with larvae, put the whole box above a double screen board and will check as soon as the rains clear out (3 days of rain). Another hive had an egg in a queen cup... gotta reduce the population and pull those nucs to keep them from potentially swarming so may have to add super early. Rains will stimulate all those flowering tree buds to pop. I've already rotated all the hive bottom boxes to top, added honey/removing honey like you (no syrup feeding). Going to get real busy fast!
I feel like I’m at the peak of spring workload right now. Hopefully things ease up after this first round of splits.
Those cells do look juicy. A few tips that might help you get a higher take on your cells. Take a sharp knife and cut the comb way back where the larvae that you want are located. It makes grafting so much easier it almost feels like cheating. Also, just my personal opinion, those cheap amazon cups have a lower acceptance rate than the authentic jzbz cups. I actually figured this out by accident, i was grafting into the jzbz cups and i ran out so i filled the rest of the bar and a few more with the amazon cups. The difference was night and day. I went from 90%+ with the jzbz cups to right around 60% with the amazon ones... You may consider looking into how Michael Palmer does his queen rearing, I've tried several different methods and find his approach to produce the best results.
Awesome, thanks!
I'm glad to hear your wife is doing better, Nathan. Keep up the good work. Just a quick question. Whose plastic grafting are those? Thanks!
You mean the end bars that capture the Jzbz cell bars? They’re from Amazon.
Interested to see more with the wax dipping tank, it looks well thought out like everything else you do. I attempted to not feed this year pollen or nectar and we have had a lot of large hives swarm these past few days. Playing catch up already. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Brian, feeding is a balancing act for sure this time of year.
Happy your wife did good. Hard to concentrate on the bees when your mind is somewhere else.
Thanks Tim!
Congratulations! I graft into a 5 frame nuc, 40 cells at a time. I had 24 out of 40 take giving me 60% over all. I graft outdoors on the trunk of my car.
Thanks Thomas!
Did you also not give any pollen patty to your bees? Will you give your smaller hives any pollen?
The steering wheel tray is a great tip!
And I’m a medium box keeper, too. Moving to 8-framers because I need my back😁. I do have to harvest or move some supers during flow to keep from using a ladder, but I’m very happy with 8 frame mediums (in Michigan).
I did get pollen patty into everyone before the freeze, but it mostly wasn’t needed. We have pollen 12 month per year here, just some are sparse and some are heavy.
I dip my wood and wax until it hits 225 to 250. It’s usually about 10 to 15 minutes at cook temp of 275. What do you use?
Around 250°F for 12 minutes is what I was shooting for and having good results with.
If you're going for honey production.. l would look into what Ian does with his triple 6 frame nucks.. and set up the same sistem with your mediums. Use double or triple brood box each, and two normal medium boxes for honey. I bet you could stack up skyscrapers
I may use that system but my flows and timing are very different. Making queens after the solstice means a low tendency to swarm, but after the solstice we have dearth, not flow. Ian has flow all summer so he has to super nucs.
@@DuckRiverHoney yeah, but I bet he doesn't supper because he has to. It's a sistem made for short flows.. doesn't give them the space for honey in brood boxes.. so they have to put it all above the excluders. It's made for Mediterranean.. for clean honey production. Make rosemary.. extract it. Make Sage, extract it... clean from other honeys. But it can be used for different purposes. Using the workforce from 3 queens.. has to be equalized. A big plus with it is that it takes very little space, on trailers and on land, hive stands. A lot of queens in a very small space. I seen the difference in honey production with it and with normal hives. These make much more, but take some equalizing and adapting to it.
I didn't know you have a dearth at that time. Is it after Linden, basswood i think you call it
Thank you for your videos.
i do have a question. how does your US system work with the lids. Here in europe we use some thin plastik that prevents glueing the frames to the lid with wax or propolis. we also are insulating the lids. your system must have something to do with the correct bee-space between tho frames and the lid?
thanks for taking the time ;)
With telescopic covers I use an inner cover made of wood. With migratory lids there isn’t anything underneath.
Have you ever experienced with other techniques for queen rearing without grafting??? What methods have you tried and what was your experience?
I did some grafting in a very small way a few years back. The last few years I’ve done walkaways or splits with swarm cells.
where do you get your honey bottles? Are you using plastic or glass?
Both, and I order from different places.
I'll give you a question. I'll send you 20 Carniolan queens from Europe if you answer it. Did anyone ever see AFB in drone brood..? and why didn't they ?😅
Those were nice cells. In a way it's good that they pick the best ones.. when you're not selling them. I did many experiments, many times with their swarm cells.. split 5 in 5 nucks and almost always end up with only one great one, one good one and three not worth the box they occupy. In my mind, with bees its always best to go for quality over quantity
I don’t think I could answer that question…it’d probably take a PHD.
@@DuckRiverHoney it bothers me for years. I rarely see any brood disease in drone brood. Especially not AFB and EFB. Whayting for those "not amateurs" just makes the years go by...
Mediums are back friendly weight wise but heavy on the pocket book. Unfortunately, it costs 30% more to build a bee business using mediums vs deeps.
Thanks. I built a spreadsheet and factoring in nucs it was about 12% more expensive to run all mediums.
@Duck River Honey 6 inches of a 9 inch frame is 66%, therefore 33% more. Unless my math is wrong?
You’re assuming woodenware is priced by the inch.
@Duck River Honey i wish you would do a video on this topic. Because I am in Canada, when I google the first hobby beekeeping supplies store that pops up, I find medium frames are 97% of the cost of deeps. Medium foundations are 93% of the cost of deeps. Medium hive bodies are 91%. So, a 10 frame medium with frames and foundations average is 94% of the cost of a deep. 100 lbs harvest is a nice round number, that supple store charges $59.45 for a medium with frames. It takes 3 mediums to hold 100 lbs or two deeps to hold 100. That's $178.35 in mediums. $63 for one 10 frame deep equipment, two deeps are $126. The math is 126/178=70.7%, meaning 30% cheaper in deeps. Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Double deeps with medium supers compares more favorably. All deeps is a different scale, makes sense if you have a skid steer, hummerbee, or ez loader.
You're grafting, meanwhile theres still over 3 feet of snow everywhere here. It's melting, but would you be so kind as to send us some of that beautiful weather? :)
Come down to visit!
@@DuckRiverHoney would be fun, but doesn't help my bees get out early 🤣
Interesting , just out of curiosity will you be employing personal to help you .Peter Australia 🇦🇺
Not anytime soon Peter, but I’ve got a couple friends that would help with bee work. High school kid help bottling may be the first thing I add.
I don't think it was the conversion to a finisher that affected that overall cell takes. more than likely the larvae dried out/or damaged and the bees didn't use them. Any % is a success in my eye, well done!
I figure it was a combination of things. They had larvae that they could make emergency cells with, plus my error and lack of skill.
@@DuckRiverHoney overtime you will get phenomenal at it, here still learning myself.
I wish you much success on your business adventure but that dip tank looks like a hot mess!!!
Thanks Ed