Cash Flow & Failure - 2021 Beekeeping Season
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- Опубліковано 6 жов 2024
- It’s important to hold ourselves accountable to our goals, so that’s what I’m doing here. Even though this wasn’t the most fun video to make.
Here is a link to one of the best videos I've done, it's worth your time:
• Nectar Flows - What Yo...
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www.amazon.com/shop/duckriverhoney
Note: if you purchase from my Amazon store, a tiny amount of money will come out of Amazon's pocket and go into mine. The price to you is the same. They have deep pockets and I don't, so your support is appreciated.
Don't sell yourself short on your video making skills. They are on par or better than anyone else doing beekeeping videos. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Peter!
Third years the year we know everything we think we need to know .. normally the year we get crushed by mistakes. 4th year is the year we realize that we work for the bees settle down into nice rhythm of learning .. become proactive in our moves to help out bees with what really matters. Start developing our strain of bees that work best in our area by breeding to what is working best.
Climbing the Peak of Mount Stupid and falling into the Valley of Despair...LOL. I'm hoping to avoid some of that. Humility is a requirement of wisdom, so I freely admit what I don't know. The problem is that I may not be smart enough yet to know what I don't know (ignorance).
@@DuckRiverHoney my third year though it was good idea to pre sell bunch of buckfast queens. Demand is high for buckfast and I'm just across the boarder from furgson well known breeders of buckfast queens. So selling them wasn't the problem had orders from around the country. Had some great success raising queens late in my second season. What I didn't know was black cell virus would be such a problem. Had problems earlier in second season with cells not hatching but thought I'd figured out the problem not the case . Wasn't till I was over month late on queen orders I figured out it was black cell virus dragging me down the tubes .. I really had to clean up my bees. Lucky for me most bee keepers are understanding they were willing to wait. Some even said well just ship them next year. Seems being honest straight up with people about your problems goes a long way. I knew I had amazing strain performance wasn't the problem . Come to find out alot queen rearing operations deal with black cell it's the second most common virus mites spread in our hives. Can't have mite problems and expect to be successful in queen rearing
That’s great info, and sounds like you handled it as well as you could.
I'd give anything if we could get $12 a pound for our honey any time of the year. People where I live want to fuss and complain when we ask $20 for a quart of honey. We have tried taking into consideration everything going on with the economy but we have bills too. I've got 5 gallon buckets stuffed in every closet I own because people refused to pay $6 a pound. I'll feed it back to my bees in the spring before I'll give it away for any less. Thanks for the video and keep up the good work !!!
Through retail I’m getting $7.80 / lb gross, with bottle and label coming off that, so it’s not THAT lucrative. 4 P’s to marketing - Product, Price, Place, & Presentation. If you’ve got a premium product, great presentation, put it into upscale places….well that’s how you get better prices.
I'm an urban beekeeper, and I get $1 per ounce, gross sale price. (Profit of course is less because of bottling and labelling costs.) But I produce a very small amount and we have a very interested population locally.
@@DuckRiverHoney Do you treat your hives if you honney suppers are on ?
I never have, though I don’t think an organic acid like OA would affect the honey in any negative way.
I am out in California and I've been surprised at the many similarities between our two operations and want you to know that your candidness in the videos has really helped us move forward with more certainty. I appreciate your UA-cam channel and the pacing; it has helped us so much. Merry Christmas and enjoy that well-deserved break that you intentionally planned and made successful!
Sheryl, I really do appreciate you taking the time to type that. The encouragement means a lot. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
I know these types of videos are probably the most difficult to produce, but they are by far my favorite. There are a lot of UA-camrs who show the beekeeping side but very few who reflect on their success and failures. The business side of things in a small operation is also extremely helpful to see.
Thanks Jason, hope it’s useful.
Every new beekeeper experiences the "Dunning-Kruger" effect. I remember going through the "peak of mount stupid" and almost gave up in the "valley of despair". Your excellent videos help avoid the valley of despair. Keep up the good work!!!
That’s hilarious! I had to search Dunning-Kruger…I’ve seen that chart before but forgot the name. For me I don’t know that I ever reach the Peak of Mount Stupid, because I try to acknowledge that I’m stupid while I’m stupid so my confidence is never that high. ;)
Thanks for sharing I have watched all year and have enjoyed it and learned a lot.
Thanks!
Great video. Love the idea of writing goals down and holding yourself accountable
Thanks Linda
This was great. It was pleasure following along with you this season. Everything you said is correct. I think you did a great job! We all learn as we go. Thanks for your honesty and insight! Looking forward to learning more from you in the coming season!
I appreciate it!
i was told its the 2nd yaer when most people lose there bees not first. frist year gives us false self confidence bfr thy bomb. dont feel bad its my sxth year and am still learning growing. keep doing it!!!
Thanks
Hey Nathen, from the viewer’s standpoint, you are already a competent videographer. I find your videos to be well done, audio is just right, content is superb. You did one on nectar flows that was not only very well done but it was very well researched to the point that you could well present that at your state’s annual convention. From a viewer’s standpoint, you are doing great!
Thanks Bob!
Thanks so much for all the information and help. 😊 maybe do this ever year 😊
Thanks!
What a great channel, thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks!
FYI, don't be so rough on yourself. You are doing a good job in your videos and your content. What I have learned in 26 years of beekeeping is that it changes every year. Good luck next year and God bless you your family and your beekeeping endeavor.
Thanks!
Appreciate the transparency on your “failures”. Sounds a lot like my big plans last year.
Thanks!
Thanks for your straightforward approach and willingness to share your successes and your failures. That's how we learn. I as well am a third year beekeeper. I started with 2 hives and ended up with 62 this summer. I'm going into the winter with 54. So many lessons I've learned it would take hours to share. I still have some honey left for my regular customer's that I hope will make it till next spring. I don't ever want to tell someone that I'm out of honey. The fall flow was virtually non existent. Still not sure what happened there. Will be looking forward to watching your future videos . Splitting hives in the early spring is a great way to prevent swarming. I don't think that I want to go over a hundred. It's just too much work. Looking forward to viewing your videos next year.
I appreciate it Chris! 2 to 54 is a big jump, wonder if you’ll hit a rebound point and shrink down some? I don’t mind saying I’m out of honey, scarcity hones demand. I don’t enjoy it though…rather have the cash flow and strengthen the relationship.
I would like to take a minute. To thank you so much for all the information you put out and the way you explained the process is easy to understand follow. I started the swarm season with 0 hives. Caught 5 swarms one was small and few weeks later the queen came up missing so I newspaper combined them with another hive. So I am going into the winter with 4 strong hives. I said a prayer for them and I won't check on them until the weather turns. I have learned so much in one years time. Because Joey's and your UA-cam channel and the emails back and forth when I Caught my first swam. It has been a blessing 🙏 thanks again I'm hooked for life
Awesome Jason! Thanks
hi from Greece !!
Hi! Thanks, don’t think I know anyone from Greece.
Thanks for the information
Good season Nathan. I enjoyed watching as you learned and helped pass along information to others.
Thanks Frank! Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Honey demands are great here. I had 2 hives i started with and caught 20 swarms i used them for wax building and didn't have a great nectar flow here with all of the rain but did manage about 10 gallons of honey and it was gone in a few days. Maybe it will be better next year and always enjoyed your video's and the information you gave me and it helped me out a lot. Thanks again. ❤🐝👍
Thanks Michael! That’s a ton of swarm catches, excellent.
I’ve enjoyed the videos all year, congrats and enjoy your relaxation this winter…
Thanks Christopher! I’ve finally got some time to invest in doing more planned out videos, so I’ll be working on some of those projects.
I Think you have had great year your channel has grown by leaps and bonds. And I really enjoy it and your business side of it. Keep up the good work and happy holidays to you and your family.
I think this past spring was just a tough year for for swarm management I had a hive I split 3 times and they still swarmed. And just for my 2 cents I think we have bread more of a swarm tendency in to are bees now with trying have more of a hygienic "Ankle biter" type of bee to manage mites on there Owen. just my observation I started doing bees in the 70's with my Dad and thing sure have changed on management practices. I got back into this 2 years ago and it's really overwhelming at times lol.
Thanks Dave! Regarding swarminess in bees....there are multiple ways bees can adapt to varroa - frequent swarms, natural brood breaks, uncapping brood and then recapping, hygienic behavior, biting, etc, etc. I've got feral genetics and know my bees have some of those traits.
Great video! I built two or three long hives over the initial part of the pandemic in 2020 as a distraction. My wife and I set out seven swarm traps in April of 2021 and caught four swarms. They did a fantastic job of building deep comb throughout the summer. After that we were completely hooked on beekeeping. We bought 40 acres that will be dedicated for honey production. Next year will be year one of our honey business. Thanks for the help!
That's awesome! I love the story and where you guys are going.
You had major goals and did a great job. The checkerboarding this year gave me 123 pounds per colony which is just above average, but we had a lousy late summer and fall nectar flow or it might have approached the 161 pounds achieved in 2019. My mite control has been outstanding using the oxalic acid shop towel methods developed by Randy Oliver and also with the Swedish sponges I evaluated this year. Unfortunately, neither method is approved by the EPA and FDA nationally yet, but it will be someday. Keep up the good work and videos. Dick Brickner
Mr. Dick, I appreciate the comment! I'd really like to get in touch with you and see if I might be able to talk you into doing a video with me. I'd really like to show what maneuvers you're doing in the hive in spring. If you're interested you can email me, nathan@duckriverhoney.com, or leave an email and I'll contact you. Thanks!
Thanks for explaining your second year. I think it’s a great help to new bee keepers. 👍
I hope so, thanks for the kind words.
Simply put ….…… thanks mate. 👍
Nice. We implement Checkerboading in the south east of the UK using Walt Wright’s method and our main swarm season is April to early July. The local beekeeping group decided to do the initial checkerboard manipulation in December on a warmish >10C (50F) day after having swarms when they left it until the February. No swarms in the last three years….
Wow, that is super early! Our bad weather usually hits in January or February, so I’d be a little nervous expanding them that time of year. Interesting though, and pretty cool that a Brit saw this :)
Checkerboarding is not common in the UK so we are going to video our checkerboarding this year to raise awareness of the benefits. Yes, December is super early and seems like utter madness, but it works as the end of December is when the queens start laying. Our fear is that Jan and Feb are too cold to open up hives when the brood is expanding.
As one myself this is the look of a humbled bee keeper! Second year here! Very similar story!
Thanks John
You hit the nail on the head with swarming!! We will bee doing early splits and management to prevent or slow down the swarming next year. We lost so much time and honey due to our hives swarming so early in spring this year. You have your beekeeping down to a science.
Thanks!
Thank you for the video and being truly honest.
Thanks William!
I really enjoy your videos and your sharing your goals. I am one year behind you and like the way you have approached beekeeping and copying you seems like a good idea to me. Keep up the good work. May you continue to be blessed in all you do.
Thanks Randall, I really appreciate that!
Awesome video ! Thanks for sharing your journey. Many of us are going through the same things.
Thanks Doug, good luck
Good way to get drawn comb and have your honey too--- place a queen excluder over a strong colonel early in the season, just when the nectar flow begins. Helps to have at least 2 drawn out frame placed into a hive body, placed in the middle with frames of new foundation around the 1, drawn out frame. After the bees have drawn out and capped the honey, pull, extract and let the bees clean up the frames. Store frames in the freezer and use to set up splits following spring.
Thanks!
I needed to see this. Thank you for another great video.
Thanks Barry, hope it helps some folks.
Great video.
That last bucket of honey always shows up to quickly doesn’t it? Doing inspections Wednesday, I’m about to strip all the fall honey when I start feeding up this week. Seen too many starve outs and I’d rather over feed than find a starve out. Great content Nathan. Rewatching some good content.
Thanks Tim!
Swarm are comb building machines!!
👍
I really enjoy your videos I too just started making videos for UA-cam this year and it's not easy all the tutorials I watched say to start before you are ready and that's good advice because then you can really understand how to change mistakes I look forward to swarm season in the spring I love seeing your success and hope I catch a few up here in Michigan too thanks for sharing
Thanks!
Nice video man, thanks for the updates. Hope you are well :)
I beat you to this one!!! LOL!!!
Thanks, Happy Holidays to you.
@@DuckRiverHoney thanks man you too :)
Hi from Ontario, Canada. Your videos are great. Quality is excellent so dont even worry about that. We are our own worst critics sometimes. I also work full time and have a wife/two children and can barely put out a few cell phone videos on my channel lol, so my hats off to you. I harvested approx 400lbs of honey this year which was my 3rd season with bees, but with many beekeepers in our area and a large beekeeping supply outfit close to us leads to a smaller demand for the product.
What is your honey crop up there? Lot of canola, sunflower, alfalfa, sweet clover? Thanks!
@@DuckRiverHoney I am located in South Central Ontario close to lake Ontario, about an hour east of Toronto.
We mostly get white clover and alfalfa for our spring honey flow. There was an early flow in May this season that I was not prepared for and I am still unsure what it was from.
There are no conola or sunflower plots around my general as far as I know. Main cash crops planted by farms here are corn and soy bean. Fall time is the typical golden rod, but that was a bust this fall as it was so dry.
Great quality and informative video. I am retiring 12/1 and am busy building wooden ware. I plan on going from 17 hives to 50 next year and also sell 20 nucs. I know I will sacrifice honey production, which is a whole other subject. I think it's feasible, but who knows how many will survive winter. You have to have a plan in writing about how you are going to get there. Thanks again for the video.
Thanks, and good luck next year. Let me know how it turns out Hope. Congrats on retirement.
Great video thanks for sharing.
I'm also a second year beekeeper. It seems like a lot of folks on this channel are newer beekeeprs as well.
Hopefully no one minds if I also share some lessons that I learned.
I went into winter last year with 9 hives one came out winter as a drone layer so I started this year with 8 hives and built up to a high of 20.
A few lessons that I learned.
I feed my bees a lot in the fall of 2020 and got the avg weights up to 130#. When they came out of spring they had only eaten about 30 pounds and quickly ran out of room. I had no extra drawn comb and only anticipated needing 1 deep super for the honey
I lost one swarm in late March which totally caught me by surprise from that point on I spent way more time than I anticipated splitting hives, checkerboarding and balancing.
This year I did not feed.
My avg. weights this fall in 2 double deeps are 105#. So going into spring I hope that the brood chambers are more open. I also have 25 deeps of drawn combs in storage.
Through the summer my my mite washes were very low and then bamm in late Aug. I was getting 20 plus in each wash. I treated with Formic and lost 5 queens. Two we're able to requeen but they have shotgun patterns and its iffy if they will make it through the winter.
I had trouble switching out of the mindset of giving them enough room to prevent swarming to pulling the honey supers and letting them store some in the brood chambers.
Next summer I'm pulling the honey supers off in July and no matter the numbers doing some kind of treatment.
I also hope to raise some Queens next spring and keep about 10 extra in 5 frame nucs and requeen any weak ones and or 2 year old Queens after treatments.
I was able to extract 1400# of honey this year which quite frankly kicked my ass. My 13 year of Daughter is in charge of sales and managed to sell about 700 lbs. at an average of $10/#.I have managed to give away about 400# to friends and family 😁.
My goal last summer was to get up to 20 hives. I achieved that but I own my own construction company and the work load was WAY too much.
I plan on building up to15 hives next summer.
I bought the same extraction set up that you have and with the extra comb I hope that it will be more managable.
Hopfully this isnt TMI and it will help someone.
That’s awesome, I appreciate it. Where are you located?
Albuquerque NM
Very good video. I appreciate the honesty and your willingness to share some lessons and experience with us new beekeepers. I think it's smart the way you market your honey, since it's very hard to compete against the prices of some of the overseas "honey" in the grocery stores.
It seems to me that a large expense is tied up in the hives themselves (since you're splitting colonies and catching swarms). What are your plans for economically expanding your number of hives? I've only got three hives and that seems to be something I'm struggling with figuring out.
Thanks!
I’ve got about $150 in each hive, not including cost of paint, glue, fasteners, or my labor in assembling. I assume a 10 year useful life for woodenware and 5 years for frames and foundation. That adds up to $21.80 per hive per year in depreciation. The hives are covering that cost easily.
Thanks for the video. I'm learning more about beekeeping. I don't want to feed the swarms I catch, thinking that they are the most energetic hives, and if they have good genetics, they should be able to fill the hive with honey and the pollen they need. If they can't do that without feeding them, maybe I don't want those genetics in my area.
I checked my four hives yesterday, when it was almost 70 in Omaha NE and found the one swarm I caught had the least amount of honey stored, and the smallest number of bees. As soon as I rehomed that swarm, maybe I should have given them a shot of Oxalic Acid Vapor, before they had any capped brood. I did treat them later, but I think that is one thing I will change next year for all swarms I rehome. It was a small swarm starting out, so maybe I need to feed the smaller swarms to help get them going.
Is that the Duck River behind you in your video? I like the background and am surprised by the lack of background noise in this video. Your voice is loud and clear. Good job! Was it quiet when you were making the video, or do you have a trick to make the audio so good you could share with us?
Thanks Mark. Swarms may only have a 25% to 75% chance of making it through their first winter, the difference is the strength of the nectar flow. In a good year lots of swarms will make it. In a bad year very few will make it. The beekeeper can change those odds very simply by feeding syrup.
Size of the swarm plays a bigger role in that than genetics, IMO. Many hands make light work, so a big swarm will have a better chance of gathering the resources they need to survive winter than a small swarm, even though the smaller swarm could have superior genetics.
I live in a rural area, so not much background noise. It's a blessing.
Hey you are learning from mistakes or shortcomings. To air is to be human. Keep up the good work. Craig Fr. VA /SML Bees.
Thanks Craig!
Once again. C.L. Farrar said that the 2 queen system with medium hive bodies yields FAR MORE HONEY than any other method of keeping bees. Plus, after the honey flow is over you have automatically requeened the overwintering colony. That said, look into acquiring some Buckfast or Carniolan Stock. They're money makers. Enjoyed watching your venture into beekeeping this year.
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing. I'm been following your videos for a while; it seems you have an excellent grasp and resources. I started on June 1st with 2 packages and are finishing the year with 9 hives. I've been trying to document everything, hence the Journal, but just like you said time, inexperience and fortuitous stuff always happens. I wish you the best.
I appreciate it! Good luck to you in the new year. I'll have to check out your channel.
@Duck River Honey thanks, I have lots of videos to edit and almost no time. I wanted to ask you how much you spent on your honey room? Awesome idea.
I don't believe my channel will grow as yours. I'm deviating from some of the traditional things; most people don't like that as it seems redundant or wasting time. But I want to document my journey. I'm involved in trying to control the temperature on brood boxes and will do it on supers as well next year; which most keeps disregarded as a waste of time as bees as excellent thermoregulators; but I want them to focus on rearing brood and honey, better queen genetics, more than cooling R1, 3/4" walls in the Texas sun. My goal is to keep them permanently under 96 in brood and 99F in supers during Texas summer, as brood is kept from 92F-95F, and honey begins to lose enzymes after 99F. I'm convinced that if I do this, workers will live longer, healthier, and produce exponentially more, and the honey will be as pure as intended by the bees with all the nutrients and ezymes.
I hope I don't give up before I manage to do it. As you said, beekeeping takes time; it is expensive, and I'll need to sell honey if I want to keep at it.
Good luck! I do see an advantage to removing all the external stressors you can. Mites, beetles, insulation…less work for the bees to maintain healthy conditions should equate to more productivity. Weather the effort and expense is economically feasible from a cost / benefit perspective would be the hurdle.
Great video and information!!
Thanks Randall!
I also did 6 rounds at 4 day intervals of OAV in early July (07/10) down here in Texas. I use a sticky board as my might check and my treatment threshold is around 10 mites in 24 Hours. Out of 7 hives my highest single hive count (prior to treatment) was 24 mites. I sampled a month post treatment (08/20) and the highest count was 1 mite. I sampled again on 10/21 and the highest hive had 7 mites. I plan to do 2 rounds here in early Dec while brood count is low in order to go into winter in good shape. So bottom line is that OAV treatment with 6 rounds at 4 day intervals appears to be effective even in summer high brood months.
I think frequent treatments at high dosages is effective. 3 treatments at 7 day intervals with 1g per box…not so much. The research that Jennifer Barry is doing is interesting.
Impressive for a newbee, it is quite the learning curve! Do you have any local mentors? Wondering if you have imported some swarm tendencies. Cutting out those early/late genetics might help. I'd still be tending towards regular tilting boxes looking for swarm cells. I know about your thoughts on breaking cells but comparing that with swarm population loss. Especially when you see what commercial beekeepers do for quick checks.
Good job, good luck.
No local mentors, I’m a self study. I’ll likely do a hybrid system next year with some checkerboarded hives and some equalized and some split. Management should be intentional to achieve goals. I want to balance honey production with establishing a new yard, so potentially doubling hive numbers.
I am like you- I don’t want have to go to farmers markets to sell my honey. I’m curious as to whom you sold it to and if you had to bottle it with labels etc. I’ve been bottling mine and just giving It away as gifts but would like to earn back what I’ve spent. I love this video because it addresses so many of my same thoughts- would love to learn more and chat if possible some time.
Sure Amy, shoot me an email at nathan@duckriverhoney.com.
Would you still checkerboard frames for building comb or start with a full box of comb for honey production if you have it thx Bryon
Depends on your goals. If you want max honey, give them drawn comb. If you need more comb then give them a couple drawn frames in the center and then foundation. Or use a drawn box with a box of mostly foundation on top.
you are getting it. find a large beekeeper close to you and buy a drum of honey from them. still local honey, builds your customer base, still makes money. I am going to buy from a friend at 2.40 a lb. work to bottle and label, but good mark up. when you are looking at beekeeping income, dont forget to add in your inventory. value of bees, equipment, and new tools. a friend was talking about not making any money this year, i asked if he added the value of the 400 colonies he had grown by this year. he had not. after adding that in he was a lot happier.
Thanks Harris! I look at profit and loss but also balance sheet. A lot of beekeepers build their balance sheets every year but don't take a lot of income out, so good point on that.
750lbs , good result , do you actually keep a record of how much syrup you pump in , reason been I think that figure should be a minus to the total amount produced. Peter 🇦🇺
Peter, I don’t feed colonies that are going to produce honey. That way I know I’m getting honey instead of sugar. I do keep track of how much sugar I buy through receipts.
Good info
I appreciate it!
Nathan that is a very good video. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge. On the price of honey, I'm seeing retail honey in this area going for around 10 dollars per pound at local grocery stores. Maybe you can give some advice on finding sources to sell your honey at a good price and in bigger quantities. I'm like you I don't want to be selling it 1lb at a time. Also are or do you have plans for marketing the wax.
Well first, I got very upscale bottles that have a different look. Second, I hired a graphic designer and worked with her to design my labels. (And by design I mean I mocked up labels to a custom size and had three different labels made for different bottles). Third, I went after boutique shops, wineries, a fall pumpkin patch, places like that. A grocery store is going to do better with commodity honey...I'm selling premium local honey in bottles pretty enough to make a good gift. Of course this youtube channel doesn't hurt either, people can see that I'm serious about my honey. I also cobbled together a website, but that wasn't a big driver honestly.
2nd year,small crop of honey ,a few swarm catches,gave my honey away to neighbors n friends,spent alot of money made zero,but have a base and plan on slow growth, this upcoming season will be 3rd year,learned a ton,are you going to hive live...?i like your idea about early swarm management, and splitting w screen board,have a great winter nathan
Thanks Mark, I’ll be at the Hive Life conference, hope to see you there.
@@DuckRiverHoney i wish,hard for me to get away
What were the ages of your queens from your 9 hives around the time when they swarmed?
All of my queens (5) from spring 2020 made plans to swarm. The queens that were mated in June/July 2020 (3) never made plans to swarm.
2 of the 9 were summer queens from 2020, both of them swarmed. 1 from spring 2020 also swarmed. Other hives had unknown age queens from swarms I trapped, the ones that didn’t swarm came from them.
@@DuckRiverHoney
Did you have drawn comb in spring?
Did you do much late season requeening this year?
I had 8 partially drawn boxes this past spring. That’s the big reason for the swarms. I didn’t do any late season requeening this year…I’m not set up to rear queens yet. That will likely change this year.
Nathan, This video really resonated with me in many ways. I've been "beekeeping" since 2016 and have fluctuated from 2 to 4 hives. I'm obviously only a hobbyist beekeeper, which was my original intent when I started beekeeping. I have no intention of ever becoming a commercial beekeeper, and may never grow larger than 50 hives. I can't do much more than I am now because I work full-time and have other responsibilities outside of work. However, I hope to retire in 3 years and plan to expand at that time.
Between now and then, I would like to get up to 10 to 20 hives. And I would like to start a UA-cam channel. Can you share how you learned to create and edit UA-cam videos? What software and what equipment you use? Much appreciated.
Thanks! I learned everything I know about video, audio, and editing through google searches, UA-cam videos, lots of mistakes, and lots of practice. I’m now using final cut to edit, and I have a real camcorder because it makes life much easier than a dslr. You could start out with a GoPro or phone and iMovie to see if you like it. I’ll warn you though, it’s a lot of work.
I wish you would do more real videos like this.
Some folks like beekeeping action, some like reflection on my overall plan. I try to do what makes sense in the season at hand.
Why don’t you check in every week looking for cells? The second you see a bunch of cells you split out
Trying to learn checkerboarding and seeing if I could make the technique work with limited drawn comb. I couldn’t. It does work with lots of drawn comb.
@@DuckRiverHoney checker-boarding is suppose to stimulate drawing
Two different meanings. One is a spring swarm prevention method, the other is to get comb drawn.
you need to wtch Kamon Reynalds he says his bggst mistke was going toobig too soon he knwos what to do watch him an d learn how to get going right you are redoing m istakes and not learning from others who have done it before. thats the big lesson here i hink.
I’m an obsessive researcher, I’ve seen his videos as well as Bob Binnie’s, Ian Steppler, and others.
You are doing great! Keep up the good work on your videos. Do you have any resource hives or nucs?
Not yet. I’ll likely do some splits in the spring, question is when and how. I am determined to be self sufficient on queens so I’ll either do walk away splits early or wait till drones are flying and do a round or two of grafting.
@@DuckRiverHoney I started 2 hives in April and want to expand to 6-8. Don’t want to buy more bees. I have a nuc from a small swarm someone gave me in Sept. I built some swarm traps. I plan to keep up with your expansion, hoping to do some splits using double screen boards in spring. I am in NC so similar conditions here.
Yep, NC should be a good area for bees. 3 to 8 is very very doable. Good luck!
You done good this year. This is my 2nd year also and I had 4 hives this spring and got 1002 lbs of honey. Now I have 9 hives plus a late swarm hive. Had to buy 17 gallons of honey in November from a friend to meet sales so the Lord blesses dummies in the north also. You are right, you can make some money, just don't count your own hours to closely plus it is a lot of fun filled with challenges. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Russell, that is a great honey crop! I may start buying some local honey in the next few years too.
I'd still be interested in seeing a pollen identification/count in your honey Russell.
@@MinnesotaBeekeeper I would also. With the drought that we had here there were more weeds not mowed but the basswood flow was a bust. I have an idea that I don't know how to prove is that the bees were getting a lot of honeydew. When parking my car under a hackberry tree usually I get sticky drops on the car that collect dusts and makes me wash my car. SInce it was so dry this year the tree sap had to be in a higher sugar content which would have given the bees a better treat. Who knows. All my honey is sold a long time ago and I'm getting another 5 gals from my friend on Friday to fill orders.
Grafting?
Grafting larvae into plastic queen cell cups and manipulating the hive to rear queens. It’s a widely used method of rearing queens.
@@DuckRiverHoney seems like a way to quickly achieve the growth you desire, when combined with Nuc comb builders (Nuc's tend to build up comb reasonably quickly...one caveat - these Nuc's would need to be carefully managed to circumvent swarming)...have a look at Michael Palmer's "sustainable beekeeping" vids on this approach...good luck!
I’ve seen his presentation a few times on UA-cam, it’s a good approach, especially for a short season like he has. All splits need a queen…beekeepers have a lot of opinions on the best way to do that.
First!!!!
Second!
The money on bees is not in the honey. Not in the US and certianly not out west. Back when I started 40 years ago it might have been. Might have. Not now.
I agree that the industry has changed. The money now is in selling bees to hobby beekeepers or in pollination. I have no interest in going to pollination. My operation will be honey and probably some nucs to get other beekeepers started.
At my suggestion, our club is going to have a one day workshop for our second year beekeepers on what to expect from their overwintered hives. For sure a second year hive is a different animal than the nuc or package they started with. Hopefully they have enough honey supers and foundation frames/drawn comb and got their bees to draw more than just brood chamber comb their first year so they have some "super comb frames" and if I were running the workshop I'd be advising that a few new foundation frames be checkerboarded into the brood boxes and some of those drawn comb frames moved up into the honey supers. Like you I have my "Bee Plan". Most times with hives you just have to work with what the bees decide to give you. Like if you are inspecting a hive and find lots of capped queen cells and with the queen still in residence those are the hives I love the most! This a hive you split up for increase; and/or you get a queen castle and put a food frame and brood/queen cell frame in and raise some new queens (for your after honey harvest nuc making); or you can let the hive requeen with a queen cell (artificial swarm by removing old queen and a nuc of bees) and still get some honey since you didn't take too many bees/brood from it and they don't have any new brood to raise for a while (while new queen is getting mated). You do not have to make a 5 frame nuc with queen cells. I make quite a few splits after honey harvest (nucs) and then feed them to get them up to a 5x5x5 configuration (in Pennsylvania). Try to equalize the hive/nuc populations too after honey harvest to take advantage of all those extra bees during the dearth (then treat everybody). With an insulated box on them the nucs overwinter just fine. I tend to sell a good number of local nucs in the spring (by early April) which helps the apiary stay sustainable and make a profit. I've run as many as 44 hives (thats a lot for one person) but now run less to give me time to pursue other interests like teaching new beekeepers and mentoring. You are far ahead of most second year beekeepers.
Funny how beekeepers minds' think alike Nancy! I think I'm finally at the point with the video, audio, and editing where I can put together a really good series for beginner beekeepers. As I see it I need a video on first year hives, AND a video on second year or "mature" hives. Once a beekeeper knows what to do with those type hives then they're over the biggest hill in the learning curve.
@@DuckRiverHoney In my experience there are new beekeepers who seem to take to beekeeping like a duck to water while others always seem to be behind the 8-ball and seem to struggle at every turn. Observation skills seem to be one key to success while another is understanding weather and flora and how those issues affect a hive and how it will be different from year to year and knowing you cannot count on those to be consistent. Then there is knowing the flows for your local area. Being proactive instead of reactive is key too so that's where planning and supplies come in. Like during an inspection you keep finding frame after frame of capped brood... what's that tell you??? A new beekeeper might think wow I've got a great queen while an experienced beekeeper would think dang need to get more space on this hive before they're going to swarm or I need to get a queen and make a split fast! I've found that the more hives I worked the more intuitive my beekeeping became and I usually have multiple options available (in my mind somewhere) when I do encounter a bee presented situation. Note keeping is the next key factor. Our local inspector says that the most successful beekeepers in our area are the ones that keep good notes on their hives. In addition to hive notes I track all income from the hives and expenses related to the hives. Now if one were to keep track of the labor and time a beekeeper puts in there would be no profits! Really enjoy your channel.
I would agree with all that Nancy. Observation plus a big bag of tricks and then being very flexible to adapt to conditions. Understanding the drivers bees have and how they react to weather and food is a big part of it.
Couple things, first if all you video production is getting better. Just so you know I worked professionally in the field at broadcast TV and in corporate world. In this video you have a little to much head room. the top of your head should be closer to the top of the frame. now granted it is hard to this all yourself.
2. You may want to learn how to graft and raise your own queen's. ( A couple youtubers who have videos on this are: Bob binnie and Kamon Reynolds.)
I appreciate that. Are there any free resources you’re aware of to learn more of the video part? I’ve dabbled with grafting and plan to get into it this year.
@@DuckRiverHoney I would look at any college book store in which the school has a video/film school. I would also watch the old movies with the audio off and watch has the camera angles and lighting are done. as for outdoor lighting, if you get stands and 3ft x4 ft while card board or by white plastic to use to reflect the sun to you.
As for grafting queens, it does take practice.
Bob Binnie has also said that using swarm cells make the best queens.
This past season I grafted and used swarm cells. The queen's from the swarm cells are doing really well for me.
Joseph, thanks to your comment on head room I learned about the rule of thirds, leading lines, symmetry, and figured out how to turn on the gridlines on my camera. Thanks!