I don't know anything about Football...but I caught your drift. August is "GAME ON!"...lots of stuff happening. Bees are getting ready to swarm, last big flow ready to happen in lots of areas, pests and predators are in full swing, close to harvest time .... I don't have bees but I've been learning about them and I'm taking a local bee keeper class now! Thanks for sharing the videos!
David, I live in upper SC and I am just at the end of finishing my beekeeping classes with the local bee association. I'm so excited to receive my nuks. Your videos have been super helpful! Thank you!
This is the best video on this particular aspect of beekeeping I have seen. I am getting ready to start raising bees in Mississippi and need all the help I can get. I'm going to now go back and watch EVERYTHING you guys have posted. THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was thinking of volunteering to help someone keep their bees if I can find anyone where I am going. Anyone in the Delta and need help?
I've been a beekeeper for 15 years here in Scotland and with a bit of adaptation your advice is spot on even for here. I've been rearing queens using Apideas (mini mating nucs) for some years now and I'm finally sick of them. Last year I stocked a dozen of them with bees and without exception they all absconded. Right now I'm in the process of building two frame nucs to replace them. The two frame nucs use more resources but the versatility of having compatible frames with all of my other kit outweighs that. And you're absolutely right - the beekeeping season is a race against time no matter where you are. Late season splits need to be strong to make it through a winter and having a mated queen to give to them gives them a huge head start in life. Thanks for the vids - I usually find US stuff of limited use for me here in Scotland but yours is a notable exception sir. If any of your viewers haven't discovered Mike Palmer from Vermont and his insights I would recommend they do so without delay. They'll find much in Mike's stuff to complement your advice.
I really appreciate what you said. Because you save people lots of problems with pointing out to start in spring. I actually forgot, that many people don't understand it: Start when Nature starts. Don't try to outsmart it. Rather, e n h a n c e it. I don't want to steal from bees. I offer trade! I offer them home that they accept. In return for mortgage, utilities, they pay me Rent. In Honey. That's what they leave me just before Winter. 1. Bees don't set up beehives like slums. And while yours are condos, they are still in Clusters . While social, each social entity like Hive should be separated. That allows bees from different hives to divide territory, rather than compete in the same direction. 2. Your beehives could be vertically taller. That would allow the bees to decide how much brood to breed and how much honey to collect. No need to disrupt their annual cycle. their cycle is annual. I don't know if people comprehend, that if cycle is annual, therefore harvest should be annual? lol. don't get it? stop "stealing" honey before harvest. You are like Enterpreneur who, takes seed money before he makes profit. You disrupt Queen Bees calculations about her Economy! They know better how to plan t h e i r lives, because their lives depend on their knowledge, given by God.... but You know better? They plan for a year. Think about it. If you provide them with proper housing, they don't need to heat or ventilate, thus, dont' shake and need Energy in the form of Honey. So if they have house that doesn't require heating or cooling much. There will be overflow of honey. 3. Please, stop this myth of Smoking bees. It's sick. Go smoke your own home, or neighbours, or strangers. Am I the FIRST who exposes this fallacy? This insanity? OK. credit to me for exposing this LUNACY.
I love your videos and the way you explain things on them. Also, I'm amazed of how you handle bees with no suit or gloves or anything and you are so relax around them keep it up and thanks for all the helpful advice!!!
My first year bee keeping. Love the videos. Learning all the time. I have one strong hive at this point. I am going to leave them alone through winter but will be making splits come spring. I appreciate you sharing how its done.
Congrats on your beekeeping! I hope it’s still going well 3 years later! I’m going to start beekeeping for the first time this coming spring (2021) and I can’t wait!
Hi there ! First wanted to thank you for the information on splitting , and instilling the confidence for the walkaway splits . This is my first year bee keeping . I'm located in Pennsylvania . My apiary is a bit different. I actually installed two nuc hives on the top of a 3 story apartment building in the middle of a town. There is a river less then a mile away, and I figured that was close enough for their water needs. I just found your channel tonight and will be jumping in to watch many more of your videos . Thanks again !
David, I have been a beekeeper for almost forty years and I always pick something up from your videos. I really appreciate you and Don especially. The two of you have gone a long way towards helping new guys and gals. I am going to switch to your stock in the spring. All of my stock is "HOT" and has made my sixteen year old lose interest. It kind of takes the edge off of your interest to stand in a cloud of pissed off bees and wonder if they are going to find a weak spot in your suit!
In Baseball Terms - you hit it OUT OF THE PARK with this video! WTG David!!! Future video suggestion: Harvesting honey with a twist - I'm sure small/medium/commercial bee keepers use different methods - maybe touch on the better avenues possible within each sector. Man..... now I'm itching to get a some bees@ and as soon as I can get some property sold, I'm going to become the Outlaw Conductor....My Bees will ROCK!!! ~God Bless Our Country~
Good video David. Late season splits are always harder to keep alive. You are right about April splits. They are far more natural that time of year. Good video!
So you use a starter strip and two wires running the frame. And look at how straight the comb is drawn. I'm hoping to develop more nucs this spring. Is there a trick to getting the foundation drawn straight. I've read to place it between two drawn frames. But you don't seem to be doing this. This looks a lot easier to draw and I'm not spending a fortune buying plastic or wax foundation. You showed me that this can work. Interesting statement about the mini nucs. I never thought about that. I've built them and wanted to start using them this spring. Maybe I'll be experimenting with both the mini and the nuc for queen rearing this year. Thanks!
Instead of going through all that just cut a foundation to look like a pyramid. Install narrow side facing down. (It'll look like a V) place in Central of brood. Do this in brood box area with 1 frame and it'll encourage drone production and even queens. The outer frame you can leave foundationless if you choose but I typically wait for a healthy brood build then rob the middle (the V) and a1 honey and 1 egg frame and move your queen to a new box area. Keep some workers on the frame and they'll make a new queen. Be sure to install a new partial frame where you stole one from
I am brand new to beekeeping. I bought a veil, smoker and several formed frames with foundation treated with wax. I watched videos and built like a double deep nuc box as a swarm trap will set up tomorrow in backyard. I am in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania so still cold. I have the essential lemongrass oil which I will bait with. Probably won’t be swarm season until next week or so but thanks for sharing your experience. I will let hint know
Hi ty for all you do. This summer my first year bee keeping started with 2 nucs one swarmed now have 3 hives not sure if any will make it thru winter. In spring how do i rotate out old frames from the nucs i got.
I have a new swarm that I captured a week ago. The hive is packed with bees. It was a big swarm. Should I add a brooder(I just have the one) or should I split it. We are going into what I think would be the flow.
Have you considered making dual mating nucs out of your typical 5 frame nuc by just placing a divider in place of the middle frame? You would also have to split the lid in half and make entrances on opposite corners. However, this does save on material.
I am a newbee in the NE area. After a dismal year of losing my 2 hives and 1 cutout to varroa I realize I need to put the odds in my favor by doing splits. I also need to understand breaking the brood cycle and treating with OAV. Then maybe, I'll be successful at overwintering and keeping bees. The problem with our area is we don't see much forage until mid-May. Also, with a shorter season in our area, I was thinking it would be harder to split a package than a nuc. The nuc is established the package is not. I do have some drawn comb from my failed hives that might help them. Also, doing a split using an additional (mated) queen would likely speed up the hive's ability to establish itself as a colony quicker. Given the shortness of our season that seems to me to make the most sense. THEN, if I can get the colonies to overwinter I can begin to work on raising my own queens to facilitate my own splits. I suspect you have a bit longer season that I do. Thank you for the video - very helpful.
boric acid and sugar will kill the ants in Texas fire ants were bad i used a throw away cup plastic spoon and mixed regular sugar with roach proof that's mostly boric acid. sprinkles around a mount and they are so addicted to sugar they will kill the mounds. just so the sugar is coated maybe 2 or 3 teaspoons per cup of sugar. around the bee's tho I'd leave in a plastic tub with holes so ants could get in an bee's wouldn't get into it. Keeps them safe :) Great Video thanks for sharing
The timing of things depends on where you live. Here in Maine we may have snow still on the ground. May is planting season, so at the beginning of May is the best time for us.
I don't think I'm going to do any more two frame mating nucs. I think I'll just do all four frames. Seems to me that the queens seem to like the extra space better and they are easier to work with the frames and they don't pack with bees as fast. The two frames are too narrow and they still take up a lot of material to build.
@18:00 it's not a matter of Bee evolution. They don't have to evolve fast like you say. It's called Natural selection. This is why hives out in remote forests, feral hives don't have all the problems beekeepers have. Feral bees faced all the same diseases and pests that our "kept" bees did ...and many wild, feral colonies died off, but the ones that survived are the ones that already had some trait or characteristic that allowed them to survive. They did not have to Evolve fast like you were talking about after 18:00 or so ...they already had the traits, and the ones that didn't died off are removed from the genepool. What you're left with out in remote forests are the result of natural selection. ----Not trying to dog on your video's. They are great and I really enjoy them...just wanted to point them out. This is precisely what happened to people in Europe in the 14th century and why more people now have the CCR5 gene variant...and we dont often see bubonic plague or AIDS in people with that gene. People who inherited maternal and paternal copies of the CCR5-delta 32 gene are completely immune, while heterozygotes have partial immunity. It is very likely that this life-saving allele occurs as a random mutation and that it was selected for by the devastating black plague epidemics that swept over Europe beginning in the 14th century. During the first wave of plague, between 1347 and 1350, one fourth to one third of all Europeans died from this disease. Natural selection favored those who by chance had inherited the CCR5-delta 32 gene variant. Repeated waves of plague over the next three centuries resulted in an increase in the frequency of CCR5-delta 32 in the European population. ----Thanks for all the really great vids. I appreciate the time you take to produce and share them !
Thanks so much for your info. I am starting my first hive and trying to catch a swarm. You told me about adding frames with wax foundation and I just received my swarm commander today. I have a swarm trap set about 200 feet from a wild hive in the top of a live oak tree. Do you think it possible to catch a swarm from that hive? It’s about as big as one of those exercise balls. It’s huge. And are Wild hives susceptible to hive Beatles?
Sorry these questions come in this UTube video. 1) you can tell by their sound what's going on at least I feel comfortable saying that. 2) robber bees. This is the question. My girls are being robbed. I've done all the methods - which included, by the way - and awesome short term answer. Take that wet sheet and drape it over the hive. Looks really weird, but it works. That being said, robbers are relentless. Got myself a robber screen. Installed it last night.The girls are having a horrible time finding the entrance. They're all over the screen, so confused it's painful to watch. How much time does it take for them to figure out where their new entrance is? Hours? I'm getting frantic with worry. Thanks for any assistance you can offer me.
Thank you David. Watching this helped me a lot. IMy first hives will be delivered tomorrow and I will get bees next spring. Trying to learn as much as possible, and your videos are very educational. Again, thank you.
I know nothing about bee keeping. My dad found an old hive that had been abandoned in the corner of a roof in one of his buildings. I helped him get the honey out and it was the best I ever had. He has passed now so I have a question . I have lots of flowers on my property and I work with the bees all the time and they never bother me when I'm working but I have some dwarf pines close to my house and the bees keep going in and out of them as if they live there or maybe they are going into the house behind the trees. Would they do that and if so how could I look to find out without disturbing them or getting stung lol ?
I purchased 2 hives got lots of swarm cells hopefully will have 7 mated queens soon but what I don't understand is how you winter while expanding with nucs
Ok I'm green at this now and I have made box's and I'm ready to put out being green what will help me out the most trying to get a sworn to take action to my empty bee box's?
nice video this is Dave I'm a brand new beekeeper Las Vegas Nevada can't be walking around my bees with no a bee suit on too much during the day anyway night times okay I'm thinking about trying to do African eyes my hives by getting rid of my African queen and putting in a gentle type Queen what do you think
So I've got some splits I made in June. They are looking like they will go into winter with a deep and a shallow. Is that big enough if it's full of honey for Delaware?
Shawn Keating Hey, Shawn, a fellowarean here. Winters here are tough. Keys are going into winter with plenty of bees in each colony, August treatments for varroa and nosema, and plenty of honey in the hives. Watch the ventilation and consider dry sugar on the inner cover to feed and absorb moisture. Works well for me in Wilmington.
I have two hives, but in the spring when queens mate again, I found the hive gets more aggressive after they mate, how can I be sure that I keep the genetics of the calm queen. I am planning on getting up to 10 hives in total this next spring.
RustyManTv you will have to purchase queens from someone who can control the drone population around their mating facility. letting the bees supersede the queen or swarm and leave behind swarm cells to hatch out, your new queens will be mated to the local drones and it sounds like those stocks are a little hotter than you want.
I always wanted to keep bees, but my limited time doesn't allow, but maybe in the near future. The result is all the honey. I don't know how much time it will take to sell the honey. I can't possibly consume all the production. So how long does it last before it turns sugary and solid?How best to rid of honey besides giving it away? Are there wholesalers that will take it? I don't have time to sell bottles at a weekend stand.
G'day David. Thankyou once again for an EXCELLENT video on your experience. David, can you tell me when you use starter strips for foundation, doesn't that slow down things within the hive, or isn't so much of delay? I get it that you can save on foundation, is that your main motive?
I'm not a bee keeper but there are honey bees coming to my bird bath for drinks of water. The cold weather this winter (Florida to 25°) messed with the flowering trees this spring, can I help the bees out with sugar water? Or would that be messing with them. And how far away is their hive?
Nancy Fahey you can set up a hummingbird feeder with 1:1 sugar-water syrup. It will help the hive a bit. Bees can forage up to like 4 miles, so it could be anywhere
need to learn that I need to do to winner my bees, do I need to isolate my boxes I live in Arkansas winter not too bad here, both of my queens were great, PS, thank for the fish worms caught an 8-pound catfish with one of them L O L
When you do a split and don't have success with a new queen what do you do when you get laying workers (due to the long time queenless)? I don't want to join them with another colony because I don't want to introduce the laying workers into another colony. I have this problem occasionally and just let them die off but it seems a waste.
If I understand you right, if I get a mated queen in the hive the workers will kill the laying worker? I don't want the laying workers (probably more than one) to kill a new queen. Do Laying workers have the same instinctive nature to kill other queens in their colony?
How do you feed your pollen to him? Do you make pollen patties or just give it to them straight? What pollen patty recipe to use if so? Love your videos. I'll be getting when your Queen's here this next spring.
Yes, if you have a partial or nonfondation frame. The foundation in a frame will prevent a queen being reared. You can make a partial foundation by cutting the foundation material to look like a upside down Volcan and it'll promote a new queen (several so keep an eye on it) partials are required if you want a healthy number of drones as well
David I'm new beekeeper I have one hive 1 lg box and 1m box 10 frame box's I have bees going from the main hive in to a 4 frame nuc witch is about 15 ft away are they sworming they are not going back to main hive
cowboy leather and shoe repair the colony may be absconding (moving out) for some reason. Especially if they all go, but even if they leave some behind (swarm left with old queen) take care that the pests do not invade the old hive with only a small colony left. may need to take them down to one box or a nuc etc.
Most likely the old queen moved. Check the bottom of your brood frames if they sag below frame they either about to swarm or have swarmed. If you have a box nearby its not a bad thing assuming you have a partial frame in the old box a new queen will be made. Foundations are great but reduce drones and prevent queen rearing
Thanks David. I have two 5 frame Nucs that I want to over winter. I'm feeding now and wondering if I should add supers soon. Do you think there is enough time for them to build out those additional 5 frames?
I don't know anything about Football...but I caught your drift. August is "GAME ON!"...lots of stuff happening. Bees are getting ready to swarm, last big flow ready to happen in lots of areas, pests and predators are in full swing, close to harvest time ....
I don't have bees but I've been learning about them and I'm taking a local bee keeper class now! Thanks for sharing the videos!
You are quite welcome. Hope you get ya some bees soon...
Trying to learn everything I can before getting into this. I don't want to kill the entire hive because of lack of knowledge. Thanks again Mr. David
Well, how'd it go?
David, I live in upper SC and I am just at the end of finishing my beekeeping classes with the local bee association. I'm so excited to receive my nuks. Your videos have been super helpful! Thank you!
Your videos have helped me so much! Thank you. Feeling more confident doing my 1st split in spring.
You are quite welcome.
You're right David, "No one teaches advice like the 'Barnyard Bee Man' ". Thanks for all your videos and help!
I’m in south east Georgia and our season starts in early March with blooms and nectar flow
This is the best video on this particular aspect of beekeeping I have seen. I am getting ready to start raising bees in Mississippi and need all the help I can get. I'm going to now go back and watch EVERYTHING you guys have posted. THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was thinking of volunteering to help someone keep their bees if I can find anyone where I am going. Anyone in the Delta and need help?
I've been a beekeeper for 15 years here in Scotland and with a bit of adaptation your advice is spot on even for here. I've been rearing queens using Apideas (mini mating nucs) for some years now and I'm finally sick of them. Last year I stocked a dozen of them with bees and without exception they all absconded. Right now I'm in the process of building two frame nucs to replace them. The two frame nucs use more resources but the versatility of having compatible frames with all of my other kit outweighs that. And you're absolutely right - the beekeeping season is a race against time no matter where you are. Late season splits need to be strong to make it through a winter and having a mated queen to give to them gives them a huge head start in life. Thanks for the vids - I usually find US stuff of limited use for me here in Scotland but yours is a notable exception sir. If any of your viewers haven't discovered Mike Palmer from Vermont and his insights I would recommend they do so without delay. They'll find much in Mike's stuff to complement your advice.
You are right, Mike Palmer is a very educated and experienced keeper, I hope you have watched his video on the importance of getting stung.
Do you feed your bees with sugar water?
@@piffy5594 probably not in the cold.. but Spring I would bet he does..
Canadian here, winter is hard, lol.
Excellent points
thanks so much information just started late last summer with 2 hives still doing good, God Bless
I really appreciate what you said. Because you save people lots of problems with pointing out to start in spring. I actually forgot, that many people don't understand it: Start when Nature starts. Don't try to outsmart it. Rather, e n h a n c e it. I don't want to steal from bees. I offer trade! I offer them home that they accept. In return for mortgage, utilities, they pay me Rent. In Honey. That's what they leave me just before Winter.
1. Bees don't set up beehives like slums. And while yours are condos, they are still in Clusters . While social, each social entity like Hive should be separated. That allows bees from different hives to divide territory, rather than compete in the same direction.
2. Your beehives could be vertically taller. That would allow the bees to decide how much brood to breed and how much honey to collect. No need to disrupt their annual cycle.
their cycle is annual. I don't know if people comprehend, that if cycle is annual, therefore harvest should be annual? lol. don't get it? stop "stealing" honey before harvest. You are like Enterpreneur who, takes seed money before he makes profit. You disrupt Queen Bees calculations about her Economy! They know better how to plan t h e i r lives, because their lives depend on their knowledge, given by God.... but You know better?
They plan for a year. Think about it. If you provide them with proper housing, they don't need to heat or ventilate, thus, dont' shake and need Energy in the form of Honey.
So if they have house that doesn't require heating or cooling much. There will be overflow of honey.
3. Please, stop this myth of Smoking bees. It's sick. Go smoke your own home, or neighbours, or strangers. Am I the FIRST who exposes this fallacy? This insanity? OK. credit to me for exposing this LUNACY.
I love your videos and the way you explain things on them. Also, I'm amazed of how you handle bees with no suit or gloves or anything and you are so relax around them keep it up and thanks for all the helpful advice!!!
Good solid advice , thank you from a one season old bee keeper!
My first year bee keeping. Love the videos. Learning all the time. I have one strong hive at this point. I am going to leave them alone through winter but will be making splits come spring. I appreciate you sharing how its done.
Congrats on your beekeeping! I hope it’s still going well 3 years later! I’m going to start beekeeping for the first time this coming spring (2021) and I can’t wait!
@@The_A_Cast so how are the hives going?
Hi there ! First wanted to thank you for the information on splitting , and instilling the confidence for the walkaway splits . This is my first year bee keeping . I'm located in Pennsylvania .
My apiary is a bit different. I actually installed two nuc hives on the top of a 3 story apartment building in the middle of a town. There is a river less then a mile away, and I figured that was close enough for their water needs. I just found your channel tonight and will be jumping in to watch many more of your videos . Thanks again !
Thanks for this helpful video! Just ordered my bees from Barnyard Bees as a first-time beekeeper, appreciate the info. Great topics.
David, I have been a beekeeper for almost forty years and I always pick something up from your videos. I really appreciate you and Don especially. The two of you have gone a long way towards helping new guys and gals. I am going to switch to your stock in the spring. All of my stock is "HOT" and has made my sixteen year old lose interest. It kind of takes the edge off of your interest to stand in a cloud of pissed off bees and wonder if they are going to find a weak spot in your suit!
I wish I cared at all about sports so I could understand the analogies lol
Yeah I stopped watching cause it was about 3 min in and I didn’t know what the hell he was saying
In Baseball Terms - you hit it OUT OF THE PARK with this video! WTG David!!!
Future video suggestion:
Harvesting honey with a twist - I'm sure small/medium/commercial bee keepers use different methods - maybe touch on the better avenues possible within each sector.
Man..... now I'm itching to get a some bees@ and as soon as I can get some property sold, I'm going to become the Outlaw Conductor....My Bees will ROCK!!!
~God Bless Our Country~
Thank you for that sir u just saved one of my week hives God bless you.
Im starting bee keeping too and in north ga area too I hope to gain lots of knowledge from other bee keepers in the area. Thanks for your help.
Appreciate the education. Very informative. Thank you. In the Pacific NW here we are limited to warm weather so spot on for us! Again thank you. 🙏
Just started beekeeping...real good video.
Good video David. Late season splits are always harder to keep alive. You are right about April splits. They are far more natural that time of year. Good video!
I can tell you are in a WARM climate. We have snow in April! No splits in April for sure. Thanks for the video!
So you use a starter strip and two wires running the frame. And look at how straight the comb is drawn. I'm hoping to develop more nucs this spring. Is there a trick to getting the foundation drawn straight. I've read to place it between two drawn frames. But you don't seem to be doing this. This looks a lot easier to draw and I'm not spending a fortune buying plastic or wax foundation.
You showed me that this can work.
Interesting statement about the mini nucs. I never thought about that. I've built them and wanted to start using them this spring. Maybe I'll be experimenting with both the mini and the nuc for queen rearing this year. Thanks!
Instead of going through all that just cut a foundation to look like a pyramid. Install narrow side facing down. (It'll look like a V) place in Central of brood. Do this in brood box area with 1 frame and it'll encourage drone production and even queens. The outer frame you can leave foundationless if you choose but I typically wait for a healthy brood build then rob the middle (the V) and a1 honey and 1 egg frame and move your queen to a new box area. Keep some workers on the frame and they'll make a new queen. Be sure to install a new partial frame where you stole one from
I love the 2 and 5 frame nuc boxes! Thanks again David!
I am brand new to beekeeping. I bought a veil, smoker and several formed frames with foundation treated with wax. I watched videos and built like a double deep nuc box as a swarm trap will set up tomorrow in backyard. I am in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania so still cold. I have the essential lemongrass oil which I will bait with. Probably won’t be swarm season until next week or so but thanks for sharing your experience. I will let hint know
Thank you for another excellent video. I'm learning a lot.
you and dirtyrooster I like watching both your channels... learn alot
I've just now ordered some of your bees.
I really in joyed listening, thanks
Excellent advice. Thank you
You are awesome thank you for the help
Hi ty for all you do. This summer my first year bee keeping started with 2 nucs one swarmed now have 3 hives not sure if any will make it thru winter. In spring how do i rotate out old frames from the nucs i got.
Like your style..I️ have a thousand questions...time to watching your other videos.
Dave, thank you
I have a new swarm that I captured a week ago. The hive is packed with bees. It was a big swarm. Should I add a brooder(I just have the one) or should I split it. We are going into what I think would be the flow.
Good info David. Keep it up
Have you considered making dual mating nucs out of your typical 5 frame nuc by just placing a divider in place of the middle frame? You would also have to split the lid in half and make entrances on opposite corners. However, this does save on material.
Good job great explanation Thank you
I am a newbee in the NE area. After a dismal year of losing my 2 hives and 1 cutout to varroa I realize I need to put the odds in my favor by doing splits. I also need to understand breaking the brood cycle and treating with OAV. Then maybe, I'll be successful at overwintering and keeping bees. The problem with our area is we don't see much forage until mid-May. Also, with a shorter season in our area, I was thinking it would be harder to split a package than a nuc. The nuc is established the package is not. I do have some drawn comb from my failed hives that might help them. Also, doing a split using an additional (mated) queen would likely speed up the hive's ability to establish itself as a colony quicker. Given the shortness of our season that seems to me to make the most sense. THEN, if I can get the colonies to overwinter I can begin to work on raising my own queens to facilitate my own splits. I suspect you have a bit longer season that I do. Thank you for the video - very helpful.
I’m getting 3 hives next week from a beekeeper that can’t do it anymore. Any advice is welcome. Any video in particular I should watch.
Thanks David , good stuff !!
Great information thank you
boric acid and sugar will kill the ants in Texas fire ants were bad i used a throw away cup plastic spoon and mixed regular sugar with roach proof that's mostly boric acid. sprinkles around a mount and they are so addicted to sugar they will kill the mounds. just so the sugar is coated maybe 2 or 3 teaspoons per cup of sugar. around the bee's tho I'd leave in a plastic tub with holes so ants could get in an bee's wouldn't get into it. Keeps them safe :) Great Video thanks for sharing
The timing of things depends on where you live. Here in Maine we may have snow still on the ground. May is planting season, so at the beginning of May is the best time for us.
I don't think I'm going to do any more two frame mating nucs. I think I'll just do all four frames. Seems to me that the queens seem to like the extra space better and they are easier to work with the frames and they don't pack with bees as fast. The two frames are too narrow and they still take up a lot of material to build.
Thanks David.
Starting my first hive. How do you determine a “strong” hive?
Great video Thanks
@18:00 it's not a matter of Bee evolution. They don't have to evolve fast like you say. It's called Natural selection. This is why hives out in remote forests, feral hives don't have all the problems beekeepers have. Feral bees faced all the same diseases and pests that our "kept" bees did ...and many wild, feral colonies died off, but the ones that survived are the ones that already had some trait or characteristic that allowed them to survive. They did not have to Evolve fast like you were talking about after 18:00 or so ...they already had the traits, and the ones that didn't died off are removed from the genepool. What you're left with out in remote forests are the result of natural selection. ----Not trying to dog on your video's. They are great and I really enjoy them...just wanted to point them out. This is precisely what happened to people in Europe in the 14th century and why more people now have the CCR5 gene variant...and we dont often see bubonic plague or AIDS in people with that gene. People who inherited maternal and paternal copies of the CCR5-delta 32 gene are completely immune, while heterozygotes have partial immunity. It is very likely that this life-saving allele occurs as a random mutation and that it was selected for by the devastating black plague epidemics that swept over Europe beginning in the 14th century. During the first wave of plague, between 1347 and 1350, one fourth to one third of all Europeans died from this disease. Natural selection favored those who by chance had inherited the CCR5-delta 32 gene variant. Repeated waves of plague over the next three centuries resulted in an increase in the frequency of CCR5-delta 32 in the European population. ----Thanks for all the really great vids. I appreciate the time you take to produce and share them !
Wild bees are not that rare here in NC
thanks so much a great video
i live in kansas it is in the 90 s is it to late to do a 4 frame split and walk away two frames and a feeder inside 50/50 sugar mix
Thanks so much for your info. I am starting my first hive and trying to catch a swarm. You told me about adding frames with wax foundation and I just received my swarm commander today. I have a swarm trap set about 200 feet from a wild hive in the top of a live oak tree. Do you think it possible to catch a swarm from that hive? It’s about as big as one of those exercise balls. It’s huge. And are Wild hives susceptible to hive Beatles?
We're in southern Florida. Would we still observe such seasonal behavior?
Sorry these questions come in this UTube video. 1) you can tell by their sound what's going on at least I feel comfortable saying that. 2) robber bees. This is the question. My girls are being robbed. I've done all the methods - which included, by the way - and awesome short term answer. Take that wet sheet and drape it over the hive. Looks really weird, but it works. That being said, robbers are relentless. Got myself a robber screen. Installed it last night.The girls are having a horrible time finding the entrance. They're all over the screen, so confused it's painful to watch. How much time does it take for them to figure out where their new entrance is? Hours? I'm getting frantic with worry. Thanks for any assistance you can offer me.
Picking up my nuc today. Old man says I'll be doing a split by the Fall (Jacksonville). Here goes nuttin!
Great info .
Is it a good idea to apply diatomaceous earth on the ground around the area where I have the hives?
Thank you David. Watching this helped me a lot. IMy first hives will be delivered tomorrow and I will get bees next spring. Trying to learn as much as possible, and your videos are very educational. Again, thank you.
DAVID, HOW DO YOU KEEP MATING HIVES FROM OVERHEATING IN LATE SPRING, IS THERE SCREENING I DIDN'T SEE IN VIDEOS?
An old man told me if you have to put sugar water for bees, you’re taking too much honey! you’re doing it wrong! I agreed
did you leave the frame with a day old larvas in that hive? cause that hive need to raise the new queen
I know nothing about bee keeping. My dad found an old hive that had been abandoned in the corner of a roof in one of his buildings. I helped him get the honey out and it was the best I ever had. He has passed now so I have a question . I have lots of flowers on my property and I work with the bees all the time and they never bother me when I'm working but I have some dwarf pines close to my house and the bees keep going in and out of them as if they live there or maybe they are going into the house behind the trees. Would they do that and if so how could I look to find out without disturbing them or getting stung lol ?
I suppose you have a video on the plans for your nucs as well as the materials you used? Wondering what type materials that was. Thanks.
I would like to see you break it down from your 8 frame into 5 frame never seen it done would like to know how it could be done
I purchased 2 hives got lots of swarm cells hopefully will have 7 mated queens soon but what I don't understand is how you winter while expanding with nucs
thanks for the info
I don't watch sports so he lost me when he gave the example.
Hey where do you get those round plastic feeders?
Ok I'm green at this now and I have made box's and I'm ready to put out being green what will help me out the most trying to get a sworn to take action to my empty bee box's?
I am starting to get curious about beekeeping. How often do you get stung by your bees?
Wear a suit
Which was the queen? The one with no black stripes?
nice video this is Dave I'm a brand new beekeeper Las Vegas Nevada can't be walking around my bees with no a bee suit on too much during the day anyway night times okay I'm thinking about trying to do African eyes my hives by getting rid of my African queen and putting in a gentle type Queen what do you think
What is the width of the hive that holds five frames?
So splitting the hive and taking the queen to the new hive will force the weak hive to hatch a queen?
The more you talk, the more we learn. Thanks !
So I've got some splits I made in June. They are looking like they will go into winter with a deep and a shallow. Is that big enough if it's full of honey for Delaware?
Shawn Keating Hey, Shawn, a fellowarean here. Winters here are tough. Keys are going into winter with plenty of bees in each colony, August treatments for varroa and nosema, and plenty of honey in the hives. Watch the ventilation and consider dry sugar on the inner cover to feed and absorb moisture. Works well for me in Wilmington.
Do you have queens available? And cost to ship?
I have two hives, but in the spring when queens mate again, I found the hive gets more aggressive after they mate, how can I be sure that I keep the genetics of the calm queen. I am planning on getting up to 10 hives in total this next spring.
RustyManTv you will have to purchase queens from someone who can control the drone population around their mating facility. letting the bees supersede the queen or swarm and leave behind swarm cells to hatch out, your new queens will be mated to the local drones and it sounds like those stocks are a little hotter than you want.
Are your Nucs made from Advantex or OSB?
I always wanted to keep bees, but my limited time doesn't allow, but maybe in the near future. The result is all the honey. I don't know how much time it will take to sell the honey. I can't possibly consume all the production. So how long does it last before it turns sugary and solid?How best to rid of honey besides giving it away? Are there wholesalers that will take it? I don't have time to sell bottles at a weekend stand.
G'day David. Thankyou once again for an EXCELLENT video on your experience. David, can you tell me when you use starter strips for foundation, doesn't that slow down things within the hive, or isn't so much of delay?
I get it that you can save on foundation, is that your main motive?
I'm not a bee keeper but there are honey bees coming to my bird bath for drinks of water. The cold weather this winter (Florida to 25°) messed with the flowering trees this spring, can I help the bees out with sugar water? Or would that be messing with them. And how far away is their hive?
Nancy Fahey you can set up a hummingbird feeder with 1:1 sugar-water syrup. It will help the hive a bit. Bees can forage up to like 4 miles, so it could be anywhere
need to learn that I need to do to winner my bees, do I need to isolate my boxes I live in Arkansas winter not too bad here, both of my queens were great, PS, thank for the fish worms caught an 8-pound catfish with one of them L O L
The hive you took the queen from do you put a new queen back in the hive you took the queen from.
It should rear a new queen so long as you have a partial or nonfoundation frame
When you do a split and don't have success with a new queen what do you do when you get laying workers (due to the long time queenless)? I don't want to join them with another colony because I don't want to introduce the laying workers into another colony. I have this problem occasionally and just let them die off but it seems a waste.
If I understand you right, if I get a mated queen in the hive the workers will kill the laying worker? I don't want the laying workers (probably more than one) to kill a new queen. Do Laying workers have the same instinctive nature to kill other queens in their colony?
Introduce the queen, follow a 3 day release rule and she will straighten the group out.
Thanks David for helping all of us beekeepers. The videos are great and very informative. Are you still feeding?
How do you feed your pollen to him? Do you make pollen patties or just give it to them straight? What pollen patty recipe to use if so? Love your videos. I'll be getting when your Queen's here this next spring.
Where do you sell your honey... website? I'd like to order.
Good stuff
So if you split a hive early enough they will make a queen on thier own?
Yes, if you have a partial or nonfondation frame. The foundation in a frame will prevent a queen being reared. You can make a partial foundation by cutting the foundation material to look like a upside down Volcan and it'll promote a new queen (several so keep an eye on it) partials are required if you want a healthy number of drones as well
Excellent. Very informative. Thank you! You will be my first UA-cam. Subscription!
I will contact yall to get started in beekeeping i am close in rome ga.
have you gotten any nucs for sale still?
Hey David when next week rolls around and weather is nicer could I put a nuc in a ten frame? Or too early?
Barnyard Bees The 10 frame is doing fine. Thinking about splitting them this week. Thanks
I live in wva my elevation is 3400 feet.So my season starts late aprill
David I'm new beekeeper I have one hive 1 lg box and 1m box 10 frame box's I have bees going from the main hive in to a 4 frame nuc witch is about 15 ft away are they sworming they are not going back to main hive
cowboy leather and shoe repair the colony may be absconding (moving out) for some reason. Especially if they all go, but even if they leave some behind (swarm left with old queen) take care that the pests do not invade the old hive with only a small colony left. may need to take them down to one box or a nuc etc.
thank you Jim.
only about a cup of bees have moved in to the nuc.
the main hive is strong and theres alot of brood and larva
Most likely the old queen moved. Check the bottom of your brood frames if they sag below frame they either about to swarm or have swarmed. If you have a box nearby its not a bad thing assuming you have a partial frame in the old box a new queen will be made. Foundations are great but reduce drones and prevent queen rearing
Thanks David. I have two 5 frame Nucs that I want to over winter. I'm feeding now and wondering if I should add supers soon. Do you think there is enough time for them to build out those additional 5 frames?
I see you have some foundationless frames there. Do you use them in all your hives? And do you have a video on foundationless frames?