Hi Kamon I tried 18 grafts but bees built comb off the plastic cups rather than queen cells, with three queen's none developed successfully, why comb and no cell to incase queen?
There is a great story that relates to queen rearing i would like to tell... There once was a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. "How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked. "Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn." He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves. So it is with our lives. Those who choose to live in peace must help their neighbors to live in peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others to find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all. The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn. The relation to queen rearing here is...for those of you who do rear great queens....give them away to other nearby beekeepers. Saturate you local area with those genetics so that when your queens open mate they are more likely to receive great genes in the process there by making your bees even better in the future
The story is great and I agree with all the points. But when it comes to genetics, reducing the size of the gene pool may not be a good thing. If a new threat appears, all the bees with that similar gene maybe doomed. Actually that is the same problem for corn as well. So seed banks do exist. And for bananas, the problem is much worse as banana trees are all grafted and all have the same gene.
I appreciate your feedback, but unless you are referring to artificial insemination of queen bees, open breeding of queens (queens that breed in the wild) will never have to worry about genetic bottlenecks for there is too much wild variation in genes, all my example is doing is upping the chances for good genes in the local gene pool. Queens and drones will travel miles and miles to get to breeding areas and a queen will mate with multiple males. This is just about playing the odds to improve the average quality, not creating a "breed" of bees
That's encouraging. I was going to start next spring, but maybe I should just practice right now- even though it's September. I have a red queen that is still laying like a champ. She's two years old, and I should graft her.
I'm just loving what I see as a beekeeper, Excellent cells the thought process going into that is wonderful, Keep on loving Bees as I do with that Great Passion,
Hi, Kamon, Another really useful video. I am at 6 hives this year and planning to go up to as many as 18 next year. We’re in southeast Washington in high desert so the flows are pretty much done except where farmers let their alfalfa bloom after the last cutting, an star thistle. I have another yard to add next year and am discussing placements with organic farms. I plan to be semi-retired by then so will be able to devote significant time to my bees. The new location has a lot of star thistle. Even though it is considered a noxious weed the land owner will not spray it. His operation is organic. The prospect of start thistle honey is pretty exciting. Do I have a question?, you ask? Oh, yeah, I got excited and lost my train of thought. Along with setting up for successful overwintering and for solid increase in the spring I feel I need to start rearing queens. When raising queens and open mating them, how do the random genetics of the drones affect affords to control genetic? Is it a matter of culling the next generations when you are not getting desired results? Thanks again for the great videos and please keep it up! Stu
Want to thank you for your videos. They are easy to understand. I am preparing to raise queens next year. One thing I have not seen you discuss yet is how you set them up for mating?
Queen rearing is a fascinating part of beekeeping. I only have one hive, so it wouldn't make sense for me to do it, but that doesn't make it any less interesting.
Instead of raising a queen with all the mess around it we can take out the queen and force the hive to raise their own queen. In most hives this will be successful and the few hive that not raiseing we can transferred from hive to hive
Now if we can figure out Armor for our Virgins lol but when they do make it back they brood hard to try and get their nest established.Good Video as Always
I live in SE Texas where humidity is almost always above 90% and mosquitoes are horrendous . I used to appreciate having Dragonflies around for that reason but now they seem to like my bees more then scronny mosquitoes. What do you do to keep these “flying guardians” away?
Dragon flies are bad in Ga this year as well. My neighbors laugh as I have a fly swatter for them and bald faced hornets. They thought I was whacking bees! No way. I know I don’t make a dent in their population but each one I kill makes me feel better
In one yard my bees evicted all drones about 2 weeks ago. . Half mile eastward in another yard and I've got drones with more emerging. One yard got hit by shb pretty hard. (I missed a deadout) Pretty sure the shb yard evicted it's drones due to shb pressure. Be careful.
Now what do you do with the hatched queens. I never see how to keep them until a split or sold. If I do it this year and don't split till next year, how do I store them?
You can put them in a 5 frame nuc with plenty of bees and food stores to get through winter. If you are in cold regions wrap hive good for warmth. If you you can you might want to check on them once a month to be sure they have plenty of room & food.
@@linr2870 , so let me get this straight. If I have 5 queens in cages, I put them in a nuc with ALOT of bees and food and all the bees will take care of them until I need them? This sounds way easier than I thought. Thank you for the help. I was going to try next year with queens.
Thanks Kamon and Laurel, you folks are good teachers! Do you ever bank any queens? I have had terrible success banking but up in Michigan when I do July splits I want to make extra insurance queens because about 20% don’t come back.
Hi Gordon we don't bank queens longer than a week and we rarely do that. Only if we have to many extra. If you are wanting longer bank times than that I would not be great person to talk to about it
We just started grafting. In our second attempt, we had 9 of 15 accepted. I left them in as a starter/finisher. It was as packed out as the one shown. They ended up only finishing 3. Any thoughts? Thanks for the videos! They have helped up our game tremendously. We gone from 2 to 11 gives this year!
Sounds like they didn't have the proper nutrition or bee density of the right age of bees. Even summer heat can be a factor. Just my thoughts but I'll let the smart man answer you and see what he thinks.
Queenless population/High nurse bee density, constant and abundant nutrition, and young larvae. Add frames of capped brood if you want this colony to last and keep them in the shade if possible.
That video was great. It answered some questions and raised a few others. Like 2 frame splits? Will that work in the Frozen North where I'm from? Also breeder queens. Because my apiary is new I think it might be prudent to buy a breeder queen rather than rely on a queen I'm not sure of. How should I prepare a colony to accept a breeder queen? It's a big investment and I don't want my queen killed
I have been having a problem with cells that took in the first day getting rejected later. Any reason a strong colony being fed would reject cells that have been started? Great video by the way
Buy her a BAMA cheerleading outfit and let her go at it! Better yet, have her a BAMA beekeeping outfit made along with a BAMA vail and let her show the beekeeping world how it’s done RTR style!
Kamom, are you raising all those queens to supersede older queens or for making more colonies ? Or is it a combination of both? And thanks for your informative video's. I have been a bee keeper now for almost 30 years and I am still learning things I didn't know by watching your video's. Thanks!!
We do replace queens that are abysmal but we do like to let our queens live as long as we can so that we can breed for longevity. Primarily new queens are for making splits. Fat cells like these make very good layers, and in my opinion, make queens that last longer.
Do you ever put the unhatched cells in roller cages or some other type of protective cage if you won't be around when the queens hatch? If so what do you use with the jz-bz setup? Have you ever tried using the jz-bz queen cell protectors when you put the cells into the mating nuc? Obviously, they aren't necessary but it seems like they are cheap insurance against accidental damage.
Yes, get some combs drawn out with NO FOUNDATION, use skewer sticks vertically for strength, then just cut the queens cells out of the wax at 10 days after adding eggs/ larva and install cells in starter boxes. Hope that helps?
Pretty ignorant statement. Most wild hives never see their second year. Less than 20% I average 15-20% loss and can triple my numbers in a year. Nature is brutal and bees are not perfect. Leave the first world, live outdoors and live off the land and get back with me
You just don’t understand my comment… I’ve been doing commercial beekeeping for over 20 years from queen insemination to Royal jelly production and everything in between… you will learn you don’t know that much about bees as you age… it’s called The Dunning-Kruger effect… look it up if you don’t know what it is. it’s all good.
Kamon thank you for your videos. I just wanted to ask you if you have ever used the Perma Comb plastic super frames or the Better bee plastic brood frames? I know they are expense now, but it seems it would save the bees a lot of work.
You have are helped me in so many ways. I’ve been stepping outside my comfort zone, when it comes to handling hives, frames, without gloves and over garments, with the overall calmness and speed. The Vail is a given. I’m a big fan of seeing. Just got my new glasses. I haven’t seen eggs since the end of my 1st year. I’m able to see young larvae, old larvae, pupa, and naturally brood. My question is, if my new glasses don’t allow me to see the eggs, are there any suggestions you can make. Stronger glasses, high def camera? I soo want to try this next year. I haven’t tried the new glasses yet, just got them yesterday. looking ahead. Thank you. Jerry, 3rd year, Central NJ
Well we still have days where the bees staple our socks to our ankles, so just know we are not magicians! Placing the sun over your shoulder and yes, perhaps some type of magnification is in order. If I come across anything handy like that I will make sure to let you know.
When is it too late to split a hive ? If you make a split now what do you do to make them survive ? Are you selling your Queens ? Great video keep going bro.
We can split here till early September easily. If you added enough bees you could split a month later than that with a mated queen. Late splits need protein patties, and syrup if they are to survive and thrive. Sorry but we don't have queens available thanks for asking
Thanks so much Kamon. You do an excellent job with your videos. What about the decreased availability of drones in the Summer months (particularly in a dearth) vs. Spring?
Thanks for your vedeo. I have e hives in my backyard can I rear 2 queens in one of them without making starter hive ? I would like try grafting and put back in the same hive with 2 to 3 queen cups. What do you think? thanks
Only 6 days *from graft do the nurse bees have to produce copious amounts of royal jelly!
Hi Kamon
I tried 18 grafts but bees built comb off the plastic cups rather than queen cells, with three queen's none developed successfully, why comb and no cell to incase queen?
There is a great story that relates to queen rearing i would like to tell...
There once was a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon.
One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors.
"How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked.
"Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn."
He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves.
So it is with our lives. Those who choose to live in peace must help their neighbors to live in peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others to find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.
The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn.
The relation to queen rearing here is...for those of you who do rear great queens....give them away to other nearby beekeepers. Saturate you local area with those genetics so that when your queens open mate they are more likely to receive great genes in the process there by making your bees even better in the future
Very nice
Excellent point.
I am totally taking this story.
It's perfect. Thanks for sharing it.
The story is great and I agree with all the points. But when it comes to genetics, reducing the size of the gene pool may not be a good thing. If a new threat appears, all the bees with that similar gene maybe doomed. Actually that is the same problem for corn as well. So seed banks do exist. And for bananas, the problem is much worse as banana trees are all grafted and all have the same gene.
I appreciate your feedback, but unless you are referring to artificial insemination of queen bees, open breeding of queens (queens that breed in the wild) will never have to worry about genetic bottlenecks for there is too much wild variation in genes, all my example is doing is upping the chances for good genes in the local gene pool. Queens and drones will travel miles and miles to get to breeding areas and a queen will mate with multiple males. This is just about playing the odds to improve the average quality, not creating a "breed" of bees
That's encouraging. I was going to start next spring, but maybe I should just practice right now- even though it's September. I have a red queen that is still laying like a champ. She's two years old, and I should graft her.
I'm just loving what I see as a beekeeper,
Excellent cells the thought process going into that is wonderful,
Keep on loving Bees as I do with that Great Passion,
Very nice. Can't help but be impressed with those queen cells. Definition of what a quality cell should look like. Great job and great video.
Thanks Garret bee co.
Hi, Kamon,
Another really useful video. I am at 6 hives this year and planning to go up to as many as 18 next year. We’re in southeast Washington in high desert so the flows are pretty much done except where farmers let their alfalfa bloom after the last cutting, an star thistle. I have another yard to add next year and am discussing placements with organic farms. I plan to be semi-retired by then so will be able to devote significant time to my bees.
The new location has a lot of star thistle. Even though it is considered a noxious weed the land owner will not spray it. His operation is organic. The prospect of start thistle honey is pretty exciting.
Do I have a question?, you ask? Oh, yeah, I got excited and lost my train of thought. Along with setting up for successful overwintering and for solid increase in the spring I feel I need to start rearing queens.
When raising queens and open mating them, how do the random genetics of the drones affect affords to control genetic? Is it a matter of culling the next generations when you are not getting desired results?
Thanks again for the great videos and please keep it up!
Stu
Thanks for all the great educational videos. I appreciate all your effort.
Great looking cells Kamon good job!
Want to thank you for your videos. They are easy to understand. I am preparing to raise queens next year. One thing I have not seen you discuss yet is how you set them up for mating?
I bet that's coming in a couple days.
Sure is
Great looking cells! Very well done Kamon.
Thank you Kamon. Finishing my 2nd year. 3rd year will be a Queen year for me. Have the tools. Waiting for March/April.
Queen rearing is a fascinating part of beekeeping. I only have one hive, so it wouldn't make sense for me to do it, but that doesn't make it any less interesting.
Instead of raising a queen with all the mess around it we can take out the queen and force the hive to raise their own queen. In most hives this will be successful and the few hive that not raiseing we can transferred from hive to hive
Thank you for another great video!
Thanks Kamon. Great information. I'm off to watch your other videos.
You're giving me so many ideas for next year when I start.... probably things way above my skill level lol
Excellent! Thank you!
Now if we can figure out Armor for our Virgins lol but when they do make it back they brood hard to try and get their nest established.Good Video as Always
Beautiful cell
I make my grafting pen with bird feather and it works very well
Kamon is the man!!!!!! Love your channel bro from berserkers bee farm in Southern ny
Good work Kamon - always enjoy your very informative videos!!!
Great video, thanks for taking the time to make it!
Thanks !!
Is there a way to care for queens if you have no other hives to put them in or people to sell them to? I would hate to rear queens and let them die...
You could buy a queen castle or mini mating nuc setups.
I live in SE Texas where humidity is almost always above 90% and mosquitoes are horrendous . I used to appreciate having Dragonflies around for that reason but now they seem to like my bees more then scronny mosquitoes. What do you do to keep these “flying guardians” away?
If I had an answer for that I would be a rich man. Unfortunately, other than using a shotgun I am at a loss
Dragon flies are bad in Ga this year as well. My neighbors laugh as I have a fly swatter for them and bald faced hornets. They thought I was whacking bees! No way. I know I don’t make a dent in their population but each one I kill makes me feel better
Up early again 05:30 am uploading a new video just what I needed with my morning covfefe!
The early bird gets the worm.... And hopefully, a cup of joe!
And some covfefe !
another great video
In one yard my bees evicted all drones about 2 weeks ago. . Half mile eastward in another yard and I've got drones with more emerging.
One yard got hit by shb pretty hard. (I missed a deadout)
Pretty sure the shb yard evicted it's drones due to shb pressure. Be careful.
Really informative video.
Now what do you do with the hatched queens. I never see how to keep them until a split or sold. If I do it this year and don't split till next year, how do I store them?
You can put them in a 5 frame nuc with plenty of bees and food stores to get through winter. If you are in cold regions wrap hive good for warmth. If you you can you might want to check on them once a month to be sure they have plenty of room & food.
@@linr2870 , so let me get this straight. If I have 5 queens in cages, I put them in a nuc with ALOT of bees and food and all the bees will take care of them until I need them? This sounds way easier than I thought. Thank you for the help. I was going to try next year with queens.
@@secondchanceiron6123 That is what works for me. The queen only need food,nurse bees and warmth to survive the winter.
The cat lol
LOL feed the cat, it needs nutrition apparently. Great video
Thanks Kamon and Laurel, you folks are good teachers!
Do you ever bank any queens?
I have had terrible success banking but up in Michigan when I do July splits I want to make extra insurance queens because about 20% don’t come back.
Hi Gordon we don't bank queens longer than a week and we rarely do that. Only if we have to many extra. If you are wanting longer bank times than that I would not be great person to talk to about it
Hey Kamon. .please make a video of installing queens in 2 frame nucs. Thanks. .
We just started grafting. In our second attempt, we had 9 of 15 accepted. I left them in as a starter/finisher. It was as packed out as the one shown. They ended up only finishing 3. Any thoughts? Thanks for the videos! They have helped up our game tremendously. We gone from 2 to 11 gives this year!
Sounds like they didn't have the proper nutrition or bee density of the right age of bees. Even summer heat can be a factor. Just my thoughts but I'll let the smart man answer you and see what he thinks.
Queenless population/High nurse bee density, constant and abundant nutrition, and young larvae. Add frames of capped brood if you want this colony to last and keep them in the shade if possible.
That video was great. It answered some questions and raised a few others. Like 2 frame splits? Will that work in the Frozen North where I'm from? Also breeder queens. Because my apiary is new I think it might be prudent to buy a breeder queen rather than rely on a queen I'm not sure of. How should I prepare a colony to accept a breeder queen? It's a big investment and I don't want my queen killed
Would you know the latest someone could raise queen bees in Northeast Texas?
I have been having a problem with cells that took in the first day getting rejected later. Any reason a strong colony being fed would reject cells that have been started?
Great video by the way
I need more space so I can have more fun making more bees 🐝 😁
thanks for the information and videos. Just wondering being that it is in Aug when is it the latest time of the season to get those queens mated?
I can get them mated thru September
Do the bees cap the Queen cell six days from graft day ?
My my Kamon how your channel has grown.
Isn’t it about time for princess Kathleen to star in another video?
She really wants too!
Put her in a Bama outfit!
Buy her a BAMA cheerleading outfit and let her go at it! Better yet, have her a BAMA beekeeping outfit made along with a BAMA vail and let her show the beekeeping world how it’s done RTR style!
Kamom, are you raising all those queens to supersede older queens or for making more colonies ? Or is it a combination of both? And thanks for your informative video's. I have been a bee keeper now for almost 30 years and I am still learning things I didn't know by watching your video's. Thanks!!
We do replace queens that are abysmal but we do like to let our queens live as long as we can so that we can breed for longevity. Primarily new queens are for making splits. Fat cells like these make very good layers, and in my opinion, make queens that last longer.
Do you ever put the unhatched cells in roller cages or some other type of protective cage if you won't be around when the queens hatch? If so what do you use with the jz-bz setup? Have you ever tried using the jz-bz queen cell protectors when you put the cells into the mating nuc? Obviously, they aren't necessary but it seems like they are cheap insurance against accidental damage.
Do you keep the entrances open in the five frame nuke during the process of queen cell building?
Yessir
Is there a way to raise queens without graphing? I would love to be able to harvest swarm cells and stick them in a incubator.
Yes, get some combs drawn out with NO FOUNDATION, use skewer sticks vertically for strength, then just cut the queens cells out of the wax at 10 days after adding eggs/ larva and install cells in starter boxes. Hope that helps?
To think that we beekeepers are actually doing anything for honeybees, is ridiculous. They know what to do.
Pretty ignorant statement. Most wild hives never see their second year. Less than 20%
I average 15-20% loss and can triple my numbers in a year.
Nature is brutal and bees are not perfect. Leave the first world, live outdoors and live off the land and get back with me
You just don’t understand my comment… I’ve been doing commercial beekeeping for over 20 years from queen insemination to Royal jelly production and everything in between… you will learn you don’t know that much about bees as you age… it’s called The Dunning-Kruger effect… look it up if you don’t know what it is. it’s all good.
@@Bondovian well then more clearly articulate your comment and attempt to be less arrogant about it
Kamon thank you for your videos. I just wanted to ask you if you have ever used the Perma Comb plastic super frames or the Better bee plastic brood frames? I know they are expense now, but it seems it would save the bees a lot of work.
I have not tried them at all Mike. They likely work well but I personally have no experience with them
You have are helped me in so many ways. I’ve been stepping outside my comfort zone, when it comes to handling hives, frames, without gloves and over garments, with the overall calmness and speed. The Vail is a given. I’m a big fan of seeing. Just got my new glasses. I haven’t seen eggs since the end of my 1st year. I’m able to see young larvae, old larvae, pupa, and naturally brood. My question is, if my new glasses don’t allow me to see the eggs, are there any suggestions you can make. Stronger glasses, high def camera? I soo want to try this next year. I haven’t tried the new glasses yet, just got them yesterday. looking ahead. Thank you. Jerry, 3rd year, Central NJ
Well we still have days where the bees staple our socks to our ankles, so just know we are not magicians! Placing the sun over your shoulder and yes, perhaps some type of magnification is in order. If I come across anything handy like that I will make sure to let you know.
Sherlock Holmes style magnifying glass👍
When is it too late to split a hive ?
If you make a split now what do you do to make them survive ?
Are you selling your Queens ?
Great video keep going bro.
We can split here till early September easily. If you added enough bees you could split a month later than that with a mated queen. Late splits need protein patties, and syrup if they are to survive and thrive. Sorry but we don't have queens available thanks for asking
@@kamonreynolds thank you
do you ever use the pheromone strips in your boxes to hold the bees in the boxes
No I don't. Mostly I believe that is used for mini nucs.
Thanks and keep the great videos coming
Thanks so much Kamon. You do an excellent job with your videos. What about the decreased availability of drones in the Summer months (particularly in a dearth) vs. Spring?
What is the longest time you can Bank to Queens is what I'm saying
any tips for dragon flys ?
Sears and roebuck semi auto 12 gauge is about all I know to do. Maybe create habitat for birds that like to eat them?
At what age does a bee convert to a forager bee?
Another great video. Thanks
Thanks for your vedeo.
I have e hives in my backyard can I rear 2 queens in one of them without making starter hive ? I would like try grafting and put back in the same hive with 2 to 3 queen cups.
What do you think? thanks
Hey Kamon… I have questions about late summer early fall drone raising. Where can I contact you for questions?
Cameron how long can you Bank those twins for
im gearing up to try,do you use a incubator
I do but I haven;t always
hey i have a problem with one of my hives i would like to know if you sell your queens?
Do you sell queens or cells how much
Do you sell queens
Hi Kaymon,
Thnx for nice educational video .What is the latest time for queens rearing ? Thanks Jan P.
I can go to early September. After that is pushing it but it is possible till about October.
I just want to see a whole episode of laurel making fun of you...
It may actually happen
Why he kick that cat?
Are you a bee lover or do you make a living from it