The queens in these colonies were raised by us and came from Caucasian breeder queens produced by Shibu Raj in Tennessee and are daughters from a Caucasian breeder he purchased from Sue Cobey in Washington state. They were inseminated with semen harvested from drones that he picked up from me that were from a Carniolan x Caucasian breeder that also came from Sue but was unrelated. These queens have generally shown a low tendency to swarm so I feel good about using cells produced by them. I don't think they are displaying a predominant tendency to swarm. It's just Mother Nature doing her thing.
That's quite the pedigree tracking almost like horses. Maybe one day you'll be able to take them to a genetics lab, or create an ancestry DNA for bees. Ha. Nice vid thanks
Just love the way Bob explains each step to the people who are obviously learning the ropes,shows great character and respect for the people who work with him.
This is not to disparage other tubers, but I learn so much just from watching Bob work with the bees and the crew. This video style is so helpful for us non-professional new keepers. Thanks Bob for taking the time
None of this is rocket science, yet Bob has thought all of this through very carefully and applied a large dose of common sense, which we all know is a rare commodity these days! There is so much that a small scale beekeeper can learn from Bob's videos and apply to their own colonies. Thank you sir, I enjoy these working in the field clips, probably because I have run my own non bee business for 40 odd years and it is interesting from the management point of view. Good staff help too!
Bob, You are a great coach! Your style of management is a lesson for all to learn from. Nice to see the videos of working the hives and explaining the process. Thanks for sharing.
Yes sir it has already been a crazy early spring. I had swarm cells on Feb. 28th and made 4 splits just like this. And it's all because of what you and your team have taught me over the years. All 4 queens have mated and now starting to lay here in NC. This usually doesn't happen til late March or April. Thanks again sir for your knowledge and teaching. Have a good Sunday professor!
I am going to say it again, I wish I could work with you all day . Love your work, love everything you're sharing. Thanks for doing what you do. I learned a lot from you and I am still learning as we go!
This is so fantastic, just another inspiring video. Hunestly i dont know how to say thank you enough, Love your spirit in the company. It is not often someone can see the spirit in a workteam as this. And all good beework, thanks for it. Sweden 20 hives and lots of new nuc boxes.
Another great video. It's nice we can pick up tips while you are training your crew. And those are some really good looking colonies. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Bob another great video. I use swarm cells for splits as well, but ever since I started beekeeping in 2019 many beeks tell me that swarming is terrible, treating it like some sort of disease. I've had to train my brain to replace the word swarming with mating. While there are some pros and cons to swarming and using it as a management technique, it's not nearly the nightmare some make it out to be. I trust that the bees know what they are doing, much more so than me most of the time. I look forward to your next video while I sit here waiting for the snow and ice to melt. Possibly six to eight more weeks of waiting for better weather here in Newfoundland. I can't believe you guys are dealing with swarms this early in the season. Keep up the good work!
Revisiting this video again I want to add a detail that I do. I also use swarm cells for splits. I see Bob adding some small sticks to the frame shelf to raise the frame & queen cell up slightly from the bottom board. I preemptively slip in a feeding shim between the bottom board and the nuc box to create the temporary extra space needed for the queen cells. In my climate I also like to grow out small colonies in nuc box hives: a colony in a 5 over 5 configuration is more successful than in a 10 frame box. I will grow them into 5x3 hives before transfer into 10 frame equipment. I should add that I am a backyard beek; my method is likely too fiddley for a commercial operation.
That was an interesting video, lots of information to learn from here. Thanks for sharing, Bob. I'm going to save this one to the watch later and implement some of these methods this spring in my hives if I have the chance. Great way to gain some hives quickly!
Bob, great video! Folks can learn so much from your videos, I know that I certainly do. That little frame lift trick is cool. I still have some of the wood wedges that I used with wired wax foundation so I will use them for frame lifts from here on out.
Interesting learning the stick hack to lift the frames. I build my own nucs and always give 3/4" on the bottom. Now I have a hack for when I don't have the extra room.
Wow Bob you are so smooth in operation. The knowledge you are sharing with us is priceless if your a sideliner trying to make that jump. I am buy out a retiring beekeeper in Michigan so excited at the opportunity, and I have you to thank for inspiring me to make a jump. I have around 50 colonies, with the ability to run near 1000, maybe I will have be able to sell you a load of honey someday! Thanks for sharing your story and helping so many
Great video for me now. So much rain. 2 weeks ago one colony swarmed right before an all night rain. I got to the bee yard in the morning, they were about 30' high and ready to check out. I waved goodbye. Last week it rained, got to beeyard around 8am. A limb fell, I looked up and there they were about 20' up. I got those girls. I'm seeing the same things in my little yard. Thanks Bob, I have to work alone and this year has been a little overwhelming for me. It answered a lot of questions.
I Thank God for yall, you and Kaymon (and the Almighty) have helped me stay on top of next move. To Jesus be the glory. Your lessons thru video are getting better and better
Hey Bob.............At 12:50, are those bees Carniolan and/or Caucasian hybrids? They don't look like the typical Italian bees that you Southerners keep, as they are fairly dark. Thanks, Bob!
Not all of our bees look like this but we're working on it. The queens in this yard came from mostly Caucasian Breeder queens and then mated with our general population which is 50% Caucasian, 25% Carniolan and 25% Italian. We're pushing towards having mainly Caucasian with a little Carniolan stock.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks, Bob! I'm an Iowa beekeeper that greatly admires your work. In my own operation, I've nearly eliminated the Italians from my breeding program. Italians are great bees (especially for Southerners AND migratory guys) but, I've noticed that they carry very high mite loads. Perhaps as a consequence of this, they don't fare well during our long, hard, and brutal Iowa winters. My genetics are Russian and Dr. Cobey's New World Carniolan bees. Until you mentioned Shibu Raj, I hadn't heard of his program. This year, I wanted to incorporate Caucasian stock into my program. Do you know much about the "Mountain Grey " Caucasian bees sold by Winters Apiaries? Those were the Caucasians that I looked into trying. Thanks again, Bob!
@@tedadams1324 Hi Ted. I don't anything about Winters. You might search for reviews before purchasing. Shibu knows Sue well and uses her stock and semen that she gathered from the Republic of Georgia. I made a video on him two summers ago. ua-cam.com/video/oH4fYUrYk1w/v-deo.html. Good luck.
@@bobbinnie9872 I see and I VERY MUCH appreciate the advice. I'll probably go with Shibu then. Your recommendation speaks volumes. Dr. Cobey's NWC bees (from Strachan Apiaries) have done exceedingly well for me. I just love her work. SOME of the F1 NWC and Russian crosses CAN be a little pesky. hehe However, I'm one of the few beeks that doesn't mind hot hives that pop up occasionally. I'll continue to look forward to happily viewing your upcoming videos! I do have an idea for a future video for you. For those of us that don't AI Queens and we exclusively Open Mate our Virgins, I'd love to see a video about how to strategically place our Drone and Virgin hives that maximizes successful matings. Just an idea. Thanks, Bob!
I noticed the fescue is growing and lush in the Henry yard, that tells me it's had lots of sun and good growing weather, and so goes the bees, the field behind my house I lease to a peanut farmer and every row where his thrasher ran is covered with Henbit and why I had 2 hives swarm 2-21 & 23, luckily I was working the bees and caught both swarms, 1 was a 2 framer and the second was over 7 frames, with enough bees and cells in both boxes of the parent hive to split it as well.
Oh, I know it was my fault for not keeping up with my bees, they were building faster than I realized off 40 acres of lush henbit, my bees were coming in loaded with pollen 1-15, great video and the lift kit to protect the queen cells was a cool trick 😎😀👌
Love your videos mr Bob … my wife and I are up visiting from south east Alabama for a couple days and are coming by you store tomorrow …would love to meet you if possible .. will you be around ?
Sounds great !!! If it doesn’t work out this time maybe next time we come up … we are slowly getting into the honey/ bee business ..I really would like to get some of your bee stock so I may put in an order soon …hope to see you soon
I love the bricks on the pails . I ran hives with a freind in southern sask that used rocks to keep the hive covers from blowing off and you had to work your bees with your back to the wind or your eyes would fill with dirt even when you were wearing a veil . It was easy to find rockscthe topsoil had blown away . He plated yellow blossom sweet clover in north and sout strips to catch the soil blowing by !!! LT
Great video and information as well. Things are really taking off here in north west alabama. Got this little cold spell for a few days which will slow down the swarming for a few days . I seen a few drones flying yesterday so it is in the works. ❤️🐝
Bob, you are getting warm weather and we are having cooler then normal weather. Bees in California haven’t been able to fly as much from cold, rain and wind. Up here in Washington it’s been snowing like once a week. It melts real quick but it just doesn’t want to warm up. Can you please send some warm weather our way?
Great video Bob, I love making splits with queen cells , very easy way to split you bees if you do not have access to cells or queens. Cheap way also lol.
Good job. Swarm cells are not connected only with swarm genetics but space, weather and incoming nectar flow so they are excellent to make new queen bees on the season. I sometimes deliberate cause swarm situation and using queen cells and capped brood for making new nucs.
Bob thanks for sharing a bit about writing notes on colony and in your truck. Hope you can do a video of notes and how to keep up with what needs to be done when. I am getting to the age I need to not keep it in my head.
It’s crazy how so many are seeing that 3-4 weeks ahead in their hives. I’ve seen others saying locally they’ve caught swarms and all too. Thankfully so far none of mine have started any cells but I have a feeling it’ll be once this cold snap passes there will be and it’ll be split time!
Ha Bob good to see u back in the bees, my bees are ahead as well the trees are in bloom but the weather is so cray do u think the flow will start early since the weather is up and down and things are blooming what happens when it goes back down to the 30s this is not a stupid question u have been a bee keeper for years does it kill the trees do u think the bees know the flow is going to start early and that is why they are building up so early thanks have a blessed week
Hi Frances. Everything you mention is possible and I don't think there is a way to know for sure at this point. If there's anything I've learned for sure is that it's dangerous to try and outguess Mother Nature and we need to be ready for anything.
Bob, when you are doing the split and removing frames and only leaving two frames of brood and the queen (hopefully) what is the combination of frames you are adding? Maybe I missed it, but is it all foundation or are you adding empty comb? Great demonstration and teaching of your new keepers
Bob, I noticed that you used plastic foundation in wood frames. Just curious, do you add extra wax to the foundation? Do you spray them with sugar water - I've heard this attracts bees to the new frames. Finally, you use plastic comb for drones, - why don't you use an all plastic frame/foundation combination? Thank you for these videos!
We use double waxed foundation from the factory and generally have good luck. Nothing else. We do use the green all plastic drone frames from Acorn. Works great.
Thanks. We use a combination of pine straw, which is very abundant in Georgia, and wood stove pellets. Pine straw alone works great but when combined with wood stove pellets it lasts a long time.
We are in MS and we have had an amazing amount and size of swarms. Since we lost several with a freeze here I wonder if that caused the reaction. Did y’all see the same thing after the FEB 2021 freeze?
Wishing I could borrow your boys for an hour. I'm newer to Beekeeping, put off inspection of brand new nucs for 2 weeks after placing, all have swarm cells. Almost 100% of my colonies (May 15 spring JUST sprung here) and this already!?! And we didn't really want more bees this soon, we don't have enough equipment!! We're pretty rural too, so getting more fast is difficult. We counted 25 swarm cells between 2 hives!! I've been down a UA-cam rabbit hole looking for help, find this video. VERY HELPFUL!!! Thank you!!! No really, send me a few of those boys, 🐝❤️ I need help!!
For the spring flow, only if it is a good long one. They'll be ready for the Sourwood flow which comes in mid June in this location. Here it was more about producing splits which I consider a harvest too.
Bob Another great video. I like the stick idea. I built my nuc boxes with a shim between the bottom board and box for that very reason. Do you have anything blooming yet? We have Bartlett Pair starting in Ozark Mo. I will get in my hives this week for deep inspection.
Amazing work guys, it’s my second year beekeeping and I’m learning a lot from you, I was thinking about splitting with swarm cells too this year, how often would you say swarm cells splits are successful?
I used to think, if it's a cold year there it will be a warm year here. But over the last few years l see you in the south part of US having the same weather and almost the same colonie growth and conditions, early starts... like l have in the Mediterranean, Adriatic sea area. We even had the same bad one a couple of years back
As a hobbyist I made two nuc boxes 3/4" deeper than normal so I can drop a big swarm cell in without smashing it. I marked the nucs with a marker so I remember. Great video again Bob. After my snowbanks melt, maybe I can use this method again. I worry with for your bees that mother nature may throw you a monkey wrench yet. Hopefully not.
Bob is there a chance this could lead to 'swarmy' genetics in the new queens? I realize you are seeing an overcrowded situation in those hives and just about any bee would prepare to swarm in those conditions.
Winter starts in oct and ends in late april -early may . Getting the bugs thru the winter is tough then we spend our time equalizing hive size and replacing the losses abd building hives as large as possible . If it rains at night and is hot during the days the nectar pours in .🎉
Hey Bob. You mentioned you were a good month away from full-spring so confused why are there so many swarm cells. Is it true that hives won’t try to create a new queen, swarm or supersedure, until the hive has a healthy number of drones?
Yes, this is generally true. These colonies were raising drone brood and some was beginning to hatch but it still seems early. I think it was partly a combination of a very strange early spring in our area and colonies becoming overly crowded in a small space. Our double deeps are not doing this yet.
Bob Thanks for one of the best videos ever. Since everything is early this year, what will be your marker or criteria for adding excluders to double deeps? Thanks.
I shouldn't admit it but I'm honestly not certain yet. The season is so odd that we're trying to stay flexible and be ready for anything. The doubles in this video will be split back to single size in two weeks and may or may not keep the second deep depending on how the forage looks. Other yards may remain doubles after splitting because they are bigger and could give us brood and still be ready for the flow. Either way, any colony that remain a double won't get excluders on them. Watching what Mother Nature does.
To make sure I understand, are you saying doubles won’t get an excluder until the flow starts or not at all during the year. I had planned to put excluder between the deeps when the flow started , esentially converting top deep to honey super. In Greenville, I m not sure that the flow hasn’t already started. Thanks again for your advice.
@@donw1864 At times we do use the second deep as a honey super like you describe but probably not this year. If we're running a colony as a two deep brood chamber setup we don't use excluders.You can see our video on singles like you describe at this link. ua-cam.com/video/UsxM4htq4Hw/v-deo.html
Im jealous its the 19 march 2023 And the snow is still covering the land up to your knees its beautiful outside the sun is shining and the sky is clear and its -6c . Len
Great educational video as always! Always looking forward to see your videos! Think I have to ask you if I can come over from Norway and spend a week with your team learning, me off course offering free labor in exchange 😃
Mug up from central NH where it is 20 F at 730am. The snow pack is melting, but still around 20" with 5-11" on tap for tomorrow. Ah, NH. It should be in the upper 40's today and the bees will be out, but no pollen yet. I have 4 out of 7 colonies make it so far. I've got a light nuke that I hope to give a frame or 2 of honey to today. I hope to expand a little this year, we shall see. Great to watch your content, thanks for sharing, have a great day, Brice
Hey Brice,Just my 2cents from past learnings, but i believe it's been proven that sugar water will help them better than honey coming out of winter. There's past videos explaining why
Id like to see Bob exlain how make giant bee 🐝 colonies like we do in saskatchewan to reap the benifits of a huge canola and clover crop . 3 or 4 box nest is common and we seldome use honey reducers (excluders ) Len
Interesting trick using spacer sticks to keep the swarm cells off the bottom of the nuc. Definitely putting that one in my back pocket. Will the mother colonies you left 2 frames of brood in be production colonies this year? If so, that sounds like amazing growth in a month to be up to forager population by the honey flow.
The two frame mother colonies won't make much spring honey unless it's a great year which could happen. But they'll definitely be ready for the Sourwood flow that comes around mid June in this area.
Your using your swarm cells based off the mothers bought from Sue in California right? So your genetics moving forward will be great but not necessarily for people like myself with 10-15 hives? I have 2 hot hives I’m in the process of requeening, the queens are daughters from Sue’s queens… what I’m asking is in order to do this, the queens preferably should be from a certified queen seller but also understand the underlying importance of preventing your bees from swarming. Thanks Bob!
The queens in these colonies were raised by us and came from breeder queens produced by Shibu Raj in Tennessee. He used daughters from a breeder he purchased from Sue Cobey in Washington state and semen harvested from drones that he picked up from me that were from a breeder that also came from Sue but was unrelated. These queens have a generally low tendency to swarm so I feel good about using cells produced by them. I don't think they were displaying a predominant tendency to swarm.
In reference to setting back a colony due to loss of field force, as long as swarm cells are not ready and all are removed, do you mean if the cells are capped and by removed, is that by the beekeeper? Or will the colony abort the cells if the lose of field is large enoug
Although we generally try to remove the cells ourselves to make sure, the colony will usually abort the cells unless they are ripe and close to hatching. Occasionally even ripe cells will be aborted. If we're in a rush for some reason we may choose to skip the cell removal part when we move the colony as long as they aren't sealed yet.
Honey has medicinal properties, especially manuca honey. Does bees feeding from sugar water change this, not sure about what the tests would be in a science lab from testing honey if it's more like 90% cane sugar, love to know???
@@bobbinnie9872 awesome, I’ve managed to go from leather gloves to latex, so far all good 😊, next step will try without 🤞🏼…. Spring is fine, but on fall they are sometimes angry as hell 😬 Best regards from Slovenia, home of Carniolan bee
In the beginning they will just be building. If it's a decent spring flow the may make some before it's over. They'll definitely be ready for the Sourwood flow in mid June.
It seems so different watching these videos our production honey flow in Saskatchewan doesnt start until very late june or early july and is done by the end of august . Unless there is a lot of alfalfa or sweet clover near the yard 😢
The queens in these colonies were raised by us and came from Caucasian breeder queens produced by Shibu Raj in Tennessee and are daughters from a Caucasian breeder he purchased from Sue Cobey in Washington state. They were inseminated with semen harvested from drones that he picked up from me that were from a Carniolan x Caucasian breeder that also came from Sue but was unrelated. These queens have generally shown a low tendency to swarm so I feel good about using cells produced by them. I don't think they are displaying a predominant tendency to swarm. It's just Mother Nature doing her thing.
ua-cam.com/video/ht6DRBH3i58/v-deo.html&ab_channel=GeorgeLudington found a swarm today
That's quite the pedigree tracking almost like horses. Maybe one day you'll be able to take them to a genetics lab, or create an ancestry DNA for bees. Ha. Nice vid thanks
Just love the way Bob explains each step to the people who are obviously learning the ropes,shows great character and respect for the people who work with him.
This is not to disparage other tubers, but I learn so much just from watching Bob work with the bees and the crew. This video style is so helpful for us non-professional new keepers. Thanks Bob for taking the time
I watch Bob as a UA-cam mentor. He is a no non sense intelligent beekeeper with lots of great tips!
None of this is rocket science, yet Bob has thought all of this through very carefully and applied a large dose of common sense, which we all know is a rare commodity these days! There is so much that a small scale beekeeper can learn from Bob's videos and apply to their own colonies. Thank you sir, I enjoy these working in the field clips, probably because I have run my own non bee business for 40 odd years and it is interesting from the management point of view. Good staff help too!
Thanks. 👍
Great comment. Comon sense... I agree, after decades of doing it we still have something to learn from ich other.
Love the 'Lift Kit' approach 👍🏽
Watching you work is a study in Economy of Motion. Your experience is evident without even a word spoken.
Bob. I really like the stick trick to hold up the frame with swarm cells. Excellent video. Thanks for sharing your experience with the rest of us.
Very welcome.
That's called common sense. I am not a beekeper and I got it in my mind when I saw the frame before he told it to the other guy.
Wish I lived in the a warmer climate so we could work with the bees longer.
Learn so much from these videos, quality beekeepers. Great stuff.👍✅
I wish I could have raised my children the way you teach your helpers.
Bob,
You are a great coach! Your style of management is a lesson for all to learn from.
Nice to see the videos of working the hives and explaining the process. Thanks for sharing.
Great video Bob fully explained how to work in bee yard 👌👌 Thank you for this camera man Seth 🐝🐝 great job Team 🐝
Thanks. 👍
Yes sir it has already been a crazy early spring. I had swarm cells on Feb. 28th and made 4 splits just like this. And it's all because of what you and your team have taught me over the years. All 4 queens have mated and now starting to lay here in NC. This usually doesn't happen til late March or April. Thanks again sir for your knowledge and teaching. Have a good Sunday professor!
👍
Great video Bob! Looking forward to seeing how these splits progresses 😊👍🏻
Thanks 👍
It means a lot that even though you are obviously pressed for time that you still take the time to make these videos and explain things.
I am going to say it again, I wish I could work with you all day . Love your work, love everything you're sharing. Thanks for doing what you do. I learned a lot from you and I am still learning as we go!
Come visit us some time.
This is so fantastic, just another inspiring video. Hunestly i dont know how to say thank you enough, Love your spirit in the company. It is not often someone can see the spirit in a workteam as this. And all good beework, thanks for it. Sweden 20 hives and lots of new nuc boxes.
Thanks, 👍
Bob, I always learn new things with your videos. Thank you.
Another great video. It's nice we can pick up tips while you are training your crew. And those are some really good looking colonies. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks 👍
This is great ,thanks always Bob Binnie for making and posting these videos .😊
Thanks Bob and crew. We are still a month at least behind you here on Oregon coast
Thanks Bob another great video.
I use swarm cells for splits as well, but ever since I started beekeeping in 2019 many beeks tell me that swarming is terrible, treating it like some sort of disease. I've had to train my brain to replace the word swarming with mating. While there are some pros and cons to swarming and using it as a management technique, it's not nearly the nightmare some make it out to be. I trust that the bees know what they are doing, much more so than me most of the time. I look forward to your next video while I sit here waiting for the snow and ice to melt. Possibly six to eight more weeks of waiting for better weather here in Newfoundland. I can't believe you guys are dealing with swarms this early in the season. Keep up the good work!
Thanks. 👍
Revisiting this video again I want to add a detail that I do.
I also use swarm cells for splits. I see Bob adding some small sticks to the frame shelf to raise the frame & queen cell up slightly from the bottom board. I preemptively slip in a feeding shim between the bottom board and the nuc box to create the temporary extra space needed for the queen cells.
In my climate I also like to grow out small colonies in nuc box hives: a colony in a 5 over 5 configuration is more successful than in a 10 frame box. I will grow them into 5x3 hives before transfer into 10 frame equipment.
I should add that I am a backyard beek; my method is likely too fiddley for a commercial operation.
Your videos keep getting better and better.Thanks Bob
Another Great Video, the "lift kit" was an excellent tip. I learn something from every video, thank you for taking the time to produce these videos.
It's always very reassuring when you do something and Bob comes out with a video about the exact same thing a couple days later
That was an interesting video, lots of information to learn from here. Thanks for sharing, Bob. I'm going to save this one to the watch later and implement some of these methods this spring in my hives if I have the chance. Great way to gain some hives quickly!
Thanks for such a careful and thorough explanation - great video.
Bob, great video! Folks can learn so much from your videos, I know that I certainly do. That little frame lift trick is cool. I still have some of the wood wedges that I used with wired wax foundation so I will use them for frame lifts from here on out.
Interesting learning the stick hack to lift the frames. I build my own nucs and always give 3/4" on the bottom. Now I have a hack for when I don't have the extra room.
Lift kit ! I LIKE it !
Thank you Bob
Wow Bob you are so smooth in operation. The knowledge you are sharing with us is priceless if your a sideliner trying to make that jump. I am buy out a retiring beekeeper in Michigan so excited at the opportunity, and I have you to thank for inspiring me to make a jump. I have around 50 colonies, with the ability to run near 1000, maybe I will have be able to sell you a load of honey someday! Thanks for sharing your story and helping so many
Thanks. I be waiting for a sample. 👍
Great video. We are seeing the same conditions here in Louisiana. I checked bees today on 3/12 and could believe how much they had grown.
Great video for me now.
So much rain. 2 weeks ago one colony swarmed right before an all night rain. I got to the bee yard in the morning, they were about 30' high and ready to check out.
I waved goodbye.
Last week it rained, got to beeyard around 8am. A limb fell, I looked up and there they were about 20' up. I got those girls. I'm seeing the same things in my little yard.
Thanks Bob, I have to work alone and this year has been a little overwhelming for me.
It answered a lot of questions.
👍
This is the way Papa always worked bees!! Best mentor 🐝
Mr Binnie your calmness is good, me not so much so much going on makes me feel overwhelmed.
I Thank God for yall, you and Kaymon (and the Almighty) have helped me stay on top of next move. To Jesus be the glory. Your lessons thru video are getting better and better
Hey Bob.............At 12:50, are those bees Carniolan and/or Caucasian hybrids? They don't look like the typical Italian bees that you Southerners keep, as they are fairly dark. Thanks, Bob!
Not all of our bees look like this but we're working on it. The queens in this yard came from mostly Caucasian Breeder queens and then mated with our general population which is 50% Caucasian, 25% Carniolan and 25% Italian. We're pushing towards having mainly Caucasian with a little Carniolan stock.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks, Bob! I'm an Iowa beekeeper that greatly admires your work. In my own operation, I've nearly eliminated the Italians from my breeding program. Italians are great bees (especially for Southerners AND migratory guys) but, I've noticed that they carry very high mite loads. Perhaps as a consequence of this, they don't fare well during our long, hard, and brutal Iowa winters. My genetics are Russian and Dr. Cobey's New World Carniolan bees. Until you mentioned Shibu Raj, I hadn't heard of his program. This year, I wanted to incorporate Caucasian stock into my program. Do you know much about the "Mountain Grey " Caucasian bees sold by Winters Apiaries? Those were the Caucasians that I looked into trying. Thanks again, Bob!
@@tedadams1324 Hi Ted. I don't anything about Winters. You might search for reviews before purchasing. Shibu knows Sue well and uses her stock and semen that she gathered from the Republic of Georgia. I made a video on him two summers ago. ua-cam.com/video/oH4fYUrYk1w/v-deo.html. Good luck.
@@bobbinnie9872 I see and I VERY MUCH appreciate the advice. I'll probably go with Shibu then. Your recommendation speaks volumes. Dr. Cobey's NWC bees (from Strachan Apiaries) have done exceedingly well for me. I just love her work. SOME of the F1 NWC and Russian crosses CAN be a little pesky. hehe However, I'm one of the few beeks that doesn't mind hot hives that pop up occasionally.
I'll continue to look forward to happily viewing your upcoming videos! I do have an idea for a future video for you. For those of us that don't AI Queens and we exclusively Open Mate our Virgins, I'd love to see a video about how to strategically place our Drone and Virgin hives that maximizes successful matings. Just an idea.
Thanks, Bob!
Thanks for sharing, Bob. Educational as always. Keep it up!
Beautiful brood patterns!
I noticed the fescue is growing and lush in the Henry yard, that tells me it's had lots of sun and good growing weather, and so goes the bees, the field behind my house I lease to a peanut farmer and every row where his thrasher ran is covered with Henbit and why I had 2 hives swarm 2-21 & 23, luckily I was working the bees and caught both swarms, 1 was a 2 framer and the second was over 7 frames, with enough bees and cells in both boxes of the parent hive to split it as well.
Oh, I know it was my fault for not keeping up with my bees, they were building faster than I realized off 40 acres of lush henbit, my bees were coming in loaded with pollen 1-15, great video and the lift kit to protect the queen cells was a cool trick 😎😀👌
Love your videos mr Bob … my wife and I are up visiting from south east Alabama for a couple days and are coming by you store tomorrow …would love to meet you if possible .. will you be around ?
I'll be there for a short time first thing in the morning. We open at 8:30. Please ask if I'm there.
Sounds great !!! If it doesn’t work out this time maybe next time we come up … we are slowly getting into the honey/ bee business ..I really would like to get some of your bee stock so I may put in an order soon …hope to see you soon
I love the bricks on the pails .
I ran hives with a freind in southern sask that used rocks to keep the hive covers from blowing off and you had to work your bees with your back to the wind or your eyes would fill with dirt even when you were wearing a veil .
It was easy to find rockscthe topsoil had blown away .
He plated yellow blossom sweet clover in north and sout strips to catch the soil blowing by !!!
LT
You sir are one of the best. Thank you master Yoda.
Great video and information as well. Things are really taking off here in north west alabama. Got this little cold spell for a few days which will slow down the swarming for a few days . I seen a few drones flying yesterday so it is in the works. ❤️🐝
Great video, might use this one in my Ag classes this week.
Another excellent course from BU (Binnie University). …and the fees are so reasonable!
Looks like you got some new help there! That's awesome!
Great video as always. Thanks for sharing
Thanks 👍
Bob, you are getting warm weather and we are having cooler then normal weather. Bees in California haven’t been able to fly as much from cold, rain and wind. Up here in Washington it’s been snowing like once a week. It melts real quick but it just doesn’t want to warm up. Can you please send some warm weather our way?
😎 My best seasons have come after what you're going through. I hope all that moisture pays off for you.
Good job Bob! It pretty early for swarming but just caught a swarm last week in a 5 gal bucket, but I’ll take it. Good stuff Bob
Great video Bob, I love making splits with queen cells , very easy way to split you bees if you do not have access to cells or queens. Cheap way also lol.
Instructive video, thank you for sharing
Good job. Swarm cells are not connected only with swarm genetics but space, weather and incoming nectar flow so they are excellent to make new queen bees on the season. I sometimes deliberate cause swarm situation and using queen cells and capped brood for making new nucs.
Bob thanks for sharing a bit about writing notes on colony and in your truck. Hope you can do a video of notes and how to keep up with what needs to be done when. I am getting to the age I need to not keep it in my head.
Hi Kevin. Our notes are very simple. You saw most of it here but I'll show more in a future video. Thanks.
Added boxes yesterday. 🐝 are 3 weeks ahead of schedule from this time last year here in Indiana. Thanks for the share 👍🏻
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It’s crazy how so many are seeing that 3-4 weeks ahead in their hives. I’ve seen others saying locally they’ve caught swarms and all too. Thankfully so far none of mine have started any cells but I have a feeling it’ll be once this cold snap passes there will be and it’ll be split time!
Ha Bob good to see u back in the bees, my bees are ahead as well the trees are in bloom but the weather is so cray do u think the flow will start early since the weather is up and down and things are blooming what happens when it goes back down to the 30s this is not a stupid question u have been a bee keeper for years does it kill the trees do u think the bees know the flow is going to start early and that is why they are building up so early thanks have a blessed week
Hi Frances. Everything you mention is possible and I don't think there is a way to know for sure at this point. If there's anything I've learned for sure is that it's dangerous to try and outguess Mother Nature and we need to be ready for anything.
Lots of good information. Enjoyed the video. Love your crew. Take care.
Thanks 👍
Bob, when you are doing the split and removing frames and only leaving two frames of brood and the queen (hopefully) what is the combination of frames you are adding? Maybe I missed it, but is it all foundation or are you adding empty comb?
Great demonstration and teaching of your new keepers
Empty comb would be best but we're limited on it so we'll just be adding foundation. Thanks.
Bob, I noticed that you used plastic foundation in wood frames. Just curious, do you add extra wax to the foundation? Do you spray them with sugar water - I've heard this attracts bees to the new frames. Finally, you use plastic comb for drones, - why don't you use an all plastic frame/foundation combination?
Thank you for these videos!
We use double waxed foundation from the factory and generally have good luck. Nothing else. We do use the green all plastic drone frames from Acorn. Works great.
Great video Bob! What are you using in your smokers to get such nice smoke? You’re the best!
Thanks. We use a combination of pine straw, which is very abundant in Georgia, and wood stove pellets. Pine straw alone works great but when combined with wood stove pellets it lasts a long time.
We are in MS and we have had an amazing amount and size of swarms. Since we lost several with a freeze here I wonder if that caused the reaction. Did y’all see the same thing after the FEB 2021 freeze?
Wishing I could borrow your boys for an hour. I'm newer to Beekeeping, put off inspection of brand new nucs for 2 weeks after placing, all have swarm cells. Almost 100% of my colonies (May 15 spring JUST sprung here) and this already!?! And we didn't really want more bees this soon, we don't have enough equipment!! We're pretty rural too, so getting more fast is difficult. We counted 25 swarm cells between 2 hives!! I've been down a UA-cam rabbit hole looking for help, find this video. VERY HELPFUL!!! Thank you!!! No really, send me a few of those boys, 🐝❤️ I need help!!
Sorry, wish I could help. Good luck to you.
So those colonies you left with 2 frames of brood and the laying queen and feed will be big enough to produce honey by the nectar flow?
For the spring flow, only if it is a good long one. They'll be ready for the Sourwood flow which comes in mid June in this location. Here it was more about producing splits which I consider a harvest too.
@@bobbinnie9872 Good stuff Bob, thank you for your time.
Bob
Another great video. I like the stick idea. I built my nuc boxes with a shim between the bottom board and box for that very reason. Do you have anything blooming yet? We have Bartlett Pair starting in Ozark Mo. I will get in my hives this week for deep inspection.
The Bartlett pears are blooming now.
Amazing work guys, it’s my second year beekeeping and I’m learning a lot from you, I was thinking about splitting with swarm cells too this year, how often would you say swarm cells splits are successful?
75% to 85% if conditions are good.
@@bobbinnie9872 thank you
I used to think, if it's a cold year there it will be a warm year here. But over the last few years l see you in the south part of US having the same weather and almost the same colonie growth and conditions, early starts... like l have in the Mediterranean, Adriatic sea area. We even had the same bad one a couple of years back
As a hobbyist I made two nuc boxes 3/4" deeper than normal so I can drop a big swarm cell in without smashing it. I marked the nucs with a marker so I remember.
Great video again Bob. After my snowbanks melt, maybe I can use this method again. I worry with for your bees that mother nature may throw you a monkey wrench yet. Hopefully not.
Time will tell. Thanks.
Bob is there a chance this could lead to 'swarmy' genetics in the new queens? I realize you are seeing an overcrowded situation in those hives and just about any bee would prepare to swarm in those conditions.
I made that mistake in the past. Under the current circumstances I think these colonies are acting normal.
Winter starts in oct and ends in late april -early may .
Getting the bugs thru the winter is tough then we spend our time equalizing hive size and replacing the losses abd building hives as large as possible .
If it rains at night and is hot during the days the nectar pours in .🎉
Hey Bob. You mentioned you were a good month away from full-spring so confused why are there so many swarm cells. Is it true that hives won’t try to create a new queen, swarm or supersedure, until the hive has a healthy number of drones?
Yes, this is generally true. These colonies were raising drone brood and some was beginning to hatch but it still seems early. I think it was partly a combination of a very strange early spring in our area and colonies becoming overly crowded in a small space. Our double deeps are not doing this yet.
@@bobbinnie9872 I’m very grateful for all your help Bob.
Bob...what are the upside down buckets on top of the hive for? thanks
We often use buckets for feeding sugar syrup.
Bob
Thanks for one of the best videos ever. Since everything is early this year, what will be your marker or criteria for adding excluders to double deeps? Thanks.
I shouldn't admit it but I'm honestly not certain yet. The season is so odd that we're trying to stay flexible and be ready for anything. The doubles in this video will be split back to single size in two weeks and may or may not keep the second deep depending on how the forage looks. Other yards may remain doubles after splitting because they are bigger and could give us brood and still be ready for the flow. Either way, any colony that remain a double won't get excluders on them. Watching what Mother Nature does.
To make sure I understand, are you saying doubles won’t get an excluder until the flow starts or not at all during the year. I had planned to put excluder between the deeps when the flow started , esentially converting top deep to honey super. In Greenville, I m not sure that the flow hasn’t already started. Thanks again for your advice.
@@donw1864 At times we do use the second deep as a honey super like you describe but probably not this year. If we're running a colony as a two deep brood chamber setup we don't use excluders.You can see our video on singles like you describe at this link. ua-cam.com/video/UsxM4htq4Hw/v-deo.html
Im jealous its the 19 march 2023
And the snow is still covering the land up to your knees its beautiful outside the sun is shining and the sky is clear and its -6c .
Len
Great educational video as always! Always looking forward to see your videos! Think I have to ask you if I can come over from Norway and spend a week with your team learning, me off course offering free labor in exchange 😃
You can teach us a new language while you're here. 👍
@@bobbinnie9872 off course, no problem! 👍🏻😃
I like that you are so kind. Great job
Thank you! 😊
Thank you for your videos. Do you move capped queen cells by truck as well? If so, do you experience higher rates of queen failures in those cases?
We do moved capped cells and usually have good luck. We do try to be gentle though.
Mug up from central NH where it is 20 F at 730am. The snow pack is melting, but still around 20" with 5-11" on tap for tomorrow. Ah, NH. It should be in the upper 40's today and the bees will be out, but no pollen yet. I have 4 out of 7 colonies make it so far. I've got a light nuke that I hope to give a frame or 2 of honey to today. I hope to expand a little this year, we shall see. Great to watch your content, thanks for sharing, have a great day, Brice
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Hey Brice,Just my 2cents from past learnings, but i believe it's been proven that sugar water will help them better than honey coming out of winter. There's past videos explaining why
@@scottreese5492 Perhaps, but I have frames of stores and temps are too low to feed liquid.
Id like to see Bob exlain how make giant bee 🐝 colonies like we do in saskatchewan to reap the benifits of a huge canola and clover crop .
3 or 4 box nest is common and we seldome use honey reducers (excluders )
Len
At 13.58 to 14.01 is that a queen on top of the lid, at the edge 🤔
Shane Hamilton, 00:13:58 Now the tag works. Good eye!
I looked closely and I think it's a worker bee dragging some debris behind her.
What do you use for smoker fuel? Where do you get the bee jackets with the round veils Thanks Bob.
We use pine needles and hardwood pellets. Most of the jackets came from Dadant.
Thanks Bob great video and you have a great team of guys!😁
Thanks 👍
If I only put six grafts in a stater hive, is that too many for them to finish off or do I have to putt them in a stringer hive ?
I think they would finish them off fine.
So what do you do with all that honey flavored sugar syrup? Commercial honey?
We never harvest anything that may have sugar in it.
Interesting trick using spacer sticks to keep the swarm cells off the bottom of the nuc. Definitely putting that one in my back pocket. Will the mother colonies you left 2 frames of brood in be production colonies this year? If so, that sounds like amazing growth in a month to be up to forager population by the honey flow.
The two frame mother colonies won't make much spring honey unless it's a great year which could happen. But they'll definitely be ready for the Sourwood flow that comes around mid June in this area.
Thanks again for a great video Bob. Question, Does a Queen stop laying for a while before she swarms out of the box.
She slows down so she can slim down to fly.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks.
Is it advisable to split colonies with swarm cells? I mean, wouldn't you be propagating swarm prone genetics in your apiaries?
You certainly would if you are using cells that were made before normal time.
Your using your swarm cells based off the mothers bought from Sue in California right? So your genetics moving forward will be great but not necessarily for people like myself with 10-15 hives? I have 2 hot hives I’m in the process of requeening, the queens are daughters from Sue’s queens… what I’m asking is in order to do this, the queens preferably should be from a certified queen seller but also understand the underlying importance of preventing your bees from swarming. Thanks Bob!
The queens in these colonies were raised by us and came from breeder queens produced by Shibu Raj in Tennessee. He used daughters from a breeder he purchased from Sue Cobey in Washington state and semen harvested from drones that he picked up from me that were from a breeder that also came from Sue but was unrelated. These queens have a generally low tendency to swarm so I feel good about using cells produced by them. I don't think they were displaying a predominant tendency to swarm.
Bob, how do you determine which cells to leave behind? What is the key criteria to watch for? Thanks in advance!
We just pick the ones that look the best.
do you have problems with plastic foundation do they warp from the heat in the summer?
We've not seen that problem.
In reference to setting back a colony due to loss of field force, as long as swarm cells are not ready and all are removed, do you mean if the cells are capped and by removed, is that by the beekeeper? Or will the colony abort the cells if the lose of field is large enoug
Although we generally try to remove the cells ourselves to make sure, the colony will usually abort the cells unless they are ripe and close to hatching. Occasionally even ripe cells will be aborted. If we're in a rush for some reason we may choose to skip the cell removal part when we move the colony as long as they aren't sealed yet.
Honey has medicinal properties, especially manuca honey.
Does bees feeding from sugar water change this, not sure about what the tests would be in a science lab from testing honey if it's more like 90% cane sugar, love to know???
Here is a link to a video with some information. ua-cam.com/video/aN428TJpDuw/v-deo.html
@Bob Binnie thank you Bob, your video on this topic answered my question and more.
When are you going to write a beekeeping book Bob?
I would like to do that but don't seem to have the time. Perhaps if I retire some day.
Great information 👍 Thanks for sharing 👏👏🇬🇧
Thank you. 👍
Hey Bob, when will you start selling nucs?
Our first date for nuc sales this year is April 8. We began making those nucs today, March 14.
We have been in the same situation as you, here in SWVA.. Woke up to a dusting of snow this morning. SML BEES
Hello Bob. How long did it take for y'all to work that yard?
I'm guessing around 45 minutes to an hour.
Also, I think I asked at one point but wanted to ask again-do you sell your Caucasian queen line queens? If yes, who do I contact? Thx
Hi Brad. We will begin having some available in late May and will begin taking orders through our store in April. 706 782 6722
@@bobbinnie9872 I see on your site you don’t ship, is this correct?
@@bradgoliphant Yes, that's correct.
How can you handle them without glowes? :)
Great job 👌
Thanks. We do occasionally get stung but because our bees are generally gentle it's not very much.
@@bobbinnie9872 awesome, I’ve managed to go from leather gloves to latex, so far all good 😊, next step will try without 🤞🏼…. Spring is fine, but on fall they are sometimes angry as hell 😬
Best regards from Slovenia, home of Carniolan bee
@@zelezobeton I wish you good luck. The moment you take your gloves off you become a better beekeeper out of necessity.
Y’all are leaving 2 brood frames and stated flow a month away. Will you exclude and super in 4 weeks or just let build off flow?
In the beginning they will just be building. If it's a decent spring flow the may make some before it's over. They'll definitely be ready for the Sourwood flow in mid June.
Good stuff as always Bob!
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It seems so different watching these videos our production honey flow in Saskatchewan doesnt start until very late june or early july and is done by the end of august .
Unless there is a lot of alfalfa or sweet clover near the yard 😢
Yes but you guys make so much so fast.