Supers, Splits, & Starvation - Bee Vlog
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2024
- So much going on in this video! I got to meet Michael Bush! I give a quick rundown on my winter successes and failures. The plan today was to just run to all my out-yards and add supers, but found queen cells in one and split them to make 2 new resource hives (more on what a resource hive is in a future video). I also go through a dead-out to see what done them in.
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bill, I love the way you think and narrate your videos. it's been a while I know but hope you're still working around the bees. you are an experimenter and always learning like me. Stay interested and creative my friend
I love what Michael Bush is doing in the beekeeping World. I know personally that natural beekeeping is the answer. I also decided to buy a Flow Hive 2 and absolutely love it.
Hi, very sorry to learn that you lost so many colonies this winter. Good that you changed your mind and took the advantage of the queen cells to create nucleus.
Thank you for all your videos. I started a single top bar hive last year and happily it made it through a northern New York winter. Very sorry to hear about your own losses. I installed a nuc yesterday in a 8 frame langstroth so I am officially up to 2 hives. You are an inspiration and a guide for my own natural beekeeping. I'm trying to post videos for friends and family and I chuckled about your battery comment. I wanted to post the nuc installation, first the battery died then the memory was full. I had way more trouble with the filming then the beekeeping. I was able to work it out for a spring top bar inspection posting. Thanks again for the videos, keep them coming, I really look forward to them. Larry
+NNY Bees Thanks! Sometimes these cameras are more trouble than it's worth. :)
Great to see you posting videos!
I love using swarm cells to make splits. That's my primary MO!!! Good vid Bill. I'm bummed I missed Micheal Bush and the last meeting.
As you were talking about getting the swarm trap for the hive, I was like, just split it with a queen cell in each resulting hive. Lo and behold you then said that you had a change of plans!
+David Springgay One of the reasons I changed my mind was because I knew somebody would call me out on it. :) Also, I've been planning to raise more queens anyway and they saved me a couple days' work.
On the hive with the swarm cells as you did not know if it had swarmed or not, you might could have used a version of a 'shook swarm' to determine if the hive had swarmed. If it had not then the 'shook swarm' becomes one of your nucs. This is suppose to prevent having that original hive warming after you have made you splits leaving too few bees to survive. I hope all your splits thrive. Thanks for the videos.
Thanks for the idea. One of the nucs failed to raise a queen. The other one did fine and I'm feeding it now to prep it for winter. The main "mother" hive is still really strong.
I'm so glad you thought to split your hive. My understanding is that if the queen cell is capped, it's most likely that your queen has already swarmed. If your queen has swarmed, I believe that splitting our queen cells out is your best option. This helps protect against one queen killing the rest when she hatches, then not making it back from mating - remember queens have a ~25% chance of not returning from mating flights. By splitting out your queens, you increase your chances of a successfully mated queen.
What I try to do, is artificially swarm out my queen when there are eggs/larvae in queen cells, but before they are capped. I move the queen out and put her in a nuc with a "swarm." Then I let the queen cells develop naturally until they are capped. Once they are capped I cage them and put them in mating nucs or bank them. Then I move the old queen back into the main hive to maintain the colony's strength. Once the new queens are mated and proven, If I feel the old queen is declining, I retire her to a nuc and promote the new queens to the strong colony or colonies of their own. I don't pinch old queens... I let them die out. I want to know her natural life span. Also retiring her is insurance against loosing other queens.
If I miss the queen and she has already swarmed, I do exactly what you did.
Thanks for the great videos. Happy beekeeping! =)
+Cameron MacDonald That's an excellent method of queen production!
Hi Bill, like your videos. What you described as robbing looked like mouse damage, mice also make a stink. A robbed frame will look like 40 grit sandpaper. Thanks.
+Terry Breen You could be right about that. The mold smell also had some subtle feces undertones ("Eau de Feces"?), so there were probably some mouse tenants at some point. No signs of a nest though. There were a few rather large beetles (about 1 inch long, not hive beetles) that were hanging out in there. I have no idea what they were, but I'm wondering if they contributed to the chewed up comb and smell also. Next winter I'm installing mouse guards.
Have you found the additional entrance holes in your boxes to be beneficial? It seems to be a good method to identify which boxes are occupied and being used without having to open the hive.
+Lance Brumfield Yes, I'm really liking them. And you do bring up another good benefit that I hadn't even thought of. The holes are easy to close off too if not needed or wanted, so there's no downside to trying it.
Great video
Great video. Sad to learn of your overwintering losses and that waxmoth damage is ugly stuff.
Did you have a chance to ask your beekeeping hero Michael Bush (mine too) about Flow hives?
He has 5 of them.
"It is the coolest beekeeping invention since Quinby invented the smoker we all now use." - Michael Bush
+rtenpin I did. He said he removes the flow super in the winter and uses 2 brood boxes. He's starting the 3rd season of testing them this year.
Wow - great to know. I don't plan to overwinter with them on either and also run two brood boxes.
Looks like a moisture prob. and not enough stores also. thats mouse damage you have too many entrances and too big.Maybe loose the quilt board they hold dampness and smell up everything, the honey absorbs the stink. a strong hive with good ventilation wont need anything but two deep 10 set up and lots of honey/stores> we have long cold windy winters here in the North East as well. never lost a hive (except pesky Bears)
I agree on the mouse damage, but disagree on the quilt box. Before I started using quilt boxes the hives that died would be loaded with water. We have very wet winters. I'm talking cells full of water from the condensation. Now when I use a quilt box they are very dry. In this hive it was a Vivaldi board modified to be a pseudo-quilt box. Not quite the same thing and not quite as effective. But I will be trying some upper entrance/ventilation on some hives this winter to see how that compares.
Bill, freaking awesome that you are sharing your knowledge with all these videos. I live in Beavercreek (joined PMBA) and got my first bees ever 5/28/16 (Nuc/ split with overwintered local queen, about 6- 7 deep frames of bees/brood/eggs in an 8 frame deep). I have all 8 frame medium boxes (I really like Michael Bush's system) so I added one box on top ( foundationless frames (trimmed 1+ 1/4 inch spacing) with wood starter strip).
?Question?
Do you think it is a good idea to have that 8 frame medium box BELOW the deep box with bees so the starter strips are closer to the brood nest? I noticed your double stacked 5 frame nuc boxes with the empty box BELOW the bees. Just not sure it's worth disturbing mine since they've been recently getting used to their new situation. Would love to see girls survive winter. BTW, I met Lauren and others at Zenger farm last Sunday. Hope to make it to a PUB meeting sometime . Thanks much,
Tony Bobzien
Hi Linda. Welcome! You can either add the box above or below the single box you have now. The problem with putting it under is that I've found the bees are slow to expand into it. When adding it above it's also easier to check on the progress and correct any crooked comb without taking the whole hive apart. I do recommend baiting the new box with either honey or brood. In your case, since you probably want to expand the brood nest, I recommend doing a technique called "pyramid up." I show how to do that in this video: ruclips.net/video/6P6_cdQ84Y8/видео.html
When I added this super I put it under a box that was all honey, no brood. (Sometimes called "under-supering.") With foundationless frames they do need something to walk up so they don't build from the bottom of the frames. So I try to find a frame or two of capped honey and move it up into the box. In this case I had some left-over honey from dead-outs that I used as the "bait" or "ladder" to get them into the box and start drawing out the frames.
Oops. Now I see you signed it as "Tony" using Linda's account. Welcome Tony! (Sorry) :)
Brilliant! I did not know about this "pyramid up" but it makes total sense. I am going to do this. You can call me Linda anytime, i don't care:)
I am not feeding them sugar water now and most everyone is telling me I should. Seems to me there is nectar flowing (i'm at 1200 ft). Thanks for the quick response! Tony
It doesn't make much sense to be to be feeding during a nectar flow.
I know this isn't a simple question to answer but I live in Atlanta, Georgia home of hot and humid summers and I was wondering what type of materials I need to start off a colony in my backyard. Also, do you know how often there are swarms in heavily wooded cities such as Atlanta?
Love you channel,
thanks for the great videos.
+Alx Lerno Check out Don The Fat Bee Man on RUclips and www.dixiebeesupply.com. He's in Georgia. I'm not sure what the swarm situation would be like in your area.
Thanks a lot for your help :)
Been beekeeping for about a 2 years now and watched almost all your videos from the beginning! Great series and was sad to see you took a break (but as a fellow adult... I get it! LOL) I do have a few questions about this video?
1. At Minute 4:20, your hive stands have lengths of PVC pipe on them, what for?
2. The Vivaldi Boards, do you ever have issue with them building bur comb?
3. All the comb from your hive at the end, what will you do with it? I saw a video in your series about how to get wax out of brood comb but didn't know if there was a line drawn when you just chunk it and say good riddance...
Thanks again for your videos!Glad your back!Deano
+Alvin Dean Answers to your questions:
1) For the rain roofs seen in this video: ruclips.net/video/Y9hIVQxX4nc/видео.html
I didn't use rain protection this past winter. Possibly another reason for 1 or 2 of the losses.
2) No problem with burr comb in the Vivaldi boards. With 1 exception: I put a piece of comb up there once with honey in it that had broken off. I left it there for them to clean up. They decided to build that comb up a little bigger. Actually a lot bigger. But if I don't add comb up there then they don't build in there.
3) I melt that stuff down. No matter how gross or nasty it looks it always cleans up nicely with several passes of melting it in water. In fact, I've already melted about 2/3 of it and so far so good.
TheBeeVlog thanks! however, you just added to my work load by saying yes to "Melt it down!"
hi mate hows it going great work love the video good information for a new bee keeper like my self. I have a quick question, I caught a swarm bout 2 months ago and the hive is really strong have added my super after 4 weeks and checked yesterday and they have pretty much filled the top box already .how long can till I can split this hive? any help wold be great thanks
I don't usually recommend splitting a first-year hive unless you're goal is rapid expansion, and that has some risk to it. I also like to give swarms at lease 1 season to prove themselves before splitting or raising queens. 4 weeks is not enough time for them to show they have survivor genetics. I recommend to keep adding supers until the nectar flow is over. If it's a strong flow in your area (and it sounds like it is) then don't just add 1 super at a time. Add 2. But watch for the end of the flow. Since I'm not familiar with your area I recommend seeking local advice on the timing of the nectar flow.
Will you reuse the equipment from the last hive? with the mold / wax moth damage.
Edit: if you do- what sort of clean up will you do?
+Douglas Ellis Yes, I'm going to reuse it. I already scraped off most of the old combs and melted them down. Too much decaying brood to salvage. All the wood will get a wash and scrub and it will be ready for bees again.
Can you still use the wax from that hive, or is it all garbage?
+Colin Keevil I'm melting it down. Too much decay from the dead brood. I don't want to give it back to the bees. But the wax will be usable for other things once it's rendured.
You're in Portland? What do you do for moisture control? I'm up in Issaquah and have had trouble with hives that are wet inside.
+tzkelley Quilt boxes are my preferred method of moisture control. Here's a video about them: ruclips.net/video/259kWwVOvmA/видео.html
How do you clean up after this. Can you reuse the frame the way they are with mold damage or will you have to get rid of the frames and foundation?
+RobertKaci Coleman A little bit of mold is fine. The bees clean it up. This hive had so much decay from the dead brood that I'm just scraping it all down and melting the wax. The wood will get a scrub down with some mild soap and water and will be ready to be put back in use.
How do you prepare that last dead hive for a new colony?
+Samy Ismael I scraped off and melted down most of the really gross comb (the stuff with moth damage and decaying brood). I'll give all the wood a wash and scrub then it will be ready for reuse.
Hey Bill! Great vid btw. I was curious as to what you were using for a mic when you were using your cell phone? I see that it was wireless and I am having a difficult time finding a wireless one o use with the iPhone 6. Thanks
+Bob Bruchsaler The mic I'm using is a Rode smartLav+ plugged into an old decommissioned Android phone that's tucked into my pocket. This produces an audio file separate from the video file. (Not a true wireless mic that you're looking for.) I then sync the audio file with the video file using my video editing software (Cyberlink PowerDirector). Fortunately PowerDirector has an automatic sync feature that makes it really easy to do that. I'm still playing around with the mic placement and recording software though. Haven't quite nailed that down yet.
Good to know thanks! I will continue my quest..
Do you have any exp with Buckfast Bee? Why don't you use them as core species? I've heard that buckfast is rather awesome.
I've heard that too. I've been thinking of getting some, but have only been stocking my bee yards with swarms. I don't know their lineage. Mutts mostly.
+TheBeeVlog would be nice to see some "buckfast" things in future vlogs. Anyway, thank you for your videos!
I have a queen cup with an egg in it. what should I be prepared for?
+Oscars5Roommate Well, there are several reasons you might be seeing that. Either it's time for the queen to be superceded, in which case they are replacing her. Or something might have harmed or killed the queen and it's an emergency replacement. Or they might be preparing to swarm either due to overcrowding or a reproductive urge. How you deal with it depends on what the reason is and what your goals are, and there are entire books written on the subject. If in doubt and you don't know what to do then I recommend leaving it alone. Keep watch on the hive and observe what happens and see what you can learn from it. Meanwhile, be prepared for a possible swarm by having extra equipment on stand-by. You may also need that equipment for a split.
9:43 the brown spots on the dead hive. isn't a sign of nosema ?
+LotoZH Good question. And the answer is, maybe. Spotting like that may be dysentery, but not always, and not always caused by nosema. Sometimes they just have to go but the weather doesn't allow for it so they hit the outside of the hive. The only way to know if a hive has nosema is to use a microscope and look for spores in a sample of bees. If it is nosema and if that is what killed the hive then it would look a lot worse outside and inside. Most hives can recover from mild nosema.
Bill, how about varroa mites??
On the deadout? I don't know. I didn't get a mite count on this hive last summer and there are no Varroa mites in a dead hive. I don't think this was killed by Varroa, it doesn't show the signs of a Varroa related death. I think it starved in late winter. Or might have been AFB. I'm still stuck on the smell. This past weekend I spent a little time with an example frame with AFB at an event at OSU. It smelled EXACTLY like this hive. Although the brood in this one seemed to test negative on the rope test. I still have kept all the equipment quarantined from my other equipment. I sterilized the hive tools used to dismantle it. The comb has already been melted down and essentially destroyed. I'll be torching the boxes and burning the frames just to be safe.
So..... I had been planning on using a burlap bag and wood shavings in a Vivaldi board to help with condensation.... you said it wasn't a "proper quilt box" and didnt' work as well. What IS a proper quilt box?
+Rachel Davis I have 2 videos showing the quilt box I prefer:
ruclips.net/video/FCaw_c_Vh1g/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/259kWwVOvmA/видео.html
I'll be making more of these this year, plus some to fit my 5-frame nuc boxes. I think the problem with the Vivaldi board is that the hole doesn't provide enough surface area for absorbing the moisture. Perhaps an upper entrance together with the Vivaldi board, burlap, and wood shavings would work. Maybe that's something I'll also try this year.
+TheBeeVlog Thank you!!! I will go watch them.
That's some overcrowding.
Why do you 10 frames method instead of the 9 frames?
9 frames would only be used in the honey supers. Still have to use 10 frames in the brood nest to maintain proper bee-space. And since I don't really dictate to the bees where to store honey and I don't use a queen excluder, I find it easier to just use 10 frames throughout instead of fussing with 9 frame spacing.
Will my hive be ok if i dont give them any sugarwater ?
"Im not concerned about honey harvest "
+Delan Sarmad That depends. Are they starving? I don't feed my bees sugar syrup because I try to keep them well stocked with honey so I don't have to (but sometimes I fail at that as shown in this video). Sometimes bees do need to be fed syrup, but I don't know the situation with your bees.
TheBeeVlog aha thanks alot :D appreciated
looks more like mouse damage than robbing
+tjones8043 Yeah, I think you're right.