When you setup a starter hive how long do the nurse bees remain nurse bees? How long before you need to add more fresh nurse bees? Thanks for showing that not everything always works as planned.
For the first two days a worker bee cleans cells and keeps brood warm. Day 3-5 she feeds older larva. Day 6-11she feeds young larva. Day 12-17 she produces wax and transports food within the hive. Day 18-21 she guards the entrance. Day 22 til death she is a field bee.
@@mikeries8549 you are right I should have read the question better. I has thinking about my starters. I run the same starter all year so I add a frame of capped brood every graft so I have lots of nurse bees..
@@LittleBitsHoneyBeesjoemay the poster called "The Life Cycle of the Honeybee Family" is hanging on my family room wall above my extractor. The family room has a tile floor. Rest of house is carpet so I extract in the family room. That poster has a TON of info that's easy to digest.
Nice video. With all those fresh eggs I would have done the same thing and gave her all the frames. Your videos are helpful for the beginner beekeeper and also the experienced. Thanks again
When doing a split how do you keep the bees from leaving? I will take out honey frames and brood frames with a lot of bees on them put them in the box and in a couple days they won't be their. Just a couple dozen bees left. Do I need to rub some lemongrass oil on a frame? They have plenty of honey.
So it don't slid any, when you cut a 10 frame excluder in half it just barely covers a five frame nuc. If you have to take the top box off the excluder will not come up with the top box.
How do u deal with robbing Joe. Mine are starting to rob bad. I've reduced the entrances to practically nothing and their still doing it. I'm open feeding too about 150yards away. Please help
I keep robbing screens on all the small hive and open feed. When you open feed you need enough feeder so they don't fight and never and I say never let the feeder go dry. If it really gets bad I set up a box with honey frames in it let them rob for a couple hours. Then I put the lid on it and a one way bee entrance on the front; Then at the end of the day I take that box to a new yard.
Beeman just don't open feed. Never leave any thing sweet in the yard. Always keep a screen over the boxes u set aside, when working them. If you're open feeding. Chances are hives that need it, aren't getting it anyways. Italians are great to run, if u feed them properly.
Joe, Great video! Proof that humans are involved and therefore problem solving will be required. In this case, the human did not cause the problem, but was still the necessary component to fixing it!
Happy Father's Day to all the fathers. Joe, I have a question. When is making walkaway splits not a good idea? I'm assuming that the time is drawing near. Your thoughts please.
I don't do any walk away spit because it take so long for them to get queen right.Here in Indiana you can do a walk away all the way to med july. This late I would not do a walk away in the same yard unless it is really strong because of the robbing.
Hey Joe, I haven't seen anyone do this, but what about putting a queen excluder on the entrance to the hive? I know any drones in the box won't be able to get out, but I'd think it would eliminate any queens getting into the box...and if you contain a few possible drones, it shouldn't matter, I'd guess.
Joe, why don't you put your queen excluder on the bottom board, so a rouge queen cant get into the cell builder at all, this is what I have done in my cell builder setup . Also do you feel that a deep and a medium box combination helps confined the nurse bees to a smaller space so you get more bees working on the cell bar for better acceptance? I been using two deep boxes but I am going to switch over to your setup. After you put a graft bar in the cell builder do you go back and check for rouge queen cells that might be on one of the caped brood frames that you put in? the last graft that i did the bees found a egg and turn it into a queen cell and they tore down all 10 of my grafted cells.
The reason I put the excluder on top of the med box, I think it keeps the nurse bee up in the deep. I mark the date on top of the frame every time I add a new frame. When I pull a graft I look at the dates and only have to check one frame. PS: you have to shake the bees off that frame or you will miss a queen cell.
Joe I have watched most if not all of your videos, you say that a virgin queen has to eat within a short time , I am wondering if queen candy would do ? also a turkey feather is much better than a bee brush thanks .
Nice nuc yard!
Joe.. Ever think about putting a queen excluder on the Front Entrance of the Lower Box to keep the Roaming Queens out of the bottom box?
I have I usually put it on the bottom board so it gives them plenty of room to get in and out of not just the entrance
@@LittleBitsHoneyBeesjoemay Ha.. Yes.. I just saw the video where you did that. Thanks..
Very nice indeed my friend. Thanks for sharing.
Dream Big brother 🙏
I just love how down to earth and real your videos are Joe, thanks so much for sharing them.
When you setup a starter hive how long do the nurse bees remain nurse bees? How long before you need to add more fresh nurse bees?
Thanks for showing that not everything always works as planned.
I put a new frame of capped brood in every 6 days.
For the first two days a worker bee cleans cells and keeps brood warm. Day 3-5 she feeds older larva. Day 6-11she feeds young larva. Day 12-17 she produces wax and transports food within the hive. Day 18-21 she guards the entrance. Day 22 til death she is a field bee.
@@mikeries8549
Hi Mike. Thanks for this post, I knew this at one time but of course, I forgot!
@@mikeries8549 you are right I should have read the question better. I has thinking about my starters. I run the same starter all year so I add a frame of capped brood every graft so I have lots of nurse bees..
@@LittleBitsHoneyBeesjoemay the poster called "The Life Cycle of the Honeybee Family" is hanging on my family room wall above my extractor. The family room has a tile floor. Rest of house is carpet so I extract in the family room.
That poster has a TON of info that's easy to digest.
Nice video. With all those fresh eggs I would have done the same thing and gave her all the frames. Your videos are helpful for the beginner beekeeper and also the experienced. Thanks again
Making lemonaide Joe! Love watching you work!! Still got my feather. Best tip I ever got! Thank you.
When doing a split how do you keep the bees from leaving? I will take out honey frames and brood frames with a lot of bees on them put them in the box and in a couple days they won't be their. Just a couple dozen bees left. Do I need to rub some lemongrass oil on a frame? They have plenty of honey.
most of the time I move the queen if I don't move her I use a pheromone strip in the split.
@@LittleBitsHoneyBeesjoemay
What I did was just move some bees and a queen cell that was capped. Thought they would stay but they did not.
Been there done that.
I put water on the feeder, and lock them in for 3 nights, 2 days. Let them out on the 3 rd night. Works great.
You did your split backwards. Typically you walk away with laying queen, capped brood, and some stores. I did my first walkway backwards too.
Hey Joe, I am not understanding the reason for stapling the excludere!
So it don't slid any, when you cut a 10 frame excluder in half it just barely covers a five frame nuc. If you have to take the top box off the excluder will not come up with the top box.
@@LittleBitsHoneyBeesjoemay I appreciate it.
How do u deal with robbing Joe. Mine are starting to rob bad. I've reduced the entrances to practically nothing and their still doing it. I'm open feeding too about 150yards away. Please help
I keep robbing screens on all the small hive and open feed. When you open feed you need enough feeder so they don't fight and never and I say never let the feeder go dry. If it really gets bad I set up a box with honey frames in it let them rob for a couple hours. Then I put the lid on it and a one way bee entrance on the front; Then at the end of the day I take that box to a new yard.
PS: Don't run Italians.
@@LittleBitsHoneyBeesjoemay Thanks
Beeman just don't open feed. Never leave any thing sweet in the yard. Always keep a screen over the boxes u set aside, when working them. If you're open feeding. Chances are hives that need it, aren't getting it anyways. Italians are great to run, if u feed them properly.
@@segami2808 What do u mean? U don't open feed at all? How do u feed? Hive top or frame feeder? How do u prevent robbing?
101 subs and you will have 10,000! A Well deserved congratulations!
So is all your hives 5 frames ?
most are 6 frame have some 8 frames in other yards.
Joe, Great video! Proof that humans are involved and therefore problem solving will be required. In this case, the human did not cause the problem, but was still the necessary component to fixing it!
Happy Father's Day to all the fathers. Joe, I have a question. When is making walkaway splits not a good idea? I'm assuming that the time is drawing near. Your thoughts please.
I don't do any walk away spit because it take so long for them to get queen right.Here in Indiana you can do a walk away all the way to med july. This late I would not do a walk away in the same yard unless it is really strong because of the robbing.
Hey Joe,
I haven't seen anyone do this, but what about putting a queen excluder on the entrance to the hive? I know any drones in the box won't be able to get out, but I'd think it would eliminate any queens getting into the box...and if you contain a few possible drones, it shouldn't matter, I'd guess.
It holds the bees up really bad trying to get in the hive.
Joe, why don't you put your queen excluder on the bottom board, so a rouge queen cant get into the cell builder at all, this is what I have done in my cell builder setup . Also do you feel that a deep and a medium box combination helps confined the nurse bees to a smaller space so you get more bees working on the cell bar for better acceptance? I been using two deep boxes but I am going to switch over to your setup. After you put a graft bar in the cell builder do you go back and check for rouge queen cells that might be on one of the caped brood frames that you put in? the last graft that i did the bees found a egg and turn it into a queen cell and they tore down all 10 of my grafted cells.
The reason I put the excluder on top of the med box, I think it keeps the nurse bee up in the deep. I mark the date on top of the frame every time I add a new frame. When I pull a graft I look at the dates and only have to check one frame. PS: you have to shake the bees off that frame or you will miss a queen cell.
Joe I have watched most if not all of your videos, you say that a virgin queen has to eat within a short time , I am wondering if queen candy would do ? also a turkey feather is much better than a bee brush thanks .
They will eat queen candy but they also get stuck in it.
Looks like the Martha Carpenter are working well for you. At least you handle yours better than Bill