Everyone also needs to keep in mind he has a family and his own safety to priorities. He would not thoughtlessly kill any kind of animal. I do believe if he chooses to exterminate this hive he has exhausted his other options and has to put the families safety first. For those saying leave them be, they're too aggressive for even that.
Aggressive bees are like literal killer dogs on the loose. You don't want issues and the public upset with you that you let such a danger out on society. You have the responsibility to keep your livestock, animals, and even bees in your apiary in check. If they go out of control you have to be the one to make the right choice and take care of the issue before they go sending someone to the hospital or spreading their genes to other hives thus compromising everyone else's hives and the industry at large. Hives are expensive and its easy to lose them all as it is with all that is going against them lately. Its a big problem in many parts of america and its the law where I live at least to take care of any hives deemed an aggressive hive or the state will take all your hives away after awhile if you don't to protect the community and industry healthy and safe.
I think I realize a major source of your struggles. I looked back at the queen revive video around OCT 2020 and in the white hive I noticed more than a dozen dead bees on the top bars. The way many of your hives are designed there is not enough space between the top of the frames and the lid. If you can provide a gap of 3/8 of an inch at the top the bees will enjoy that space without building any comb there. The best hive designs have a small surface of contact between the lid and the hive body box only along the perimeters. If bees get crushed when the lid is closed they will be very angry for a week or longer. If this occurs repeatedly it could have a cumulative effect on the colony building them into a very wicked demeanor over time. Make sure the entirety of the top bar spaces allow a 3/8 inch gap to the lid when closed. More space and they will build burr comb, less space and they will get crushed and agitated. Even worse sometimes the queen is on a top bar and you could accidentally crush a queen in the top of the nest any random day. I've made one video while beekeeping and I got stung during that moment because I pinched a bee on accident. It is extremely important to focus on not hurting any bees. A colony can become very sensitive to repeated losses. I usually don't wear gloves even when working bigger colonies. When I wear gloves I kill bees, when I kill bees the colony becomes unpleasant. Another way bees are accidentally killed is when they are crushed between two frames when a frame is being moved or between the frame and the box when a frame is being replaced. It is best practice to pull those frames much more slowly. Maybe take 12-15 seconds or so to pull those long frames out, instead of 5 seconds. If you pull the first frame up quickly bees don't have time to react and they get squished. Its called rolling the bees. Also keep a frame out of the box once you start and then return it at the end so you only have one potential rolling event. The mean hives you have shown are certainly very hot and unpleasant. It is tough to evaluate how gentle a hive is if they have recently been harassed by robbing, predators, mites, hive inspections during dearth, bees being hurt or killed during inspections etc. Next time you hope to re-queen try to give it a bit more time, maybe 3-5 days in the cage and checking for queen cells many times over 5-6 days. It is somewhat common for a colony to reject a queen after only 24 hours together. The larger the hive the more time it may take to introduce the queen. There are tricks to improve re-queening rates. You can intentionally cause your adult bees to drift out of the hive by moving the hive away from its location and placing another box in the old hives location. Now introduce the queen into the old hive in the new location with only younger bees remaining within the nest. Later you can swap back the old box when the queen is established, a week or so into laying. Adult bees are more likely than young nurse bees to reject a new queen . Adult bees are more likely to reject a new queen than a laying queen. Managing intentional drift can help make queen introduction safer and more effective. I can understand having little patience with a beehive that has attacked you. But I think there are lessons here you can gather to become a better and happier beekeeper. On one hand I wish to give you the benefit of the doubt and agree with your conclusion. On the other hand I am concerned that you may be unaware of potential struggles. I think a true friend will voice concern and try to help someone see the issues. If you cannot change your hive design then smoke the bees heavily right before you lower the lid. If you lower the lid while there is a large crowd of bees at the top bees are likely to become wicked for at least a week. Sorry if I'm mistaken or if this is way too frank but I want to see you do well with honeybees and carry on as best you can.
I wonder if the same people are worried about the turkeys, or the Delaware Broilers (who seem to be the friendliest chickens[I'd love one for a pet!], and bare the name of my state). Raising necessary pollinators is admirable. Culling one aggressive hive... Well, I'm pretty sure that's helping everyone, especially your community.
@@WindPre . . . The word in animal husbandry is "culling." It's done to better the entire herd/flock/hive or whatever. It is a distinct function from "killing," which can also be done for any number of legitimate reasons. I've noticed that people who object to either action tend to be those who like to buy their eggs sanitized and their meat anonymous. Or they're vegetarian/vegan attempting to claim an entirely unwarranted moral high-ground.
you really need to just decrease the numbers of bees and keep them to under 3 boxes. I showed my buddy that has 10,000 hives under management and he said any hive that gets over 3 supers big will become unbelievably aggressive.
Exactly what I was think it's just to many for one hive break them down. But I don't know anything about bee's but it seemed to work on the new hive and them accepting the new queen
I’m not saying this again. Africanized hives don’t change, a hives population is not what turns a hive that agressive a large hive may be more defensive but not AFRICANIZED. Do not sit here and tell this man to split this hive more times it won’t work these aren’t defensive bees there Africanized learn or don’t comment misleading information in his comments
I watched a National Bee Hive Association. You did the right thing. I know it was hard for you to do this. He tried to replace the Queen. The bees were knocking on the windows and chasing their poor dog. He had been to Africa and worked with African Bees. They were not as bad as his and your bees were worse than his! He had to euthanize them.
Sad for the rejected Queen Bee & Agressive Bees. You all work so hard & even saw your other half carrying the little baby & working outside. So glad your kids are learning skills to sustain a wholesome livelihood. Love your channel.
A lot of those negative comments seem to be coming from people who have no idea how to care for animals or in this case bees. I think you are trying to do the least harm that eventually produces the most good.
@@inferlynx737 honey bees aren't actually endangered due to the massive increase in people keeping bees. It's all the other species of bees that are dwindling fast. There's more than one type of bee. Ireland alone has 14 "native" bumble bees.
@@inferlynx737 it's native bee species that sometimes don't even produce honey (they make the best pollinators). The domestic honey bee is not an endangered species.
Yes, I noticed that Eli is mature and helpful beyond his years. He is nearly his Dad's Right-Hand-Man. I have not noticed Eli shirking any type of chore. Since Eli is so tall and healthy it is difficult to remember that he is only 10 yo.( or near there).
@@BiterAvid Absolutely ! I believe it's his parents that have raised their children beautifully. Many parents could learn much from them. It goes to show you giving attention and hands on life experiences play a huge role in the success of their childrens future. It's such a beautiful hard working wholesome life.
Aww Jake, I’m so sorry they didn’t accept your new Queen. Poor queen bee. What a horrible way to go. I know absolutely nothing about bee keeping, so I will never offer any advice on the subject! But it amazed me that while the yellow hive immediately killed their new Queen, the bees that you moved from the yellow hive to the new blue (?) hive accepted their new queen. Obviously they were in much smaller numbers, but they were still from that aggressive hive! It made me wonder if that aggressive hive was divided into many more new hives, all with new docile queens, maybe then they would chill the f out?! Although, I’m guessing that you would need quite a few more new locations for new hives so that they wouldn’t all just get together again in one big hive! Anyway, you did what you could Jake. You gave them another chance. I guess that hive is just too big and too aggressive to be able to calm them down. I’m sorry it didn’t work. I know you had to be disappointed. By the way, your oldest, Eli I think! He is amazing. He is such a hard worker and is really taking his responsibilities of being the oldest son and a farmer’s son or homesteader’s son, seriously. I’m so impressed with him. He is growing up to be such a fine young man! I know you guys must be so proud of him. And of all your kids of course. Good luck with taking care of that yellow hive.
I’m pretty sure you didn’t wait long enough on the new queen. Usually the queen cages have a candy cork that the hive is supposed to chew open. This gives them time to get acquainted with her smell.
They have had those kind of queens b4 where it had a sugar cube they had to work through but for some reason these came differently. Maybe they should get some that have that method and retry it
Think it was do to the queen cells. As long as the hive has any chance of growing their own queen then often they wont accept any outside queen. Jake must have missed a couple and then didn't give the time for the hive to realize they don't have them
Becky is a real trooper. Baby Isabella strapped to her and working away. Much respect! Eli has really become a great helper. Now he's pulling the larger bird tractors. WOW!
BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH. Those people who are like like, “your greedy for killing a queen so you can get the honey.” Well, its not like that’s the reason he got the bees. EDIT: For the record I know that this comment is aggressive. I didn’t know that it would get this much traction.
@@briancaleb6503 You don't have to go too far back to see them harvesting honey from brood frames, dropping larva into their bucket and everything... Definitely not educated or responsible beekeepers.
It’s a learning curve. You’re getting better at this all the time. Growth of any kind only comes through effort, trial and error, correction and perseverance. You are doing well.
Failure to progress in the intended direction is not re-gress. It is simply progress in another direction. "At least we know a thousand things that *don't* work." ~Thomas Edison ...I think.
I am a beekeeper and I see that bees are very angry, the main reason is how you treat them when working. Causes such as varroa infection or cold hunger may also cause anger, but the most important reason is how it works.
I noticed something on your bees while they were “balling” your new queen. I seen your bees in this give have Varroa Mites. During the late summer early fall it’s crucial to help your colony manage the mite load levels by treating for mites in whatever level you feel you’d like to do so. Mites can cause bees to get viruses and disease. This can play a factor in their behavior. Also will help from mites being transferred to your other hives. There is many ways to treat for mites from A natural way of powder sugar rolling to oxalic acid fogging or strips with Miticide treatment. Also, this hive is still salvageable. Try releasing the queen after 48-72hrs gives her pheromone a chance to spread throughout the hive. Good luck man and thanks for sharing your journey with these bees. 🤙🏼
A. You didn't kill the queen, so the new one was killed in defense (most likely) or; B. The hive was in permanent defense mode and you needed to slow release the new queen (such as with a candy cork queen cage). Either way, you should leave that hive alone for a couple weeks & revisit to try to find the queen again or see if they have spawned a new queen.
Aggressive hives frequently CAN'T be saved. They refuse to accept a docile queen because they view her as having weak genetics. No extra time or anything else will change that. They can tell by the smell of her pheromones whether she's docile or aggressive.
Apparently these are Africanized bees? If so, I retract my statements. They will always become this aggressive when the colony gets big enough. I recommend extinguishing the entire hive if that is the case.
@@bkm2797 It was discussed in another comment thread, but I don't know if it's true...I don't recall hearing it mentioned in any videos, but I could have missed it. That's why I said "if that is the case."
How do you manage to stay calm when they swarm like that?! Even the noise is ominous! I’d be running for the hills (which I’m sure, is entirely the wrong thing 😂). The boys are just so chill, filming away! I’ll have to show my niece these videos, a solitary bee would have her running away 😂
At least you got the blue hive up and running. The bees in the yellow hive have the worst temperament ever. I wonder if it's because that specific hive is so populated. Would splitting it into multiple smaller hives with more docile queens change things?
I can't imagine what else you could do to save and calm down the yellow hive. Perhaps there is an africanized bee strain in there. I don't know much about bees, but I do know about the increase in this aggressive crossbreed. You have become an A+ beekeeper through all this. Your eldest son is taking good video footage as well.
Actually balling a queen usually involves stinging her to death. It would take a whole LOT more bees than that to smother and overheat her, and a LOT more time. That quick a death is from stinging.
@@juliebaker6969 yeah that was pure aggression towards a foreign queen, not sure why a direct release was being used, especially on an aggressive hive with brood and the ability to make their own queen again.... I know some people say they have great success with it but candy plugs were invented for a reason.
@@zeke135 unfortunately that aggressive of a hive just won't accept a docile queen, ESPECIALLY when they still have the ability to create one from brood. And even when they DON'T, it's STILL a gamble. The best bet for acceptance would be to introduce a virgin queen so they can get their OWN drones to mate with her. Problem is, that would introduce BACK the aggressive genes. What he did with the split was smart, get them far enough away from the original hive that they can't get back. Then put them into a hive box that DOESN'T already smell like their old queen. That way they're MUCH more likely to accept a docile queen if there are no aggressive pheromones around to compare her to.
I'm wondering if waiting a couple more days would have helped? Or if they would have done the same thing. The hives I've had have not been aggressive. But I've always have been told to wait 3 days before releasing the new queen...
@@kathyk479 almost certainly on a regular hive. But on an Africanized hive, even THAT would have had little chance of success, especially with brood left to produce an aggressive queen of their own genetic profile. Africanized bees see docile queens as inferior and unacceptable.
To all those haters... not taking care of an agressive hive, and being willing to kill a bad queen is not beekeeping. Its beehaving. If you want to be a beekeeper, you need to manage the hive, not just let it be wild. If you aren't willing to do the difficult things, then don't keep bees, and if you aren't willing to keep bees, you shouldn't have them.
I have loved watching your videos for quite some time now and I find the bee episodes fascinating even though I'm allergic to them. Well, a piece of my hair just randomly came loose from my ponytail and brushed my cheek when I was super interested in the part where you thought they were killing the queen.....I almost threw the laptop lol. I jumped, swatted with one hand and caught the laptop with the other, and then realized it was my hair.
Perhaps you can give them one more chance using the old style cage where the bees chew through the cork to free the queen? That way they have more time to accept her?
It's not about time, it's about genetics. They can tell by the smell of her pheromones that she's a docile queen, and they consider her weak and inferior. No amount of extra time will change that. If they don't accept her in 24 hours they probably never will.
@@boifax unfortunately that's what nature is all about, survival of the fittest. If you think about it, in the wild, an aggressive hive has a better chance of survival. So that hive was only trying to preserve their genetic superiority by killing the inferior queen. Problem is that they aren't IN the wild, they're a domestic hive. A domestic hive can't be allowed to display such dangerous aggressive behavior. They need to be able to be safely worked by the beekeepers, especially since he has his son helping him with the bees.
@@boifax not wise, they're Africanized bees. If you tried something like that, thousands of them would swarm you and LITERALLY try to sting you to death. I have even seen people in full bee suits get stung through the suits, especially where the suit actually touches the body like knees and elbows and such, or at seems in the suit. And they can even sting through leather gloves with cloth work gloves underneath. They will spray you with a marker that causes the whole hive to go on the attack. I have seen leather gloves with literally hundreds of stingers stuck in them, from just ONE encounter. And if there is even the tiniest gap or hole in your suit, they WILL find their way in. Especially at the ends of zippers and around incompletely fastened Velcro. Africanized bees are nothing to screw around with, especially if you are prone to panic or fits of anger. You have to keep a cool head and a calm demeanor when dealing with ANY bees or wasps, especially with aggressive hives. Your actions have to be calculated and careful to keep you and everyone for a mile around safe. And you ABSOLUTELY have to be able to keep your cool in an extremely stressful and dangerous situation, even (especially) when you are being swarmed by thousands of angry bees. Your comment shows a distinct lack of such self discipline. P.S. I read your comment to my husband, and he says it sounds like you are looking to win a Darwin award.
Unfortunately, I don't think you waited long enough to release the queen. I've always heard to let the queen cage stay in the hive for 3 days before manually releasing her or let her and the workers release her by eating the candy plug. One day is not long enough, especially with such an aggressive hive. It's late in the season to do splits but now that you've split the hive into the blue nuc sized box, you're also going to need to feed sugar water constantly. Probably all winter or they won't make it. They need more honey to make it through the winter and they won't be able to make it in the time they have left before it gets cold. In your area you should probably be feeding 2:1 ratio sugar:water so they can make comb. You should also add pollen patties for protein. You likely did the right thing by buying already mated queens, though. The drones are being evicted in your area right now and there may not have been any to mate with your virgin queen if you'd let one emerge from the queen cups. Unfortunately I doubt you'll even see this comment. If you have a chance to shadow an established bee keeper, I'd definitely recommend it.
Y’all do an amazing job raising and educating your children. It’s so very clear how hard you work on your farm. I’m sorry that the hive just couldn’t be saved. It’s sad that some people are so negative and ugly about such a difficult decision. Personally, I’m thankful that you still choose to share the tough choices with us in your videos. It helps others that may come across these types of things to understand what’s happening and to not feel bad about doing what’s necessary. Again, an amazing job! Thanks for sharing it with us. God bless your family.
So sorry Jake. That is a really rough decision. But that brutal murder of the new Queen was just so fast, intense and hard to watch. At least in that small splitting hive, you may have saved some of these stellar honey producers. I am glad you reviewed your options and made an attempt to save Yellow Hive. Can you split yellow hive again if the first split is successful? Amazing to watch this process and thanks so much for the update. I feel you did some good work here. Wish those little warriors would have accepted the new queen.
We routinely requeen very aggressive hives here in southern NM. The highest chance of success that we see is when push in cages are used for introducing new queens. You can make your own from #8 hardware cloth. If you make it large enough she will be able to lay eggs in safety. This enhances the chance that they will accept her. Put her in the cage with the attendants that were shipped with her and no other bees. Overlap the push in cage with bees that are about to emerge and they will tend to her. I don't think you should destroy this hive yet as long as you aren't putting people in danger with it. Try to requeen again with the one from the nuc and let the nuc get a naturally mated queen from an emergency cell.
I've seen other beekeepers have to exterminate very aggressive hives. It amazes me that with all those hives together that just one would go rogue. Bees are kewl. My last tattoo is a honey bee
I follow a couple master beekeepers amd they say to wait to release a new for for at least 3 days, even up to 5. Maybe try again but let the queen sit in the cage for a few more days. Good luck! I’m interested to see how your flow hive is doing? I haven’t seen any updates on that yet.
Flow hive is going to be so cool. The first time, it will more than likely leak like a broken faucet. But don't give up! Them bees are better engineers than most humans. After the first flow, they will patch everything up tighter than Noah's Ark, and then you will know the magic of Flow.
That bee business is definitely hard work. And some of us get to experience the deliciousness of that hard work. Your honey is very unique in all ways good. Thank you for your dedication to this amazing craft. ❤️🐝
Wait three or four days and tear down any queen cells that you may have missed the first time. Then go get the new queen from the blue hive. David at Barnyard bees has videos showing how to put a queen back in a cage. Leave the queen in her cage for 2 to 3 days in the yellow hive before releasing her. Should be good then. The point is that the yellow hive still has some queen cells that were missed and they will be easier to find after they have matured. When the yellow hive has accepted the new queen you will be able to see them offering to feed her through the cage if you look close.
Hello! I don’t know if you will see this comment but you need to let the bees to open the queen cage.Because when they will open the cage by theirselves they have accepted the queen if you open it they will be agresive.It’s a special cage in the market,the opening has wax and the bees remove it. Hoping you will save that bee hive! (Sorry for my English)
Yeah I don’t know who would fault you for killing a bee for honey. You still got honey from them as an aggressive hive and it’s going to set you back to kill all those bees. If someone is butthurt over just smart bee keeping 🤷🏼♀️
I've always found that to keep a handle on wild swarms is to just reduce the population. Swopping out queens does help sometimes but the wild swarms seem to produce drones more rapidly than other hives because in the wild they would need to have large numbers to keep large predotors away. I can't to see what your flowers will look like in the summer when all the bees polinate everything :)
As an experienced beekeeper it’s awesome to see your experience grow and you did a great job making the decision to killing the queen and also getting a queen breeder from Northern California. Breeders in Northern California have some of the best queens in the world. Lassen are fellow Nor Cal breeders and are good folks👌🏼
i have bees too, trust me this happened to me too.. my blue hive was big, and agressive, and i tried to change the queen twice and they killed the first in one minute and the second in like ten minutes... but i brought about 4 new hives and spit them in relative distance like 500 meters away and all four hives got new queen and they still produsing a loot of honey.. And they are alive!
Either you didn't wait long enough for them to get used to her scent, or they already produced another queen that you didn't find. Judging by their behavior, I'm guessing it's the latter.
I don't understand why you got hate for getting rid of the queen from the white hive, it worked a lot and they are much calmer even if this videos are a year old the white hive changed by the queen it had.
I understand your efforts and I do know rejections of a new queen happen but they balled her instantly. They are intent on creating their own queen. I’m not one to throw around euthanasia lightly but I think this hive is too far gone. And it’s sad to say because they are just trying to survive but that Queen was their last hope.. it’s sad
it’s crazy to see that y’all are coming up on 1 million subscribers! when i started watching you were at around 50k. it’s been so fun watching your family and farm grow! sending love and well wishes from southeast mo.❤️
Jake, hopefully the new queen bee in the blue house will be successful 💙 🐝 🍯. As for the yellow hive, you wanted to give them a second chance and in this case, they killed their new Queen Bee. These bees are just too aggressive, so you did the right thing and time to eliminate those dangerous bees. Will you be able to save any of their honey before they go, or will it be fine to use after you destroy the bees?
Depends on which method he uses to kill them off. I know of two methods. One is to pore lots of water with detergent in it into the hive. The detergent clogs the breathing pores of the bees and basically sufficates them. This will make the honey useless. The second way is to use dry ice (solid carbon dioxide). Add an empty super above the hive. Put a screen between the super and the hive. Put your hive cover on and wait until night, the time when all of the bees should have entered the hive. Close off the entrance. Tape up any cracks that you think are there. Take enough dry ice to fill the super and put it into the super. Thing is, the dry ice will sublime to a gas (carbon dioxide). As carbon dioxide is heavier than air (bacically nitrogen and oxygen), it will settle down into the hive replacing the air in the hive. It will sufficate the bees, but will not affect the honey and pollin stored in the the hive. The thing is to make sure the hive is sealed so the carbon dioxide stays in the hive, use plenty of dry ice, and give it time to do its thing. Don't do/use half measures.
@@carterpitbull7366 Getting the bees out of the honey supers would be a daunting task requiring taking the hive apart to place some kind of bee-escape/barrier between the honey supers and the broad super(s). I would not want to be spending any time with that hive when bees are active and in the air and certainly not disrupting the hive by moving supers. Given the size of that hive and the number of bees, I not certain he could get the bees out of the honey supers even with the bee escape or using a bee repellant placed at the top of the hive.
the type of people who would say something dumb like "you are just cruel and greedy for changing the queen" are simply ignorant and don't know anything. You run a business that is also meant to be sustainable for your family. Letting a hive like that exist not only harms your business but also threatens the hive's future as well. Giving the hive a queen that is capable of managing the hive makes it so it thrives and your business doesn't lose money or resources you need to stay sustainable. It's not like bees don't change out their queens when they need to as well.
@@andrewna7362 as someone that went through drown proofing at military dive school in Pensacola, FL. Drowning definitely feels pretty humane since there is no real pain involved and it is over super quick.
Beekeeper here... that behavior is called balling. 24 hours is not long enough to introduce a new queen, especially in a hyper aggressive hive like that one. I would recommend leavong a new queen there for 3 to 4 days and then attempting a release. As for your blue hive, if you are not seeing any brood at all that hive is not queenright which is a big issue at this time of the year. I would put a frame of brood from another hive (not the aggressive hive!) in and see if they will make a queen. With winter right around the corner you want all of your hives queenright now because any brood being raised now is the brood to carry them through winter
I always make my hives hopelessly queenless for a few days, then add the new queen in a cages but don't let her out for 5-7 days. That prosses has never failed. 1 day just isn't long enough.
@@whitehouseonthehill Would breaking up that yellow box into another hive again work maybe, to decrease the aggressiveness of that hive? It kind of sounds like a male from the first aggressive hive may have added to your new aggressive hive that you re-queened. Pity.
I'm so sorry this turned out the way it did. I know nothing about 🐝 🐝 but am sure you have made your decision after much research. I know one person's opinion doesn't matter, but I stand beside you!
It's only been 2 minute of this video been uploaded and I woke up in the middle of the day. I saw the notification and I can't sleep back until I see this video. All my love to "White House on a hill" family from India. I really wish I could see your farm when I visit there !! P.S: it's 4:48 AM here at the time of this comment
I have never been a beekeeper but sure look forward to it. Your videos make it clear it is not for the faint at heart. Lots to learn. Lots of ways to make costly mistakes. Thanks for taking us along as you learn the tricks of the trade. Watching the way the bees in the Blue hive accepted the new queen, makes me wonder if the yellow hive would accept a queen if you isolated her a little longer for them to get used to her smell. I don't know what I am talking about (LOL), but it seems reasonable to me, given the response of the first group. Just musing. Love your videos.
There's a reason the sugar plug takes 3 days to remove and its so the bees get use to the new queen's pheromone. It is a shame to destroy such a strong colony when all it needs is a person who has a clue about working bees. Put a new queen and don't open the lid for 9 days and check for eggs and get out. A lot of the reason those bees are the way they are is because of your working practices. Watch Bob Binnie's video on Queen acceptance and supersedure around 16 minutes into the video you'll see a push in cage, if you'll do that you'll get acceptance.
There is a gentler way of carrying out the action of changing the queen. The new queen should be kept longer time in her queen compartment plugged with dry sugar paste or marshmellows or wgatever you beekeepers use to feed them during winter. this gives them time to be introducedand be friends. I saw this on Texas Beeworks channel. So gentle , patient and inspiring. Good Luck.
Don’t listen to people that aren’t beekeepers because they are not aware of the facts. I used to work for a queen company, and a big part of queen production is dispatching virgin queens. A hive will produce a virgin if something happens to the raised queen. Either she absconds or dies for whatever reason they will produce virgins. In queen production, there are vast yards of hives hundreds of nukes at each site, each nuke contains 2 small hives. This is the formula for queen production. Farms all over the world depend on these special, calm, and heavy egg laying queens to keep the crops going and the hives strong. Each hive is assessed, if there is a virgin she is quickly dispatched by pinching her head and thorax. Then a cage with a new queen is put in the hive. She has a candy plug that the bees eat away so that she can eventually come out and join the hive. This takes 3 days which is the right timing for queen introduction. Your queen died because it was too soon. I have killed hundreds of virgin queens. And I only worked for one season. This is the reality of agriculture that no one talks about. So many millions of queens die every year in the name of food production. At the time I was fostering 3 baby Minah birds. I would keep a ziplock bag for the dead queens in my pocket and feed them to the baby birds which since they are full of Royal jelly it was the best food for the birds. I loved working with the bees but the massive labor combined with the mass murder of queens really turned me off to queen production and I quit.
@@lilymullen5418 People pointed out two weeks back that the size, among other mishandling, is what was contributing to the issues significantly. It was far too big for the box, which is why putting the split into the blue box "suddenly" made them calm down. People were claiming it become "Africanized" and I doubt it. Seriously. It's the wrong area of the country for it, they already had an Italian pre-mated queen with good genetics(he said so himself!). The hive was aggressive because it was: -Overcrowded badly -Constantly mishandled with squished girls(from there being just too many bees for it not to happen) -The last one harvested from despite it being the *most* aggressive of his hives, letting the other pheromones set them off. -The way he sets his frames makes it impossible for some honey not to end up open, and it's just sitting in an open truck bed, setting off the entire apiary to the fact they are being robbed, making them MORE aggressive. -Having to open the whole thing frame by frame just for harvesting because he doesn't have an excluder so he doesn't know which ones are only honey and which are mixed so it takes longer and with his non-gentle touch pisses them off even *more*. I would literally bet money that this time next year, his most successful large hive will be hyper-aggressive from overcrowding and mishandling...AGAIN. And he will again be talking about re-queening it and not "understand" what the issue is. Because the issue is his style of keeping and not the genetics of his hives.(almost certain of it.)
Your oldest son is a ROCKSTAR! So brave and the way he seems to love working with you is AMAZING. He’s my little hero
Everyone also needs to keep in mind he has a family and his own safety to priorities. He would not thoughtlessly kill any kind of animal. I do believe if he chooses to exterminate this hive he has exhausted his other options and has to put the families safety first. For those saying leave them be, they're too aggressive for even that.
Aggressive bees are like literal killer dogs on the loose. You don't want issues and the public upset with you that you let such a danger out on society.
You have the responsibility to keep your livestock, animals, and even bees in your apiary in check. If they go out of control you have to be the one to make the right choice and take care of the issue before they go sending someone to the hospital or spreading their genes to other hives thus compromising everyone else's hives and the industry at large. Hives are expensive and its easy to lose them all as it is with all that is going against them lately.
Its a big problem in many parts of america and its the law where I live at least to take care of any hives deemed an aggressive hive or the state will take all your hives away after awhile if you don't to protect the community and industry healthy and safe.
These people are being insanely sensitive to one bee they’d probably kill irl to not get stung.
Yea what about him and his family
You are saying the truth
I agree tho..
@@ShiningSakura wat a long and it make so much sense
It’s so nice to see your children having such wonderful childhoods. Those memories are going to last lifetimes. It’s beautiful to see.
Thanks, LeeAnne!
Agreed.
Mm hmm
@@whitehouseonthehill Agree
@@whitehouseonthehill What is the baby carrier your wife is using? Please respond having a baby in April looks very sturdy/comfy for baby
I think I realize a major source of your struggles. I looked back at the queen revive video around OCT 2020 and in the white hive I noticed more than a dozen dead bees on the top bars. The way many of your hives are designed there is not enough space between the top of the frames and the lid. If you can provide a gap of 3/8 of an inch at the top the bees will enjoy that space without building any comb there. The best hive designs have a small surface of contact between the lid and the hive body box only along the perimeters. If bees get crushed when the lid is closed they will be very angry for a week or longer. If this occurs repeatedly it could have a cumulative effect on the colony building them into a very wicked demeanor over time. Make sure the entirety of the top bar spaces allow a 3/8 inch gap to the lid when closed. More space and they will build burr comb, less space and they will get crushed and agitated. Even worse sometimes the queen is on a top bar and you could accidentally crush a queen in the top of the nest any random day. I've made one video while beekeeping and I got stung during that moment because I pinched a bee on accident. It is extremely important to focus on not hurting any bees. A colony can become very sensitive to repeated losses. I usually don't wear gloves even when working bigger colonies. When I wear gloves I kill bees, when I kill bees the colony becomes unpleasant. Another way bees are accidentally killed is when they are crushed between two frames when a frame is being moved or between the frame and the box when a frame is being replaced. It is best practice to pull those frames much more slowly. Maybe take 12-15 seconds or so to pull those long frames out, instead of 5 seconds. If you pull the first frame up quickly bees don't have time to react and they get squished. Its called rolling the bees. Also keep a frame out of the box once you start and then return it at the end so you only have one potential rolling event.
The mean hives you have shown are certainly very hot and unpleasant. It is tough to evaluate how gentle a hive is if they have recently been harassed by robbing, predators, mites, hive inspections during dearth, bees being hurt or killed during inspections etc.
Next time you hope to re-queen try to give it a bit more time, maybe 3-5 days in the cage and checking for queen cells many times over 5-6 days. It is somewhat common for a colony to reject a queen after only 24 hours together. The larger the hive the more time it may take to introduce the queen.
There are tricks to improve re-queening rates.
You can intentionally cause your adult bees to drift out of the hive by moving the hive away from its location and placing another box in the old hives location. Now introduce the queen into the old hive in the new location with only younger bees remaining within the nest. Later you can swap back the old box when the queen is established, a week or so into laying. Adult bees are more likely than young nurse bees to reject a new queen . Adult bees are more likely to reject a new queen than a laying queen. Managing intentional drift can help make queen introduction safer and more effective.
I can understand having little patience with a beehive that has attacked you. But I think there are lessons here you can gather to become a better and happier beekeeper. On one hand I wish to give you the benefit of the doubt and agree with your conclusion. On the other hand I am concerned that you may be unaware of potential struggles. I think a true friend will voice concern and try to help someone see the issues.
If you cannot change your hive design then smoke the bees heavily right before you lower the lid. If you lower the lid while there is a large crowd of bees at the top bees are likely to become wicked for at least a week.
Sorry if I'm mistaken or if this is way too frank but I want to see you do well with honeybees and carry on as best you can.
This was all really excellent advice! It is clear you have a lot of experience and I hope your insight is taken to help fix these issues.
Well said 😊
Why is this so true
This youtuber needs to read this comment because he’s got good advice!!!
Spam the comment
Not sure if that will help. They don't seem to acknowledge comments much unfortunately.
You run a farm. Sometimes culling needs to be done. You guys always do your best for all the animals, but THINGS NEED TO BE DONE.
I wonder if the same people are worried about the turkeys, or the Delaware Broilers (who seem to be the friendliest chickens[I'd love one for a pet!], and bare the name of my state). Raising necessary pollinators is admirable. Culling one aggressive hive... Well, I'm pretty sure that's helping everyone, especially your community.
killing*
@@WindPre . . . The word in animal husbandry is "culling." It's done to better the entire herd/flock/hive or whatever. It is a distinct function from "killing," which can also be done for any number of legitimate reasons. I've noticed that people who object to either action tend to be those who like to buy their eggs sanitized and their meat anonymous. Or they're vegetarian/vegan attempting to claim an entirely unwarranted moral high-ground.
True
you really need to just decrease the numbers of bees and keep them to under 3 boxes. I showed my buddy that has 10,000 hives under management and he said any hive that gets over 3 supers big will become unbelievably aggressive.
Exactly what I was think it's just to many for one hive break them down. But I don't know anything about bee's but it seemed to work on the new hive and them accepting the new queen
@MIgardener Whatchu doin watching my vids?
@@whitehouseonthehill I'd try making that hive into 3 and see if it helps
I’m not saying this again. Africanized hives don’t change, a hives population is not what turns a hive that agressive a large hive may be more defensive but not AFRICANIZED. Do not sit here and tell this man to split this hive more times it won’t work these aren’t defensive bees there Africanized learn or don’t comment misleading information in his comments
@@freekinfishin4323 At least he’s trying to help. Also where did you get your info. Do you have personal experience or what
Regardless of those who don’t know what they are talking about you do not keep a hive of aggressive bees. You do what you can as you did
I watched a National Bee Hive Association. You did the right thing. I know it was hard for you to do this. He tried to replace the Queen. The bees were knocking on the windows and chasing their poor dog. He had been to Africa and worked with African Bees. They were not as bad as his and your bees were worse than his! He had to euthanize them.
Dude not a single bee keeper would fault you for killing the green, a lot of keepers re-queen their hives every year
I'm new to it but decided to keep my queens if they're good for at least 2 years, so long as they don't drone out
Agreed
fax
OK. Requeen the hive but DONT KILL THE QUEEN.
@@trophytwink it’ll find it’s way back 🐝
Sad for the rejected Queen Bee & Agressive Bees. You all work so hard & even saw your other half carrying the little baby & working outside. So glad your kids are learning skills to sustain a wholesome livelihood. Love your channel.
Thank you, Tracy
hi white house on the farm pls heart and reply
Who else randomly found them and now watches them every day?
Lol me
Me lol
I found them over 2 years, so watch when they post once a week now.
My mom showed me this when she was researching chickens. Now I watch every video LOL
Me too lol
your wife is a BOSS lady.. take care of business with a baby om her and jst gave birth wow.. so MUCH RESPECT TO HER.. SHE SO AWESOME
Girl power❗️💪🏽🌻
@@NayyyBae every time i think i cant do somthing i think about her haha..
He killed the queen to save the hive I would have done the same thing so DO NOT BE RUDE!
It’s to bad that the yellow hive is not savable. 😕
Eli is an awesome cameraman!!📷👊🏼
A lot of those negative comments seem to be coming from people who have no idea how to care for animals or in this case bees. I think you are trying to do the least harm that eventually produces the most good.
So they are “ that vegan teacher “ fans lol as non of those people have any idea what a brain cell is
Beautiful family, hard working bit dedicated to not just growing a farm .
Family is key .
Thanks for sharing your lives xxx
That yellow hive was so intense! It's unfortunate that all of your efforts didn't work this time. The other hives look really great though! ❤️
Thank you
@@inferlynx737 nah they will reproduce after this one is culled
@@inferlynx737 honey bees aren't actually endangered due to the massive increase in people keeping bees. It's all the other species of bees that are dwindling fast. There's more than one type of bee. Ireland alone has 14 "native" bumble bees.
@@inferlynx737 it's native bee species that sometimes don't even produce honey (they make the best pollinators).
The domestic honey bee is not an endangered species.
i like to read while i watch and now i know how it ended, 5 minutes in. 🤣
I did over a year ago. They are such a kind loving family. When I started they only had the two boys. They are such incredible parents. ❤️
Thank you, Pegge!
Your son is so Brave!! What a trooper he is......
Yes, I noticed that Eli is mature and helpful beyond his years. He is nearly his Dad's Right-Hand-Man. I have not noticed Eli shirking any type of chore. Since Eli is so tall and healthy it is difficult to remember that he is only 10 yo.( or near there).
Thanks, Sandy. I agree!
@@BiterAvid Absolutely ! I believe it's his parents that have raised their children beautifully. Many parents could learn much from them.
It goes to show you giving attention and hands on life experiences play a huge role in the success of their childrens future.
It's such a beautiful hard working wholesome life.
Aww Jake, I’m so sorry they didn’t accept your new Queen. Poor queen bee. What a horrible way to go.
I know absolutely nothing about bee keeping, so I will never offer any advice on the subject! But it amazed me that while the yellow hive immediately killed their new Queen, the bees that you moved from the yellow hive to the new blue (?) hive accepted their new queen.
Obviously they were in much smaller numbers, but they were still from that aggressive hive!
It made me wonder if that aggressive hive was divided into many more new hives, all with new docile queens, maybe then they would chill the f out?! Although, I’m guessing that you would need quite a few more new locations for new hives so that they wouldn’t all just get together again in one big hive!
Anyway, you did what you could Jake. You gave them another chance. I guess that hive is just too big and too aggressive to be able to calm them down.
I’m sorry it didn’t work. I know you had to be disappointed.
By the way, your oldest, Eli I think! He is amazing. He is such a hard worker and is really taking his responsibilities of being the oldest son and a farmer’s son or homesteader’s son, seriously. I’m so impressed with him. He is growing up to be such a fine young man!
I know you guys must be so proud of him. And of all your kids of course.
Good luck with taking care of that yellow hive.
Thank you for your thoughts, Leanne
Damn not even a single mistake on a word you typed T_T
@@insertname5828 LOL XDDDDD
Lol
I’m pretty sure you didn’t wait long enough on the new queen. Usually the queen cages have a candy cork that the hive is supposed to chew open. This gives them time to get acquainted with her smell.
If you have a good leader you will never acknowledge any less of a leader, they will never accept anyone else
They have had those kind of queens b4 where it had a sugar cube they had to work through but for some reason these came differently. Maybe they should get some that have that method and retry it
Yep, he made it wrong.
Think it was do to the queen cells. As long as the hive has any chance of growing their own queen then often they wont accept any outside queen. Jake must have missed a couple and then didn't give the time for the hive to realize they don't have them
Yes he knows but he wasn’t used to the new cage or other cage (I think)
I was wondering if you would try this again after the last time you collected honey. Excited to watch the video!
Becky is a real trooper. Baby Isabella strapped to her and working away. Much respect! Eli has really become a great helper. Now he's pulling the larger bird tractors. WOW!
I'm very sorry you possibly lost your hive. Seems like it was a strong one, aside from being being aggressive.
BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH. Those people who are like like, “your greedy for killing a queen so you can get the honey.” Well, its not like that’s the reason he got the bees.
EDIT: For the record I know that this comment is aggressive. I didn’t know that it would get this much traction.
Not to mention how DANGEROUS it is to the humans to keep these dangerous ones alive to murder anyone that dares to walk near the hive.
@@vickit9190 and he has children
People want honey too
They probably have never farmed or have been a bee keeper.
@@briancaleb6503 You don't have to go too far back to see them harvesting honey from brood frames, dropping larva into their bucket and everything... Definitely not educated or responsible beekeepers.
It’s a learning curve. You’re getting better at this all the time. Growth of any kind only comes through effort, trial and error, correction and perseverance.
You are doing well.
Failure to progress in the intended direction is not re-gress. It is simply progress in another direction.
"At least we know a thousand things that *don't* work." ~Thomas Edison
...I think.
I am a beekeeper and I see that bees are very angry, the main reason is how you treat them when working.
Causes such as varroa infection or cold hunger may also cause anger, but the most important reason is how it works.
I know it's a hassle but keeping your cows tails clean is important - you don't want maggots eating their backends!
I noticed something on your bees while they were “balling” your new queen. I seen your bees in this give have Varroa Mites. During the late summer early fall it’s crucial to help your colony manage the mite load levels by treating for mites in whatever level you feel you’d like to do so. Mites can cause bees to get viruses and disease. This can play a factor in their behavior. Also will help from mites being transferred to your other hives. There is many ways to treat for mites from A natural way of powder sugar rolling to oxalic acid fogging or strips with Miticide treatment. Also, this hive is still salvageable. Try releasing the queen after 48-72hrs gives her pheromone a chance to spread throughout the hive. Good luck man and thanks for sharing your journey with these bees. 🤙🏼
Wow. Thank you for taking us along. You did all you could do. Interesting insight into beekeeping
Thank you, Sharon
A. You didn't kill the queen, so the new one was killed in defense (most likely) or;
B. The hive was in permanent defense mode and you needed to slow release the new queen (such as with a candy cork queen cage).
Either way, you should leave that hive alone for a couple weeks & revisit to try to find the queen again or see if they have spawned a new queen.
But how will they calm the hive so they can work around it if they use the same queen or a spawned queen from the same lineage?
Aggressive hives frequently CAN'T be saved. They refuse to accept a docile queen because they view her as having weak genetics. No extra time or anything else will change that. They can tell by the smell of her pheromones whether she's docile or aggressive.
@@bkm2797 yes but if he HADN'T killed the queen, they wouldn't have been building queen cells.
Apparently these are Africanized bees? If so, I retract my statements. They will always become this aggressive when the colony gets big enough. I recommend extinguishing the entire hive if that is the case.
@@bkm2797 It was discussed in another comment thread, but I don't know if it's true...I don't recall hearing it mentioned in any videos, but I could have missed it. That's why I said "if that is the case."
How do you manage to stay calm when they swarm like that?!
Even the noise is ominous! I’d be running for the hills (which I’m sure, is entirely the wrong thing 😂).
The boys are just so chill, filming away! I’ll have to show my niece these videos, a solitary bee would have her running away 😂
At least you got the blue hive up and running. The bees in the yellow hive have the worst temperament ever. I wonder if it's because that specific hive is so populated. Would splitting it into multiple smaller hives with more docile queens change things?
I can't imagine what else you could do to save and calm down the yellow hive. Perhaps there is an africanized bee strain in there. I don't know much about bees, but I do know about the increase in this aggressive crossbreed. You have become an A+ beekeeper through all this. Your eldest son is taking good video footage as well.
They “balled” the queen. Basically smothered and over heated her.
Actually balling a queen usually involves stinging her to death. It would take a whole LOT more bees than that to smother and overheat her, and a LOT more time. That quick a death is from stinging.
@@juliebaker6969 yeah that was pure aggression towards a foreign queen, not sure why a direct release was being used, especially on an aggressive hive with brood and the ability to make their own queen again.... I know some people say they have great success with it but candy plugs were invented for a reason.
@@zeke135 unfortunately that aggressive of a hive just won't accept a docile queen, ESPECIALLY when they still have the ability to create one from brood. And even when they DON'T, it's STILL a gamble. The best bet for acceptance would be to introduce a virgin queen so they can get their OWN drones to mate with her. Problem is, that would introduce BACK the aggressive genes.
What he did with the split was smart, get them far enough away from the original hive that they can't get back. Then put them into a hive box that DOESN'T already smell like their old queen. That way they're MUCH more likely to accept a docile queen if there are no aggressive pheromones around to compare her to.
I'm wondering if waiting a couple more days would have helped? Or if they would have done the same thing. The hives I've had have not been aggressive. But I've always have been told to wait 3 days before releasing the new queen...
@@kathyk479 almost certainly on a regular hive. But on an Africanized hive, even THAT would have had little chance of success, especially with brood left to produce an aggressive queen of their own genetic profile. Africanized bees see docile queens as inferior and unacceptable.
To all those haters... not taking care of an agressive hive, and being willing to kill a bad queen is not beekeeping. Its beehaving. If you want to be a beekeeper, you need to manage the hive, not just let it be wild. If you aren't willing to do the difficult things, then don't keep bees, and if you aren't willing to keep bees, you shouldn't have them.
I have loved watching your videos for quite some time now and I find the bee episodes fascinating even though I'm allergic to them. Well, a piece of my hair just randomly came loose from my ponytail and brushed my cheek when I was super interested in the part where you thought they were killing the queen.....I almost threw the laptop lol. I jumped, swatted with one hand and caught the laptop with the other, and then realized it was my hair.
Sorry to spook you 😂
Perhaps you can give them one more chance using the old style cage where the bees chew through the cork to free the queen? That way they have more time to accept her?
It's not about time, it's about genetics. They can tell by the smell of her pheromones that she's a docile queen, and they consider her weak and inferior. No amount of extra time will change that. If they don't accept her in 24 hours they probably never will.
i want those bees to die that queen didnt deserve that
@@boifax unfortunately that's what nature is all about, survival of the fittest. If you think about it, in the wild, an aggressive hive has a better chance of survival. So that hive was only trying to preserve their genetic superiority by killing the inferior queen.
Problem is that they aren't IN the wild, they're a domestic hive. A domestic hive can't be allowed to display such dangerous aggressive behavior. They need to be able to be safely worked by the beekeepers, especially since he has his son helping him with the bees.
@@juliebaker6969 im gonna kill those bees with my hands
@@boifax not wise, they're Africanized bees. If you tried something like that, thousands of them would swarm you and LITERALLY try to sting you to death.
I have even seen people in full bee suits get stung through the suits, especially where the suit actually touches the body like knees and elbows and such, or at seems in the suit. And they can even sting through leather gloves with cloth work gloves underneath. They will spray you with a marker that causes the whole hive to go on the attack. I have seen leather gloves with literally hundreds of stingers stuck in them, from just ONE encounter. And if there is even the tiniest gap or hole in your suit, they WILL find their way in. Especially at the ends of zippers and around incompletely fastened Velcro.
Africanized bees are nothing to screw around with, especially if you are prone to panic or fits of anger. You have to keep a cool head and a calm demeanor when dealing with ANY bees or wasps, especially with aggressive hives. Your actions have to be calculated and careful to keep you and everyone for a mile around safe. And you ABSOLUTELY have to be able to keep your cool in an extremely stressful and dangerous situation, even (especially) when you are being swarmed by thousands of angry bees. Your comment shows a distinct lack of such self discipline.
P.S. I read your comment to my husband, and he says it sounds like you are looking to win a Darwin award.
Aww man I was hoping a new queen would help 😭!! You tried everything possible ❤️
Unfortunately, I don't think you waited long enough to release the queen. I've always heard to let the queen cage stay in the hive for 3 days before manually releasing her or let her and the workers release her by eating the candy plug. One day is not long enough, especially with such an aggressive hive. It's late in the season to do splits but now that you've split the hive into the blue nuc sized box, you're also going to need to feed sugar water constantly. Probably all winter or they won't make it. They need more honey to make it through the winter and they won't be able to make it in the time they have left before it gets cold. In your area you should probably be feeding 2:1 ratio sugar:water so they can make comb. You should also add pollen patties for protein. You likely did the right thing by buying already mated queens, though. The drones are being evicted in your area right now and there may not have been any to mate with your virgin queen if you'd let one emerge from the queen cups. Unfortunately I doubt you'll even see this comment. If you have a chance to shadow an established bee keeper, I'd definitely recommend it.
"Awkward..." 😅🤣😂 thank you for the laugh
Y’all do an amazing job raising and educating your children. It’s so very clear how hard you work on your farm. I’m sorry that the hive just couldn’t be saved. It’s sad that some people are so negative and ugly about such a difficult decision. Personally, I’m thankful that you still choose to share the tough choices with us in your videos. It helps others that may come across these types of things to understand what’s happening and to not feel bad about doing what’s necessary. Again, an amazing job! Thanks for sharing it with us. God bless your family.
So sorry Jake. That is a really rough decision. But that brutal murder of the new Queen was just so fast, intense and hard to watch. At least in that small splitting hive, you may have saved some of these stellar honey producers. I am glad you reviewed your options and made an attempt to save Yellow Hive. Can you split yellow hive again if the first split is successful? Amazing to watch this process and thanks so much for the update. I feel you did some good work here. Wish those little warriors would have accepted the new queen.
I can split it further, but I have to find more queens. Most bee companies are out for the year.
We routinely requeen very aggressive hives here in southern NM. The highest chance of success that we see is when push in cages are used for introducing new queens. You can make your own from #8 hardware cloth. If you make it large enough she will be able to lay eggs in safety. This enhances the chance that they will accept her. Put her in the cage with the attendants that were shipped with her and no other bees. Overlap the push in cage with bees that are about to emerge and they will tend to her. I don't think you should destroy this hive yet as long as you aren't putting people in danger with it. Try to requeen again with the one from the nuc and let the nuc get a naturally mated queen from an emergency cell.
I've seen other beekeepers have to exterminate very aggressive hives. It amazes me that with all those hives together that just one would go rogue. Bees are kewl. My last tattoo is a honey bee
I follow a couple master beekeepers amd they say to wait to release a new for for at least 3 days, even up to 5. Maybe try again but let the queen sit in the cage for a few more days. Good luck! I’m interested to see how your flow hive is doing? I haven’t seen any updates on that yet.
Unfortunately they haven't stored much honey in the super yet... hoping to get a little harvest from them this year.
Flow hive is going to be so cool. The first time, it will more than likely leak like a broken faucet. But don't give up! Them bees are better engineers than most humans. After the first flow, they will patch everything up tighter than Noah's Ark, and then you will know the magic of Flow.
He needs to break down that hive even further as well... It's just too big a hive no matter what that big will become supper aggressive.
@@whitehouseonthehill that’s too bad, but if you do get some home out of it I’d love to see a video on it!
@@lilymullen5418 that’s a good idea! It does look like it’s a pretty packed hive
That bee business is definitely hard work. And some of us get to experience the deliciousness of that hard work. Your honey is very unique in all ways good. Thank you for your dedication to this amazing craft. ❤️🐝
Thank you, Nancy!
Wait three or four days and tear down any queen cells that you may have missed the first time. Then go get the new queen from the blue hive. David at Barnyard bees has videos showing how to put a queen back in a cage. Leave the queen in her cage for 2 to 3 days in the yellow hive before releasing her. Should be good then. The point is that the yellow hive still has some queen cells that were missed and they will be easier to find after they have matured. When the yellow hive has accepted the new queen you will be able to see them offering to feed her through the cage if you look close.
I’m ready for this to go even more viral than the other video!
Your doing a great job! Best thing to do for safety is to terminate the yellow have before it gets to big.
Wow, I am sad for the apparent outcome of that hive but that was the most interesting bee video I have watched ever.
I appreciate it
Hello!
I don’t know if you will see this comment but you need to let the bees to open the queen cage.Because when they will open the cage by theirselves they have accepted the queen if you open it they will be agresive.It’s a special cage in the market,the opening has wax and the bees remove it.
Hoping you will save that bee hive!
(Sorry for my English)
Your kids are literally having the best childhoods 😭💖
Yeah I don’t know who would fault you for killing a bee for honey. You still got honey from them as an aggressive hive and it’s going to set you back to kill all those bees. If someone is butthurt over just smart bee keeping 🤷🏼♀️
I've always found that to keep a handle on wild swarms is to just reduce the population. Swopping out queens does help sometimes but the wild swarms seem to produce drones more rapidly than other hives because in the wild they would need to have large numbers to keep large predotors away.
I can't to see what your flowers will look like in the summer when all the bees polinate everything :)
As an experienced beekeeper it’s awesome to see your experience grow and you did a great job making the decision to killing the queen and also getting a queen breeder from Northern California. Breeders in Northern California have some of the best queens in the world. Lassen are fellow Nor Cal breeders and are good folks👌🏼
i have bees too, trust me this happened to me too.. my blue hive was big, and agressive, and i tried to change the queen twice and they killed the first in one minute and the second in like ten minutes... but i brought about 4 new hives and spit them in relative distance like 500 meters away and all four hives got new queen and they still produsing a loot of honey.. And they are alive!
JUST saw the year ago video in my feed.. and then saw the notification like- am I crazy?! haha Excited to watch!
Either you didn't wait long enough for them to get used to her scent, or they already produced another queen that you didn't find. Judging by their behavior, I'm guessing it's the latter.
@🐶 Lone wolfy Gacha 🐶 neither, they're his bees, not mine so I could really care less, lol. Was just stating an observation
I don't understand why you got hate for getting rid of the queen from the white hive, it worked a lot and they are much calmer even if this videos are a year old the white hive changed by the queen it had.
I understand your efforts and I do know rejections of a new queen happen but they balled her instantly. They are intent on creating their own queen. I’m not one to throw around euthanasia lightly but I think this hive is too far gone. And it’s sad to say because they are just trying to survive but that Queen was their last hope.. it’s sad
When I started watching your channel you only had one kid! I love how your family is growing and in happy to have watched for so many years
it’s crazy to see that y’all are coming up on 1 million subscribers! when i started watching you were at around 50k. it’s been so fun watching your family and farm grow! sending love and well wishes from southeast mo.❤️
Thank you, Peyton!
Your eldest son is truly amazing with you and the bees, nerves of steel! You have such a lovely family😊❤
Jake, hopefully the new queen bee in the blue house will be successful 💙 🐝 🍯. As for the yellow hive, you wanted to give them a second chance and in this case, they killed their new Queen Bee. These bees are just too aggressive, so you did the right thing and time to eliminate those dangerous bees. Will you be able to save any of their honey before they go, or will it be fine to use after you destroy the bees?
Depends on which method he uses to kill them off. I know of two methods.
One is to pore lots of water with detergent in it into the hive. The detergent clogs the breathing pores of the bees and basically sufficates them. This will make the honey useless.
The second way is to use dry ice (solid carbon dioxide). Add an empty super above the hive. Put a screen between the super and the hive. Put your hive cover on and wait until night, the time when all of the bees should have entered the hive. Close off the entrance. Tape up any cracks that you think are there. Take enough dry ice to fill the super and put it into the super. Thing is, the dry ice will sublime to a gas (carbon dioxide). As carbon dioxide is heavier than air (bacically nitrogen and oxygen), it will settle down into the hive replacing the air in the hive. It will sufficate the bees, but will not affect the honey and pollin stored in the the hive. The thing is to make sure the hive is sealed so the carbon dioxide stays in the hive, use plenty of dry ice, and give it time to do its thing. Don't do/use half measures.
He’ll probably take all the honey first, and then go kill them. That way it isn’t wasted.
@@carterpitbull7366 Getting the bees out of the honey supers would be a daunting task requiring taking the hive apart to place some kind of bee-escape/barrier between the honey supers and the broad super(s). I would not want to be spending any time with that hive when bees are active and in the air and certainly not disrupting the hive by moving supers. Given the size of that hive and the number of bees, I not certain he could get the bees out of the honey supers even with the bee escape or using a bee repellant placed at the top of the hive.
the type of people who would say something dumb like "you are just cruel and greedy for changing the queen" are simply ignorant and don't know anything. You run a business that is also meant to be sustainable for your family. Letting a hive like that exist not only harms your business but also threatens the hive's future as well. Giving the hive a queen that is capable of managing the hive makes it so it thrives and your business doesn't lose money or resources you need to stay sustainable. It's not like bees don't change out their queens when they need to as well.
Soap and water poured over top the hive, with all the openings closed and you'll eliminate the hive, it's humane and quick.
Drowning is the least humane way
@@andrewna7362 as someone that went through drown proofing at military dive school in Pensacola, FL. Drowning definitely feels pretty humane since there is no real pain involved and it is over super quick.
Beekeeper here... that behavior is called balling. 24 hours is not long enough to introduce a new queen, especially in a hyper aggressive hive like that one. I would recommend leavong a new queen there for 3 to 4 days and then attempting a release.
As for your blue hive, if you are not seeing any brood at all that hive is not queenright which is a big issue at this time of the year. I would put a frame of brood from another hive (not the aggressive hive!) in and see if they will make a queen. With winter right around the corner you want all of your hives queenright now because any brood being raised now is the brood to carry them through winter
Been watching before you guys moved to your dream ranch 😀
What a fabulous family! Must be making a ton of memories right now. Wish the best for you
I love your channel. You have taught me a bunch about being a homesteader.
Awesome!
By far, the best youtube channel around
I always make my hives hopelessly queenless for a few days, then add the new queen in a cages but don't let her out for 5-7 days. That prosses has never failed. 1 day just isn't long enough.
They were without a Queen for 10 days. We left another queen in their cage for longer and she died. So I wasn’t going to let another die in the cage.
@@whitehouseonthehill Would breaking up that yellow box into another hive again work maybe, to decrease the aggressiveness of that hive? It kind of sounds like a male from the first aggressive hive may have added to your new aggressive hive that you re-queened. Pity.
I'm so sorry this turned out the way it did. I know nothing about 🐝 🐝 but am sure you have made your decision after much research. I know one person's opinion doesn't matter, but I stand beside you!
Leaving the hive alone would have gotten someone killed
Bingo.
What a beautiful family and beautiful land. I know I shouldn't be but I am envious.
It's only been 2 minute of this video been uploaded and I woke up in the middle of the day. I saw the notification and I can't sleep back until I see this video. All my love to "White House on a hill" family from India.
I really wish I could see your farm when I visit there !!
P.S: it's 4:48 AM here at the time of this comment
it's 12:36 PM where I am watching this video
@@justmoo_cow5425 snap r u in the uk too??
My wife loves bees and is fascinated by there process and just their entire lives and the benefits to the planet. She is gonna be a new subscriber
It is your call bro. Thanks for sharing it to inspire us. You love animals and will not take any step unnecessarily ♡ Allah bless u all♡
You guys do the best you can. Adorable kiddos
How do you destroy an aggressive hive? Can you save the honey? I truly enjoy watching your videos. I am learning so much.
I saw one person just put a couple trash bags over the hive to suffocate them. That saves the honey
Elsewhere, someone suggested dry ice.
Take honey out full buckets with washing up liquids and shake the bees into it
It is so beuatiful to see your animals so healthy and the stables clean. I hope I can have such a wonderful Farm like yours. 😊
I have never been a beekeeper but sure look forward to it. Your videos make it clear it is not for the faint at heart. Lots to learn. Lots of ways to make costly mistakes. Thanks for taking us along as you learn the tricks of the trade.
Watching the way the bees in the Blue hive accepted the new queen, makes me wonder if the yellow hive would accept a queen if you isolated her a little longer for them to get used to her smell. I don't know what I am talking about (LOL), but it seems reasonable to me, given the response of the first group.
Just musing.
Love your videos.
There's a reason the sugar plug takes 3 days to remove and its so the bees get use to the new queen's pheromone. It is a shame to destroy such a strong colony when all it needs is a person who has a clue about working bees. Put a new queen and don't open the lid for 9 days and check for eggs and get out. A lot of the reason those bees are the way they are is because of your working practices. Watch Bob Binnie's video on Queen acceptance and supersedure around 16 minutes into the video you'll see a push in cage, if you'll do that you'll get acceptance.
I really find your videos fascinating! I've learned right along with you from your experiences!
Awesome, thank you!
I can't believe you killed the queen
I remember the first video of this I ever watched was the first one that started me to watch you guys
Man, your so cool I respect your decision of trying to save the hive via replacing the queen. :)
I rlly hope the next queen bee doesnt become the hive aggresive
There is a gentler way of carrying out the action of changing the queen. The new queen should be kept longer time in her queen compartment plugged with dry sugar paste or marshmellows or wgatever you beekeepers use to feed them during winter. this gives them time to be introducedand be friends. I saw this on Texas Beeworks channel. So gentle , patient and inspiring.
Good Luck.
Jake, if you ever show up with a mullet I’m going to call you Exotic Jake! Love the storyline!
Similarities between Tiger King and me, huh?
@@whitehouseonthehill Well, I was thinking Exotic Joe! Netflix series about a guy that keeps exotic cats! Lol! But was only joking!
I’m so sorry. It’s so hard to have to make some decisions when you farm. You did your best to save them. God bless you for all you do.
Guys he is a professional, don’t say “do this do that” he knows what he’s doing.
exactly let him do you dont know what your talking about
No he doesn't!!!
Yeah he knows what he’s doing
@@EagleSoul yes he does.
@delilah and lizzie alt stop saying what they posted the comment that has nothing to do with anything!!!!
Don’t listen to people that aren’t beekeepers because they are not aware of the facts. I used to work for a queen company, and a big part of queen production is dispatching virgin queens. A hive will produce a virgin if something happens to the raised queen. Either she absconds or dies for whatever reason they will produce virgins. In queen production, there are vast yards of hives hundreds of nukes at each site, each nuke contains 2 small hives. This is the formula for queen production. Farms all over the world depend on these special, calm, and heavy egg laying queens to keep the crops going and the hives strong. Each hive is assessed, if there is a virgin she is quickly dispatched by pinching her head and thorax. Then a cage with a new queen is put in the hive. She has a candy plug that the bees eat away so that she can eventually come out and join the hive. This takes 3 days which is the right timing for queen introduction. Your queen died because it was too soon. I have killed hundreds of virgin queens. And I only worked for one season. This is the reality of agriculture that no one talks about. So many millions of queens die every year in the name of food production. At the time I was fostering 3 baby Minah birds. I would keep a ziplock bag for the dead queens in my pocket and feed them to the baby birds which since they are full of Royal jelly it was the best food for the birds. I loved working with the bees but the massive labor combined with the mass murder of queens really turned me off to queen production and I quit.
Sigh. Welp, I commend you for the quick decision.
Your kids are so nice to help you out everyday
The sacrifice of a queen
Circle of life
Yeaaaaaaaa
🐼 Big Bear Hugs from a 68 yr old grandma in Kirby, Texas, USA 🐼 ❤️ 🎀 ❤️
Maybe you need to take 30% of bees out of yellow hive and try another queen
I concur it needs to be broken down further it's such a big hive which is why it's so aggressive.
@@lilymullen5418 People pointed out two weeks back that the size, among other mishandling, is what was contributing to the issues significantly. It was far too big for the box, which is why putting the split into the blue box "suddenly" made them calm down.
People were claiming it become "Africanized" and I doubt it. Seriously. It's the wrong area of the country for it, they already had an Italian pre-mated queen with good genetics(he said so himself!).
The hive was aggressive because it was:
-Overcrowded badly
-Constantly mishandled with squished girls(from there being just too many bees for it not to happen)
-The last one harvested from despite it being the *most* aggressive of his hives, letting the other pheromones set them off.
-The way he sets his frames makes it impossible for some honey not to end up open, and it's just sitting in an open truck bed, setting off the entire apiary to the fact they are being robbed, making them MORE aggressive.
-Having to open the whole thing frame by frame just for harvesting because he doesn't have an excluder so he doesn't know which ones are only honey and which are mixed so it takes longer and with his non-gentle touch pisses them off even *more*.
I would literally bet money that this time next year, his most successful large hive will be hyper-aggressive from overcrowding and mishandling...AGAIN. And he will again be talking about re-queening it and not "understand" what the issue is.
Because the issue is his style of keeping and not the genetics of his hives.(almost certain of it.)
@@vixiannaatheria2555 yes to all of this.
Oh dear! I'm so sorry you're having so much trouble with your yellow hive Jake. You've done all you can.