Thank you to everyone for watching and supporting our videos! If you have any questions about our videos, please check out our list of FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS on our website, which can be found at honeybee.uoguelph.ca/videos/frequently-asked-questions/
@@josephdouglas4214 Hi Joseph We made some changes and might have missed something. Can you please tell me what you clicked on to get the error 404 message. If it is our FAQ link, we have fixed it already but I have to check and make sure we changed the link on every video. Thanks.
@@prabhuthapa7942 it’s not how many drones are in the mini nuc but how many would be in that general area that makes it work. There would be lots in that area.
7 years on, and this video remains fully relevant to setting up and operating mini mating nucs. The titbits of information one can gleen from the operation here is instructive. The use of TempQueen and Queen Mandibular Pheromone remains eye-opening and not seen in many other mini nuc videos. The 14 day cycles, great guidance, thank you for the well presented video, and sharing such useful knowledge. 👍👍👍
👍 In addition, I find it important to follow and note calender dates, use at least 3 sources of nurse worker bees, feed syrup late in the day, lock up bees 24hrs to reorientate if not moved. Use water paint and yacht varnish to colour the mini poly nucs.. there was something else ........
What a great video! I have wondered how the mini mating Nucs worked, but never found a video that actually explained them. A lot of other channels say they don’t like them, but don’t really explain why. I think they’re pretty cool now thanks to you for thoroughly explaining it. I hope to raise queens for myself and to sell eventually. I like these!! Thank you again!! Lorie
The thing to not like is you're starting a queen then have her but nothing else. If you use a queen castle building up a colony from scratch is easier because it has full size frames. Getting from mini nuc to full size equipment is not so simple with mini size stuff
Paul...This is another great video from UoG Honey Bee Research Centre! You've done a masterful job of explaining away the mystery of the mini mating NUC! Thank you!
I enjoyed this video. I've never used these little nuces before, they are so convenient. I've only ever used 4 or 5 frame nuces, and this year will using double nuces for the first time. Great stuff guys.👍🏻
Hi!!! Really enjoy all your videos!! They help me to try new things in beekeeping I was afraid to do on my own,,the explanation are great. Thank you Beekeeping for 6years, 10 dadant hives, buckfast bees near Paris France 👍
My mentor was a professor of entomology at a college in Pennsylvania. I assisted him in his classes. One day I used the term 'when the queen hatches'. He immediately corrected my by stating, 'queens emerge'. Since you are a research center I would expect proper terms used in the presentation. Excellent presentation by the way. It's always nice to have helpers working with you to keep the system running smoothly.
Hi Bob Thanks for the note.You are right to say that emerging is the correct term. I'm not too fussy about terms. I'm happy if the ideas are understood.
An excellent video and helpful Q&As. Question: your feeder is a simple "well" blocked with a small piece of queen excluder. Bees crawl down to feed but how often is the well filled with drowned bees? Is there a well fitted floater in there that allows them to crawl on to without coming in contact with the pool of sugar syrup?
Thanks Vincent Very few bees drown in the syrup. The walls of the feeder are easy from them to grip. No we don't use a float. If it were worse I'd use a bit of straw.
Another excellent video thank you. I have a question though and that's what do you do with the bees , eggs and brood at the end of the queen mating season?
Hello, good day. Your video is amazing, how do you explain the process in detail, but I have a question, do the bees not drown in the feeder or does it have a type of flotation?
How many mating nucs do you make, and how many frames of bees do you shake for making the mating nucs? I only ask to determine the ratio of frames needing to be shook for the number of mating nucs planning to be made.
Hello, greetings from Greece, thank you for introducing us to the wonderful world of queens, I am a new beekeeper and I want to work with queens, do you have any specific queen rearing program so I can learn step by step? where can I send you my questions,
Our pleasure! Thanks for sharing your excitement about getting into beekeeping. We have many videos showing our queen rearing methods. I'd suggest you also buy a book or two on the subject.
We use this a lot in Germany, bit we use sugar foundant so that WE can fill the boxes in forehand. We use also the inner cover so that no bees come Out of the Box when you insert the Queen cell.
This is absolutetly the most complete technique explanation of using this mini nucs. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us. Could you please tell me how many grams of bees are in that cup? Or how do you measure them just to have sufficient bee in the nuc. Is that simple sheet of wax enough for starting them? Thank you again.
Glad you found our video helpful! Thanks. We meausure 1.5 cups by scooping them up in a measuring cup. I don't know what the weight of that many bees would be. Yes the wax strip works well to get them started building comb. They convert the syrup into beeswax comb very quickly.
Nice video and well explained, not sure that I would shake brood like they. With filling nukes could can be more gentle. Looks really rough. How much syrup you but on. Will You add syrup if there is no nectar flow.what is syrup recopy?
Great video! Can you provide more info on your "hive" seat? I notice that you and your apprentices sit on them when working hives.... Do you build them? buy them? Is there some place that a beekeeping in the USA could source? Thank you! Your videos are great- very inspirational!
Hi DJ I make the seats and sell a few but don't ship them. If you send me an email at pgkelly@uoguelph.ca I can send you the plans. Nice to hear you find the videos inspirational! Thanks for the encouragement. We are filming 25 more over the summer.
Second year bee keeper here in the USA. I have not got brave enough to work with bees without my suit. How do you keep from getting stung and I also notice you use no smoke on the bees. Thanks for the video!
Hi There These very small colonies are easy to work without smoke. We have gentle bees and small colonies are less aggressive than big ones. We do get stung some. I find a suit too hot in the warmer months. Wear what you feel comfortable in. Over time you learn when you can get away with less protection. I was taught to work without gloves so never thought about doing it otherwise. If you watch our video about stings I explain a bit more.
Hi, can you please explain how to make a queen pheromone tube and how I can keep the sugar syrup fresh when working with mini nucs in 90 degree weather? Thanks
We use 2;1 sugar syrup. It keeps well. We buy the Temp Queen strips. From our FAQ... Queen Pheromone: The pheromone strips were developed in Canada. They are called Tempqueen and are made by Intko Supply Ltd. Suite 604, 3345 Kingsway VANCOUVER, BC, V5R 0A7 Canada (604) 356-7393. pheromonesupply@gmail.com. Mann Lake in the US and several Canadian bee supply companies carry them.
Nice video...thanks. ...do you have a video of integration of the brood and what you do with the spare honey etc from the mini nucs when done for the year?
Hi OA We remove the last queen in August, let the brood emerge and then shake out the bees in front of a hive, We then melt out the comb and honey and install new foundation strips. That way we can start fresh each spring.
It's so nice, the beekeepers near you are very lucky, because they can buy that quality queens...I wish you were here in the Philippines, so that we can avail one of your quality queen bee.
Hi Paul. Love your videos! When the virgin queen hatches, where are the drones she mates with? In the same yard or a different yard? How do you control this for genetics?
Thanks Kate! Glad you like the videos. We do all our queen mating on Islands in Lake Simcoe or in our home yard. We get isolated mating with drones from drone mother hives on the Islands and from drones in the home yard and our nearby outyards. The latter case is called drone flooding. Lucky you live in our drone flooded area! Two of our videos that relate to this are Managing Towards Gentle Behaviour and Thorah Island
Hi If you don't have another yard can you do this operation in the same yard successfully. I only have a few hives as a hobby but would like to produce my own queens to increase my numbers. I really have learn a lot from your videos and find your straight forward and systematic approach great for learning. Many thanks Mark
Hi Mark For just a few queens you might find it better to skip the mating nuc part and introduce queen cells to splits. That works well too. See our video 'Handling Queen Cells'.
Excellent instructional videos! Where do you get your ventilated box and funnel used to shake the youngs bees into or can you provide a description or plans for making one? Thanks.
Thanks Mike! I made the bulk bee box and funnel. Send me an email at pgkelly@uoguelph.ca and I can send you some pictures. I haven't made up any plans.
UoG Honey Bee Research Centre Hi William I made the bulk bee box and funnel. Send me an email at pgkelly@uoguelph.ca and I can send you some pictures. I haven't made up any plans.
Some beekeepers put the nucs in a cool dark room for a day or two until the queen emerges from her cell and the bees have started to build comb. That helps to hold the bees but I find that the pheromone works better.
Hi Scott By using the pheromone strip we don't need to leave them enclosed for long. We set them in shady spots and open the entrances early in the morning on the day following filling them with bees.
If you are not in a honey flow do you add syrup (to the nuc) at some point? The syrup did not last too long in mine. I hate to open them up too soon, so group fed them. Thanks for any suggestions.
Hi Larry We just finished a video on this topic today but it won't be posted until the fall. Yes, definitely feed your nuc when you install it in your full size equipment. That will allow your bees to build comb for brood production so the colony will grow. Don't worry about opening up your hives an checking on them. That's way better than the opposite scenario. I find feeding hives directly in the spring is better than group feeding and only do that in the fall.
No just one feeding but we make these nucs up at the beginning of our main nectar flow. They do last for the summer but by fall are starting to decline. That's ok as we are done with them at that time.
Great video, thanks for sharing !!!!! I have some wooden mini mating nuc box but my main problems are ants and that the bees absconding the nuc. I'm from Chile, here pheromon strips are not available. I'm planning to leave bees confined longer (maybe two nights) in order to avoid bee absconding. Greeting from Chile (South América).
HI Felipe in Chile Ants aren't a big problem here so I can't comment on that problem. You could probably order the pheromone from the Canadian company below. Mann Lake in the US also sells it. Both would ship it to you. It has an 18 month expiration and I store it in a freezer. It's really helpful to hold the bees in the nucs and is not expensive relative to the cost of your time and the price of queens. I'm sure we lose a few bees but there is no absconding. I understand that confinement in a cool dark location for a few days can work too but with the pheromone strips it's not necessary. Thanks for your feedback Felipe. Intko Supply Ltd.Suite 604, 3345 Kingsway VANCOUVER, BC, V5R 0A7 Canada +1 (604) 356-7393pheromonesupply@gmail.com
Try setting your nuc on a upright concrete block that sits inside a cookie tray; then add a film of mineral oil to the cookie tray. This took care of our ant problem
Thank you for sharing. I love the way you teach. I went to your FAQ and didn’t see anything about the colors of your nucs. What do you color them with? They are beautiful.
Timothy... The Colours are different so Queens orientate back to their own 'coloured box' after flying out and back from their Mating Flight ! See how they set same Colours away from each other. 👀 Just use traditional Water based House Paint. Here in the UK, it's called Emulsion Paint (latex based) Don't use Oil* based Paint on Poly Boxes !!! Tip : Often DIY Paint areas mix Colours, that Customers change their minds (!?!) And these get Sold in a Clearance Corner. So bag a £$€ bargain. 😏 * Unless you make your own Mini Mating Nucs using Scrap Timber. Do allow the Oil based Paint Fumes to cleatr before adding those Cups of Bees, and your Queen Cell. 👍 Happy Beekeeping 2022 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Hello Paul. Great video - just like your others. I'm curious about seems to be a small wooden 'bottom' on the queen cups that I've seen here, and on other videos of yours.. I presume that this is created or done - whenever you are grafting but don't see any mention of this in any of the other videos. Whenever I graph I use the plastic queen cups and then have use them like 'push-pins' for putting them into frames. Having what appears like a 'ledge' on yours seems like it might be easier and wonder if you can share how that's done. thanks again ...
Hi Sea Pro Thanks for your generous comments! You can see our queen cell bases a bit more clearly in our grafting video. Please also see #17 in our frequently asked question list below. I prefer the wax cups and wooden cell bases over plastic but most of my queen rearing friends use the plastic ones as they are convenient. The wooden base provides a good handle and a solid way to hang the cells between frame top bars.I got the idea from a mentor, Barry Davies. 1. Why do we use canvas for the hive inner cover? A: We use canvas inner covers for a few reasons. They make it easy to take a quick peek in the hive, and are cheap and easy to make. They are light, the lids sit down well, less excess wax on the frame top bars, and we rarely need to scrape the inner cover. We use 18 oz (#8) canvas -otherwise known as duck. It's a bit hard to come by in Ontario, but it is available from online distributors (US: www.bigduckcanvas.com/number-8-18oz-cotton-duck-canvas.html, Canada www.jtsoutdoorfabrics.com/18oz-Cotton-Duck-Canvas-Untreated--Natural-60_p_15038.html). Bees chew through thin canvas so a heavy weight is better. We flip it over periodically when new so the bees thoroughly coat it with propolis. An alternative is a feedbag folded in half. 2. Why do we use single brood chambers? A: Our preference is to keep hives in single brood chambers. We use queen excluders above the brood chamber and then add supers. We produce bigger crops managing our hives in singles vs doubles and we find the hive management much easier. It's become quite common here, especially over the last twenty years. We will be making a video about single brood chambers soon! 3. Are our queens for sale? A: We sell some queens but don't export. To contact us about our queens, please email us at infohbrc@uoguelph.ca. Our Buckfast collaborators also sell queens: Munro Honey www.munrohoney.com/ (for CAN sales) and Ferguson Apiaries fergusonapiaries.on.ca/ (for CAN and US sales). . 4. What breed of honeybee do we use? A: We work with Buckfast bees. Check out our website if you would like to learn more about them: www.uoguelph.ca/honeybee/breeding.shtml 5. Will we be making any more videos? A: Yes! We are looking forward to creating more videos for our RUclips channel this year! Here are some of the topics we will be covering: Working with single brood chambers, indoor overwintering. 6.How do you overwinter double nucleus colonies? A: At the University of Guelph, we winter our double nucleus colonies indoors. You can also winter them outdoors by wrapping two double nucs together with insulation on the sides and top. 7. Are double nucleus colonies prone to swarming? A: With a young queen and the supers above we don't have any problem with these nucs swarming in the first year. We do have to transfer them into a full size box early enough the following spring to prevent swarming. 8. Do we add a frame of pollen or honey into a new split? A: Ideally you add both pollen and honey. Of the two, honey is the most important. 9. Where to purchase some of the products that we use: Coveralls: We really like these Dickies all cotton coveralls. www.dickies.com/coveralls-overalls/deluxe-cotton-coverall/48700.html?dwvar_48700_color=GY#start=3. We use two sided velcro to strap up the wrists and usually tuck the legs into our socks. Plastic Queen cages: Mann Lake and their Canadian distributors sell these and they are made by the French company Nicot. www.mannlakeltd.com/hair-roller-cages. I use a wooden plug on the bottom and screw it in place with a #4 screw after pre drilling. Grafting microscope: www.amscope.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=gooseneck+binocular Mini/mating nucleus boxes: Mann Lake (US) and their Canadian distributors sell these. They are originally from Europe so are widely available there. www.mannlakeltd.com/shop-all-categories/hive-colony-maintenance/queen-rearing/nuc-boxes Queen Pheromone: The pheromone strips were developed here in Canada. They are called Tempqueen and are made by Intko Supply Ltd.Suite 604, 3345 Kingsway VANCOUVER, BC, V5R 0A7 Canada +1 (604) 356-7393. pheromonesupply@gmail.com. Mann Lake in the US and several Canadian bee supply companies carry them. Bee belt and bulk bee box: Our apiary manager Paul Kelly manufactures the Bee Belts and bulk bee box. If you are interested in more information, please email him at pgkelly48@gmail.com. 10. Should you remove any queen cells in a colony before introducing a new queen in a cage? A: Yes, you should remove the queen cells. Look very carefully to make sure you don't miss one. Shake the bees off each frame to make sure you can see them all. Accepted queens are sometimes killed by virgins that emerge from queen cells. 11. Can you make a split without adding a mated queen/can a split raise their own queen? A: A split can raise their own queen (if they have eggs), but you'd be better off buying a mated or queen cell from a local bee breeder. Queens raised by a split are reared under the worst possible conditions, are physiologically inferior, and you aren't taking the opportunity to improve your hive genetics. For a number of reasons, colonies get more aggressive if we let splits raise their own queens. We always use queen cells that we have reared from breeder colonies so we can maintain and improve our genetics. Cells found in hives can be poorly reared if conditions aren't good or if you use swarm cells you are unintentionally breeding for swarming behavior. 12. How often do we check for swarm cells? A: We check for queen cells only in colonies that are stronger based on our ratings as described in our “Swarm Control” video. We only do this at the time of year bees are prone to swarming (ie just before the main summer nectar flow). In some colonies, we check twice, a week apart, if we have the time and we've found cells in them previously. We stop looking once the nectar flow gets going and the time for swarm preparation has passed. 13. How old is a queen when we replace her? A: We re-queen if a queen isn't doing well or when she is in her third year. 14. How often should you be stung to lessen the chances of developing anaphylactic reactions? A: Please speak with an allergist if you have any concerns regarding bee sting reactions. You don’t need that many stings to build an immunity and reduce your chance of developing an allergy. However, reactions can be very different from one individual to the next. For about three years after starting beekeeping you swell more in the spring when the bee season starts. After that most people don't swell up much at all. Some beekeepers apply stings through the winter to keep building immunity. 15. What do we use as candy for the queen cages? A: You can make the candy using honey and icing sugar but the candy you see in the tubes in our videos are purchased with the cages from Mann Lake beekeeping supplies and their Canadian distributors. In our province, it's not legal to use honey in queen candy if you are distributing queens. Honey can contain American Foulbrood spores. A specialized, non-drying, sugar syrup (Nulomoline invert sugar) can be used instead of the honey. In any case the candy must be made dry enough that it's crumbly. 16. How do we make pollen patties? A: The patty is made from pollen we collect using a pollen trap. We mix the pollen pellets with sugar syrup to a dough like consistency, form the patties between layers of wax paper and then keep them frozen until they are needed. They will keep for several months frozen. 17. How do we make our grafting bars? A: We cut the wood pieces and attach them to the graft bar with liquid beeswax. We then attach the cups with liquid wax. In both cases the liquid wax is applied with a syringe. Previously, we made the wax cups but now buy them from www.kelleybees.com/. 18. Do we move full honey supers to the top of the stack so the bees can fill the lower ones? A: Some beekeepers do shuffle the supers around and do what's called bottom supering. We place supers back on in the original order and only add new supers on top (top supering). That way it's easier to see when the bees need more space. The bees also ripen the honey before moving up. We sometimes harvest full lower supers and put the top ones that aren't full back on in the original order. 19. Do we ever add brood frames to the cell builder colonies to keep their populations high? A: We do add other frames of sealed brood and sometimes we shake in more young bees from brood frames to boost the hives. About once every three weeks we'll boost the hives in one way or another. 20. How do you level hive stands? A: We level the hive stands periodically with pressure treated wood shims. If the hives are already on the stands, we use a hardwood pry bar and a brick fulcrum to lift each end for shimming. Show less
Absolutely stunning presentation. Thank you so much for such a clear and step by step demonstration. I have a question about your mini-nukes. Where do you purchase those and how much are they? also how much is the queen pheromone ,how long does it last and what happen to those small mini nukes after your 5 round of queen mating? Thank you again
Hi Chris We get our nuc boxes from a Canadian supplier but they are made by Mann Lake in the US. The pheromone is made in Canada and many bee suppliers sell it. Check out our FAQ in the comments of our introductory video for more details. The pheromone has a shelf life of 18 months but lasts for a week or so in the hive. Not sure really how long we just leave the strip in place and remove it in the fall when we shake the bees out of the nucs.
FAQ List: Why do we use canvas for the hive inner cover? A: We use canvas inner covers for a few reasons. They make it easy to take a quick peek in the hive, and are cheap and easy to make. They are light, the lids sit down well, less excess wax on the frame top bars, and we rarely need to scrape the inner cover. We use 18 oz (#8) canvas -otherwise known as duck. It's a bit hard to come by in Ontario, but it is available from online distributors (US: www.bigduckcanvas.com/number-8-18oz-cotton-duck-canvas.html, Canada www.jtsoutdoorfabrics.com/18oz-Cotton-Duck-Canvas-Untreated--Natural-60_p_15038.html). Bees chew through thin canvas so a heavy weight is better. We flip it over periodically when new so the bees thoroughly coat it with propolis. An alternative is a feedbag folded in half. Why do we use single brood chambers? A: Our preference is to keep hives in single brood chambers. We use queen excluders above the brood chamber and then add supers. We produce bigger crops managing our hives in singles vs doubles and we find the hive management much easier. It's become quite common here, especially over the last twenty years. We will be making a video about single brood chambers soon! Are our queens for sale? A: We are sold out for 2017. We sell some queens but don't export. We can sell to US customers that are able to pick them up here but otherwise recommend our Buckfast collaborators Munro Honey www.munrohoney.com/ and Ferguson Apiaries fergusonapiaries.on.ca/. To contact us about our queens, please email us at infohbrc@uoguelph.ca. What breed of honeybee do we use? A: We work with Buckfast bees. Check out our website if you would like to learn more about them: www.uoguelph.ca/honeybee/breeding.shtml Will we be making any more videos? A: Yes! We are looking forward to creating more videos for our RUclips channel this year! Here are some of the topics we will be covering: Working with single brood chambers, indoor overwintering. How do you overwinter double nucleus colonies? A: At the University of Guelph, we winter our double nucleus colonies indoors. You can also winter them outdoors by wrapping two double nucs together with insulation on the sides and top. Are double nucleus colonies prone to swarming? A: With a young queen and the supers above we don't have any problem with these nucs swarming in the first year. We do have to transfer them into a full size box early enough the following spring to prevent swarming. Do we add a frame of pollen or honey into a new split? A: Ideally you add both pollen and honey. Of the two, honey is the most important. Where to purchase some of the products that we use: Coveralls: We really like these Dickies all cotton coveralls. www.dickies.com/coveralls-overalls/deluxe-cotton-coverall/48700.html?dwvar_48700_color=GY#start=3. We use two sided velcro to strap up the wrists and usually tuck the legs into our socks. Plastic Queen cages: Mann Lake and their Canadian distributors sell these and they are made by the French company Nicot. www.mannlakeltd.com/hair-roller-cages. I use a wooden plug on the bottom and screw it in place with a #4 screw after pre drilling. Grafting microscope: www.amscope.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=gooseneck+binocular Mini/mating nucleus boxes: Mann Lake (US) and their Canadian distributors sell these. They are originally from Europe so are widely available there. www.mannlakeltd.com/shop-all-categories/hive-colony-maintenance/queen-rearing/nuc-boxes Queen Pheromone: The pheromone strips were developed here in Canada. They are called Tempqueen and are made by Intko Supply Ltd.Suite 604, 3345 Kingsway VANCOUVER, BC, V5R 0A7 Canada +1 (604) 356-7393. pheromonesupply@gmail.com. Mann Lake in the US and several Canadian bee supply companies carry them. Bee belt and bulk bee box: Our apiary manager Paul Kelly manufactures the Bee Belts and bulk bee box. If you are interested in more information, please email him at pgkelly48@gmail.com. Should you remove any queen cells in a colony before introducing a new queen in a cage? A: Yes, you should remove the queen cells. Look very carefully to make sure you don't miss one. Shake the bees off each frame to make sure you can see them all. Accepted queens are sometimes killed by virgins that emerge from queen cells. Can you make a split without adding a mated queen/can a split raise their own queen? A: A split can raise their own queen (if they have eggs), but you'd be better off buying a mated or queen cell from a local bee breeder. Queens raised by a split are reared under the worst possible conditions, are physiologically inferior, and you aren't taking the opportunity to improve your hive genetics. For a number of reasons, colonies get more aggressive if we let splits raise their own queens. We always use queen cells that we have reared from breeder colonies so we can maintain and improve our genetics. Cells found in hives can be poorly reared if conditions aren't good or if you use swarm cells you are unintentionally breeding for swarming behavior. How often do we check for swarm cells? A: We check for queen cells only in colonies that are stronger based on our ratings as described in our “Swarm Control” video. We only do this at the time of year bees are prone to swarming (ie just before the main summer nectar flow). In some colonies, we check twice, a week apart, if we have the time and we've found cells in them previously. We stop looking once the nectar flow gets going and the time for swarm preparation has passed. How old is a queen when we replace her? A: We re-queen if a queen isn't doing well or when she is in her third year. How often should you be stung to lessen the chances of developing anaphylactic reactions? A: Please speak with an allergist if you have any concerns regarding bee sting reactions. You don’t need that many stings to build an immunity and reduce your chance of developing an allergy. However, reactions can be very different from one individual to the next. For about three years after starting beekeeping you swell more in the spring when the bee season starts. After that most people don't swell up much at all. Some beekeepers apply stings through the winter to keep building immunity. What do we use as candy for the queen cages? A: You can make the candy using honey and icing sugar but the candy you see in the tubes in our videos are purchased with the cages from Mann Lake beekeeping supplies and their Canadian distributors. In our province, it's not legal to use honey in queen candy if you are distributing queens. Honey can contain American Foulbrood spores. A specialized, non-drying, sugar syrup (Nulomoline invert sugar) can be used instead of the honey. In any case the candy must be made dry enough that it's crumbly. How do we make pollen patties? A: The patty is made from pollen we collect using a pollen trap. We mix the pollen pellets with sugar syrup to a dough like consistency, form the patties between layers of wax paper and then keep them frozen until they are needed. They will keep for several months frozen. How do we make our grafting bars? A: We cut the wood pieces and attach them to the graft bar with liquid beeswax. We then attach the cups with liquid wax. In both cases the liquid wax is applied with a syringe. Previously, we made the wax cups but now buy them from www.kelleybees.com/. Do we move full honey supers to the top of the stack so the bees can fill the lower ones? A: Some beekeepers do shuffle the supers around and do what's called bottom supering. We place supers back on in the original order and only add new supers on top (top supering). That way it's easier to see when the bees need more space. The bees also ripen the honey before moving up. We sometimes harvest full lower supers and put the top ones that aren't full back on in the original order. Do we ever add brood frames to the cell builder colonies to keep their populations high? A: We do add other frames of sealed brood and sometimes we shake in more young bees from brood frames to boost the hives. About once every three weeks we'll boost the hives in one way or another. How do you level hive stands? A: We level the hive stands periodically with pressure treated wood shims. If the hives are already on the stands, we use a hardwood pry bar and a brick fulcrum to lift each end for shimming.
I'm going out now to my bees to see if bees will stick to a used queen cell.....I have lots of used plastic cells. I'll use a used cells if it attracts bees. I'm thinking of cutting thick/cadied honey in slices for the feeder plus some stored pollen and maybe some sugar syrup. I'm new to nucs of this type and have the Lyson ones, which I'm getting used to. They cost one queen, so after 5 queens I ve made a good return on my investment.
Thank's for the look, the mini boxes are relocate about 4 Kl away or more. I will be coming to Toronto end of this month, ate making any kind of work with the bee's so maybe I can visit you or you don't have visitor's?. Coming in from Samos Greece.
Looking at the schedule for queen raising it appears you put the queen cell in the mini nus when it is 10 days old. Assuming the queen hatches on day 14 is this the time the bees need to accept the cell?
We install queen cells on day 10 from grafting. The larvae we graft are 1 day old. That means 4 days since the egg was laid. So, the cells we introduce are 14 days old if you count from when the egg was laid. The queen hatches 16 days after the egg was laid.
Thank you for this educational video👍. I ‘ve got one question; Do they accept the new queen cell after two weeks even if they have eggs and maybe larva in the little hives? Greetings, a beginning beekeeper from the Netherlands
Sure UoG will answer. Meantime, each Queen Cell is near hatching age and the Virgin will I guess be giving off her own phremones, even before being Mated. This will probably stop the Workers from making their 'own queen' from the eggs/ Larva present. Remember, UoG have that artificial plastic strip pheromone stapled in their as well. 👀 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 Happy Beekeeping 2022. 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 I don't have access to these strips, so repeated adding of a QC will keep the girls busy waiting for their (next) Queen. 😊
We absolutely love your videos! I have a couple of questions as I want to try this next year. When you shake out 5 frames of nurse bees from your colonies does that leave enough nurse bees to cover the existing brood in the donor colony? Also, in the video, around 14:00 I think you say you always switch out the phermone strip frame. Do you replace this with a new frame? Again, thank you for all the informative videos. It helps SO much with us less experienced beekeepers!
Hi Jimmy Very kind of you to say that! 1. Taking that many nurse bees causes the older bees to revert to feeding larvae. There are alo of other bees in the supers and out foraging so this slows the colony down a bit but the bounce back soon after. 2. When I mentioned switching frames it was to give a queenless nuc some eggs and brood from a queen right nuc. When doing this we routinely move the frame with the pheromone on it to the other colony and vice versa. There isn't full depth in the box next to the entrance so the frame that sits there is short and a taller frame wouldn't fit in this spot. Hope that makes sense to you. We know the frame with the pheromone strip is a taller frame so its easy to keep track of.
Most fascinating video and thanks for sharing. In watching your video, it brings to mind a question I often have. If I were to cut off a capped queen cell out of a comb as in the case of swarm cells along the bottom of a frame, how long would that pupae live and can I insert that into a queen-less colony? Thanks!
Hi Nicki You could do that but only with older queen cells as they are easily damaged. I'd suggest you watch our videos 'Handling queen cells' and 'why but queens' for some more thoughts.
good morning, nice video! the only thing i don' t understand is: why ou didn' t introdice any drones in the mini nucs and where the queen is going to get them to mate??thnak u
Hi Giovanni Small colonies like this don't raise drones and the queens mate on the wing miles from home. If you watch our Thorah Island video you'll learn more about how we manage the drone side of bee breeding.
UoG Honey Bee Research Centre i have watched that video after writing the comment..so if i want to use this tecnique i have to place the mini nucs in an apiary, so when the queen goes out, for her mating flight, will find and mate with drones from the various colonies of the apiary. .thank u..
Hi Paul another great quality video just checked your questions cant find the answer im after, my question is do you get to the point of simple having to many worker bees in these Tiny Nucs with hatching over time if the answer is yes what do you generally do? before i pop off you should get yourself a miniature hive tool as it looks so strange with your normal size hive tool like a over kill lol.
Hi Prof. Thank you very much for these very informative and valuable videos. please, why is it important to clip the queen's wing? Another question, is it important to use the pheromone strips? and if I don't find it what technique can I use instead? Thank you very much in advance. Maged
Hi bakoota You are very welcome. 1. clipping wings - see our video Marking and clipping queens for an answer 2. The pheromone helps keep the bees from absconding. Some beekeepers keep the entrance closed for a couple days and keep the nucs in a cool dark location. This can achieve the same goal.
Where did you buy your mini nucs from I’ve been looking everywhere and trying to find the best price so far Amazon but a lot of them don’t have many reviews
See our FAQ here hbrc.ca/faq/ but Mann Lake in the US is our supplier. They are also available in Europe from other suppliers. I don't know where you live.
Really good videos. How long does it take the bees to build comb in these mini-nucs? Would the bees build comb just with the pheromone strip in or do they need a queen cell to build comb?
Hi Again Ro Boto I'm glad you like our videos. 21 more coming very soon. If you subscribe to our channel you'll get them as they are posted. The bees would build the comb with just the pheromone strip. It helps hold the bees in the nuc until the queen emerges. Without it many bees would abscond so, of course, in that case comb wouldn't be built.
Hi Paul thank you for the video, I am very surprised about the pheromon being left in with the cell, as I only have seen it used for transporting bee package and being removed at the release of the queen, I thought they would replace the queen by the pheromon stick otherwise !?
Cold you answer question: the little gauge you put in the Gueen also you put in some bees together plus the food(candy) etc..how long the Gueen life insed the gauge.
Hi Carl We don't export to the US but our Buckfast partners noted on the following link do some exports. www.uoguelph.ca/honeybee/breeding-purchase-queens.shtml
Yes it would. Not a natural shaped hive though so I don't know how it would work. I've seen some really neat 1 x 1/2 frame nucs but they were well insulated.
If you had multiple nucs in one box you could have more problems with queens orienting to the wrong entrance. By 1 X 1/2 frame I meant one frame, full depth, i/2 length. These were individual nucs not multiple nucs in one box. A 6 5/8" deep box divided by four with half length frames works well.
Hi Guys! This channel is really amazing! I'm from Brazil, and here I never see this technique. I wondered if it is possible to multiply my hives with this technique? can this mini nucleus become a new hive? Thanks you for all this precious information!
The conditions in Canada are different to ours, but the system would still work here in the UK and it is what we need to aim for if we are to minimize the need for Queen bee imports into the UK.
Looked in your FAQ and through the comments but don't see it. Hope to get an answer despite this being an older video. How often do you feed the mating nucs? I see that you fed 1:1 on initial install, but don't know if you continue to do so. Thank you for the video.
Good question. We don't usually need to feed these nucs more than that first time. We set them up at the beginning of our major nectar flow and are finished using them by the end of the flow. Occasionally we need to add feed if the conditions haven't been good.
Hi Alberto Thanks! Please see our FAQ # 9 and #17 below. 1. Why do we use canvas for the hive inner cover? A: We use canvas inner covers for a few reasons. They make it easy to take a quick peek in the hive, and are cheap and easy to make. They are light, the lids sit down well, less excess wax on the frame top bars, and we rarely need to scrape the inner cover. We use 18 oz (#8) canvas -otherwise known as duck. It's a bit hard to come by in Ontario, but it is available from online distributors (US: www.bigduckcanvas.com/number-8-18oz-cotton-duck-canvas.html, Canada www.jtsoutdoorfabrics.com/18oz-Cotton-Duck-Canvas-Untreated--Natural-60_p_15038.html). Bees chew through thin canvas so a heavy weight is better. We flip it over periodically when new so the bees thoroughly coat it with propolis. An alternative is a feedbag folded in half. 2. Why do we use single brood chambers? A: Our preference is to keep hives in single brood chambers. We use queen excluders above the brood chamber and then add supers. We produce bigger crops managing our hives in singles vs doubles and we find the hive management much easier. It's become quite common here, especially over the last twenty years. We will be making a video about single brood chambers soon! 3. Are our queens for sale? A: We sell some queens but don't export. To contact us about our queens, please email us at infohbrc@uoguelph.ca. Our Buckfast collaborators also sell queens: Munro Honey www.munrohoney.com/ (for CAN sales) and Ferguson Apiaries fergusonapiaries.on.ca/ (for CAN and US sales). . 4. What breed of honeybee do we use? A: We work with Buckfast bees. Check out our website if you would like to learn more about them: www.uoguelph.ca/honeybee/breeding.shtml 5. Will we be making any more videos? A: Yes! We are looking forward to creating more videos for our RUclips channel this year! Here are some of the topics we will be covering: Working with single brood chambers, indoor overwintering. 6.How do you overwinter double nucleus colonies? A: At the University of Guelph, we winter our double nucleus colonies indoors. You can also winter them outdoors by wrapping two double nucs together with insulation on the sides and top. 7. Are double nucleus colonies prone to swarming? A: With a young queen and the supers above we don't have any problem with these nucs swarming in the first year. We do have to transfer them into a full size box early enough the following spring to prevent swarming. 8. Do we add a frame of pollen or honey into a new split? A: Ideally you add both pollen and honey. Of the two, honey is the most important. 9. Where to purchase some of the products that we use: Coveralls: We really like these Dickies all cotton coveralls. www.dickies.com/coveralls-overalls/deluxe-cotton-coverall/48700.html?dwvar_48700_color=GY#start=3. We use two sided velcro to strap up the wrists and usually tuck the legs into our socks. Plastic Queen cages: Mann Lake and their Canadian distributors sell these and they are made by the French company Nicot. www.mannlakeltd.com/hair-roller-cages. I use a wooden plug on the bottom and screw it in place with a #4 screw after pre drilling. Grafting microscope: www.amscope.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=gooseneck+binocular Mini/mating nucleus boxes: Mann Lake (US) and their Canadian distributors sell these. They are originally from Europe so are widely available there. www.mannlakeltd.com/shop-all-categories/hive-colony-maintenance/queen-rearing/nuc-boxes Queen Pheromone: The pheromone strips were developed here in Canada. They are called Tempqueen and are made by Intko Supply Ltd.Suite 604, 3345 Kingsway VANCOUVER, BC, V5R 0A7 Canada +1 (604) 356-7393. pheromonesupply@gmail.com. Mann Lake in the US and several Canadian bee supply companies carry them. Bee belt and bulk bee box: Our apiary manager Paul Kelly manufactures the Bee Belts and bulk bee box. If you are interested in more information, please email him at pgkelly48@gmail.com. 10. Should you remove any queen cells in a colony before introducing a new queen in a cage? A: Yes, you should remove the queen cells. Look very carefully to make sure you don't miss one. Shake the bees off each frame to make sure you can see them all. Accepted queens are sometimes killed by virgins that emerge from queen cells. 11. Can you make a split without adding a mated queen/can a split raise their own queen? A: A split can raise their own queen (if they have eggs), but you'd be better off buying a mated or queen cell from a local bee breeder. Queens raised by a split are reared under the worst possible conditions, are physiologically inferior, and you aren't taking the opportunity to improve your hive genetics. For a number of reasons, colonies get more aggressive if we let splits raise their own queens. We always use queen cells that we have reared from breeder colonies so we can maintain and improve our genetics. Cells found in hives can be poorly reared if conditions aren't good or if you use swarm cells you are unintentionally breeding for swarming behaviour. 12. How often do we check for swarm cells? A: We check for queen cells only in colonies that are stronger based on our ratings as described in our “Swarm Control” video. We only do this at the time of year bees are prone to swarming (ie just before the main summer nectar flow). In some colonies, we check twice, a week apart, if we have the time and we've found cells in them previously. We stop looking once the nectar flow gets going and the time for swarm preparation has passed. 13. How old is a queen when we replace her? A: We re-queen if a queen isn't doing well or when she is in her third year. 14. How often should you be stung to lessen the chances of developing anaphylactic reactions? A: Please speak with an allergist if you have any concerns regarding bee sting reactions. You don’t need that many stings to build an immunity and reduce your chance of developing an allergy. However, reactions can be very different from one individual to the next. For about three years after starting beekeeping you swell more in the spring when the bee season starts. After that most people don't swell up much at all. Some beekeepers apply stings through the winter to keep building immunity. 15. What do we use as candy for the queen cages? A: You can make the candy using honey and icing sugar but the candy you see in the tubes in our videos are purchased with the cages from Mann Lake beekeeping supplies and their Canadian distributors. In our province, it's not legal to use honey in queen candy if you are distributing queens. Honey can contain American Foulbrood spores. A specialized, non-drying, sugar syrup (Nulomoline invert sugar) can be used instead of the honey. In any case the candy must be made dry enough that it's crumbly. 16. How do we make pollen patties? A: The patty is made from pollen we collect using a pollen trap. We mix the pollen pellets with sugar syrup to a dough like consistency, form the patties between layers of wax paper and then keep them frozen until they are needed. They will keep for several months frozen. 17. How do we make our grafting bars? A: We cut the wood pieces and attach them to the graft bar with liquid beeswax. We then attach the cups with liquid wax. In both cases the liquid wax is applied with a syringe. Previously, we made the wax cups but now buy them from www.kelleybees.com/. 18. Do we move full honey supers to the top of the stack so the bees can fill the lower ones? A: Some beekeepers do shuffle the supers around and do what's called bottom supering. We place supers back on in the original order and only add new supers on top (top supering). That way it's easier to see when the bees need more space. The bees also ripen the honey before moving up. We sometimes harvest full lower supers and put the top ones that aren't full back on in the original order. 19. Do we ever add brood frames to the cell builder colonies to keep their populations high? A: We do add other frames of sealed brood and sometimes we shake in more young bees from brood frames to boost the hives. About once every three weeks we'll boost the hives in one way or another. 20. How do you level hive stands? A: We level the hive stands periodically with pressure treated wood shims. If the hives are already on the stands, we use a hardwood pry bar and a brick fulcrum to lift each end for shimming
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you to everyone for watching and supporting our videos! If you have any questions about our videos, please check out our list of FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS on our website, which can be found at honeybee.uoguelph.ca/videos/frequently-asked-questions/
It says 404, that page doesn't exist.
@@josephdouglas4214 Hi Joseph
We made some changes and might have missed something. Can you please tell me what you clicked on to get the error 404 message. If it is our FAQ link, we have fixed it already but I have to check and make sure we changed the link on every video. Thanks.
@@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre I the link suggested. Maybe you could post the new link to FAQS here? Thanks.
hbrc.ca/faq/
Thanks Joseph
I’ve watched this a dozen times. For some reason this is my favorite beekeeping video 👍
Glad you like it! Thanks Scott.
in nucs hive have enough drone population to mated virgin queen?
how it possible ?
@@prabhuthapa7942 it’s not how many drones are in the mini nuc but how many would be in that general area that makes it work. There would be lots in that area.
7 years on, and this video remains fully relevant to setting up and operating mini mating nucs. The titbits of information one can gleen from the operation here is instructive. The use of TempQueen and Queen Mandibular Pheromone remains eye-opening and not seen in many other mini nuc videos. The 14 day cycles, great guidance, thank you for the well presented video, and sharing such useful knowledge. 👍👍👍
Thanks for the comment. It is rewarding to hear from folks like you!
👍 In addition, I find it important to follow and note calender dates, use at least 3 sources of nurse worker bees, feed syrup late in the day, lock up bees 24hrs to reorientate if not moved. Use water paint and yacht varnish to colour the mini poly nucs.. there was something else ........
@@user-go9hb4td8j All good thoughts... the other one will come to you later.:)
Thx for this presentation and best regards from Slovenia - country of excelent beekeepers and excelent Carnica bee
What a great video! I have wondered how the mini mating Nucs worked, but never found a video that actually explained them. A lot of other channels say they don’t like them, but don’t really explain why. I think they’re pretty cool now thanks to you for thoroughly explaining it. I hope to raise queens for myself and to sell eventually. I like these!! Thank you again!! Lorie
The thing to not like is you're starting a queen then have her but nothing else. If you use a queen castle building up a colony from scratch is easier because it has full size frames.
Getting from mini nuc to full size equipment is not so simple with mini size stuff
Paul...This is another great video from UoG Honey Bee Research Centre! You've done a masterful job of explaining away the mystery of the mini mating NUC! Thank you!
Hi James and Denise
You are very welcome. Thanks for your encouraging feedback!
Very informational. It's good to see the kids being involved with something that will help them in the future.
I agree 100% about getting young folks involved! Thanks for your good thoughts.
Not sure what exactly is wrong with the 43 people that have disliked this video. Great information from a great teacher.
Thanks John
To each his own... We are encouraged by the positive feedback and can overlook the negative. Cheers!
I enjoyed this video. I've never used these little nuces before, they are so convenient. I've only ever used 4 or 5 frame nuces, and this year will using double nuces for the first time. Great stuff guys.👍🏻
Thanks Craig
See our 4 way video too for another mating nuc option.
Thank you so much for sharing your vast knowledge with us. I am new at Bee Keeping and loving every minute of it.
You are very welcome Alan. Go bees!
Excellent videos as always Paul Kelly and crew. Congrats.
Thanks 👍
very cool system.i enjoy your vids keep it up we need more beekeepers.
Thanks Steve!
Hi!!! Really enjoy all your videos!! They help me to try new things in beekeeping I was afraid to do on my own,,the explanation are great. Thank you
Beekeeping for 6years, 10 dadant hives, buckfast bees near Paris France 👍
Hi Peter
Great to hear from you in France! Thanks for the encouraging comments.
My mentor was a professor of entomology at a college in Pennsylvania. I assisted him in his classes. One day I used the term 'when the queen hatches'.
He immediately corrected my by stating, 'queens emerge'.
Since you are a research center I would expect proper terms used in the presentation.
Excellent presentation by the way. It's always nice to have helpers working with you to keep the system running smoothly.
Hi Bob
Thanks for the note.You are right to say that emerging is the correct term. I'm not too fussy about terms. I'm happy if the ideas are understood.
This is SO educational - thank you!
An excellent video and helpful Q&As. Question: your feeder is a simple "well" blocked with a small piece of queen excluder. Bees crawl down to feed but how often is the well filled with drowned bees? Is there a well fitted floater in there that allows them to crawl on to without coming in contact with the pool of sugar syrup?
Thanks Vincent
Very few bees drown in the syrup. The walls of the feeder are easy from them to grip. No we don't use a float. If it were worse I'd use a bit of straw.
Terrific,so well organised and professional
Thanks Linton. Have a great day!
Another excellent video thank you. I have a question though and that's what do you do with the bees , eggs and brood at the end of the queen mating season?
I loved this video and explanation. Paul
Thanks Paul!
Hello, good day. Your video is amazing, how do you explain the process in detail, but I have a question, do the bees not drown in the feeder or does it have a type of flotation?
Great explanation.You never get stung
I wonder how many drones are there in the nucs? 1st round of mating maybe, 2nd round mating onwards there will be enough drones for the queen?
Do they get enough resources this way- like pollen and nectar?
What type of paint are you using to paint the styrofoam NUCs?
love learning from this channel!
How many mating nucs do you make, and how many frames of bees do you shake for making the mating nucs?
I only ask to determine the ratio of frames needing to be shook for the number of mating nucs planning to be made.
How that pheromone strip is made?
Hello, greetings from Greece, thank you for introducing us to the wonderful world of queens, I am a new beekeeper and I want to work with queens, do you have any specific queen rearing program so I can learn step by step? where can I send you my questions,
Our pleasure! Thanks for sharing your excitement about getting into beekeeping.
We have many videos showing our queen rearing methods. I'd suggest you also buy a book or two on the subject.
It’s so much fun to watch the measuring of the bees haha. I love it.
Fun to do too Tina! That why I get that job :)
Me too like beekeeping and also Art making ceramic, mosaic,painting in this way feeling very happy
We use this a lot in Germany, bit we use sugar foundant so that WE can fill the boxes in forehand.
We use also the inner cover so that no bees come Out of the Box when you insert the Queen cell.
This is absolutetly the most complete technique explanation of using this mini nucs. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us. Could you please tell me how many grams of bees are in that cup? Or how do you measure them just to have sufficient bee in the nuc. Is that simple sheet of wax enough for starting them? Thank you again.
Glad you found our video helpful! Thanks. We meausure 1.5 cups by scooping them up in a measuring cup. I don't know what the weight of that many bees would be.
Yes the wax strip works well to get them started building comb. They convert the syrup into beeswax comb very quickly.
Nice video and well explained, not sure that I would shake brood like they. With filling nukes could can be more gentle. Looks really rough. How much syrup you but on. Will You add syrup if there is no nectar flow.what is syrup recopy?
I love this tutorial and my question is where I can buy th e pheromone strips please?? Or any way to prepare myself?? Thank you
Thanks! see hbrc.ca/equipment-and-materials/
Excellent content. Please consider using a high quality wireless microphone to improve audio quality.
Very informative and tons of tips on technique.
Great video! Can you provide more info on your "hive" seat? I notice that you and your apprentices sit on them when working hives.... Do you build them? buy them? Is there some place that a beekeeping in the USA could source? Thank you! Your videos are great- very inspirational!
Hi DJ
I make the seats and sell a few but don't ship them. If you send me an email at pgkelly@uoguelph.ca I can send you the plans. Nice to hear you find the videos inspirational! Thanks for the encouragement. We are filming 25 more over the summer.
What mix of syrup do you use on the mini nucs . ?? Thanks
Second year bee keeper here in the USA. I have not got brave enough to work with bees without my suit. How do you keep from getting stung and I also notice you use no smoke on the bees. Thanks for the video!
Hi There
These very small colonies are easy to work without smoke. We have gentle bees and small colonies are less aggressive than big ones. We do get stung some. I find a suit too hot in the warmer months. Wear what you feel comfortable in. Over time you learn when you can get away with less protection. I was taught to work without gloves so never thought about doing it otherwise. If you watch our video about stings I explain a bit more.
hi, mini mating box, if at the beginning of the maker there is no male bee, how can the queen mate?
Hi, can you please explain how to make a queen pheromone tube and how I can keep the sugar syrup fresh when working with mini nucs in 90 degree weather? Thanks
We use 2;1 sugar syrup. It keeps well.
We buy the Temp Queen strips. From our FAQ...
Queen Pheromone:
The pheromone strips were developed in Canada. They are called Tempqueen and are made by Intko Supply Ltd. Suite 604, 3345 Kingsway VANCOUVER, BC, V5R 0A7 Canada (604) 356-7393. pheromonesupply@gmail.com. Mann Lake in the US and several Canadian bee supply companies carry them.
Nice video...thanks.
...do you have a video of integration of the brood and what you do with the spare honey etc from the mini nucs when done for the year?
Hi OA
We remove the last queen in August, let the brood emerge and then shake out the bees in front of a hive, We then melt out the comb and honey and install new foundation strips. That way we can start fresh each spring.
Thanks again 😎
I enjoy seeing the harvest of the mini nucs
It's so nice, the beekeepers near you are very lucky, because they can buy that quality queens...I wish you were here in the Philippines, so that we can avail one of your quality queen bee.
Hi there Gid's Bal in the Philipines! There are many good suppliers of queens. I hope you can find one closer to you. All the best.
Hi Paul. Love your videos! When the virgin queen hatches, where are the drones she mates with? In the same yard or a different yard? How do you control this for genetics?
Thanks Kate! Glad you like the videos.
We do all our queen mating on Islands in Lake Simcoe or in our home yard. We get isolated mating with drones from drone mother hives on the Islands and from drones in the home yard and our nearby outyards. The latter case is called drone flooding. Lucky you live in our drone flooded area!
Two of our videos that relate to this are Managing Towards Gentle Behaviour and Thorah Island
@@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre Thanks for that amazing answer. Just finished watching those terrific educational videos.
Hi
If you don't have another yard can you do this operation in the same yard successfully. I only have a few hives as a hobby but would like to produce my own queens to increase my numbers.
I really have learn a lot from your videos and find your straight forward and systematic approach great for learning.
Many thanks
Mark
Hi Mark
For just a few queens you might find it better to skip the mating nuc part and introduce queen cells to splits. That works well too. See our video 'Handling Queen Cells'.
Excellent instructional videos! Where do you get your ventilated box and funnel used to shake the youngs bees into or can you provide a description or plans for making one? Thanks.
Thanks Mike!
I made the bulk bee box and funnel. Send me an email at pgkelly@uoguelph.ca and I can send you some pictures. I haven't made up any plans.
@@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre I'd love to see that a well 😊
UoG Honey Bee Research Centre
Hi William
I made the bulk bee box and funnel. Send me an email at pgkelly@uoguelph.ca and I can send you some pictures. I haven't made up any plans.
@@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre Paul, I thought I'd sent you a message 6 days ago. Regarding your little chair and the bulk bee box. Perhaps it got lost 😇
What if you don't have feromon strips? Any workaround?
Some beekeepers put the nucs in a cool dark room for a day or two until the queen emerges from her cell and the bees have started to build comb. That helps to hold the bees but I find that the pheromone works better.
@@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre thank you for your guidance 🙏🙏🙏
Tough finding somewhere cool when 90f outside, to leave them for couple days closed up? Any suggestions?
Hi Scott
By using the pheromone strip we don't need to leave them enclosed for long. We set them in shady spots and open the entrances early in the morning on the day following filling them with bees.
Paul, could you tell us what kind of strips you use? What brand?
If you are not in a honey flow do you add syrup (to the nuc) at some point? The syrup did not last too long in mine. I hate to open them up too soon, so group fed them. Thanks for any suggestions.
Hi Larry
We just finished a video on this topic today but it won't be posted until the fall. Yes, definitely feed your nuc when you install it in your full size equipment. That will allow your bees to build comb for brood production so the colony will grow. Don't worry about opening up your hives an checking on them. That's way better than the opposite scenario. I find feeding hives directly in the spring is better than group feeding and only do that in the fall.
Thanks for the info. You have the best videos out there.
awesome. . . may i know how to identify the pheromone strip? thanks
Hi There
Answers to questions like this are found in our FAQ. Please see the FAQ link posted under each video.
Good experience showing.
You not feed the nuc on subsequent queen cells? Does this handful of bees have the numbers to be self sufficient with such small frames for storage?
No just one feeding but we make these nucs up at the beginning of our main nectar flow. They do last for the summer but by fall are starting to decline. That's ok as we are done with them at that time.
Why did you cut one wing when you marked it, it will not replace it when you place it in the new hive as disabled?
Hi There
You could watch our video on marking and clipping queens. We explain more there.
I'm stuck at the pheromone strip part. I have lemon grass oil but no pheromone strip. Can I use that as a substitute by pouring it on a piece of comb?
Great video, thanks for sharing !!!!!
I have some wooden mini mating nuc box but my main problems are ants and that the bees absconding the nuc. I'm from Chile, here pheromon strips are not available. I'm planning to leave bees confined longer (maybe two nights) in order to avoid bee absconding.
Greeting from Chile (South América).
HI Felipe in Chile
Ants aren't a big problem here so I can't comment on that problem. You could probably order the pheromone from the Canadian company below. Mann Lake in the US also sells it. Both would ship it to you. It has an 18 month expiration and I store it in a freezer. It's really helpful to hold the bees in the nucs and is not expensive relative to the cost of your time and the price of queens. I'm sure we lose a few bees but there is no absconding. I understand that confinement in a cool dark location for a few days can work too but with the pheromone strips it's not necessary.
Thanks for your feedback Felipe.
Intko Supply Ltd.Suite 604, 3345 Kingsway
VANCOUVER, BC, V5R 0A7 Canada +1 (604) 356-7393pheromonesupply@gmail.com
Try setting your nuc on a upright concrete block that sits inside a cookie tray; then add a film of mineral oil to the cookie tray. This took care of our ant problem
Thank you for sharing. I love the way you teach. I went to your FAQ and didn’t see anything about the colors of your nucs. What do you color them with? They are beautiful.
Timothy...
The Colours are different so Queens orientate back to their own 'coloured box' after flying out and back from their Mating Flight ! See how they set same Colours away from each other. 👀
Just use traditional Water based House Paint. Here in the UK, it's called Emulsion Paint (latex based) Don't use Oil* based Paint on Poly Boxes !!!
Tip :
Often DIY Paint areas mix Colours, that Customers change their minds (!?!) And these get Sold in a Clearance Corner. So bag a £$€ bargain. 😏
* Unless you make your own Mini Mating Nucs using Scrap Timber. Do allow the Oil based Paint Fumes to cleatr before adding those Cups of Bees, and your Queen Cell. 👍
Happy Beekeeping 2022
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Hello Paul. Great video - just like your others. I'm curious about seems to be a small wooden 'bottom' on the queen cups that I've seen here, and on other videos of yours.. I presume that this is created or done - whenever you are grafting but don't see any mention of this in any of the other videos. Whenever I graph I use the plastic queen cups and then have use them like 'push-pins' for putting them into frames. Having what appears like a 'ledge' on yours seems like it might be easier and wonder if you can share how that's done. thanks again ...
Hi Sea Pro
Thanks for your generous comments! You can see our queen cell bases a bit more clearly in our grafting video. Please also see #17 in our frequently asked question list below.
I prefer the wax cups and wooden cell bases over plastic but most of my queen rearing friends use the plastic ones as they are convenient. The wooden base provides a good handle and a solid way to hang the cells between frame top bars.I got the idea from a mentor, Barry Davies.
1. Why do we use canvas for the hive inner cover? A: We use canvas inner covers for a few reasons. They make it easy to take a quick peek in the hive, and are cheap and easy to make. They are light, the lids sit down well, less excess wax on the frame top bars, and we rarely need to scrape the inner cover. We use 18 oz (#8) canvas -otherwise known as duck. It's a bit hard to come by in Ontario, but it is available from online distributors (US: www.bigduckcanvas.com/number-8-18oz-cotton-duck-canvas.html, Canada www.jtsoutdoorfabrics.com/18oz-Cotton-Duck-Canvas-Untreated--Natural-60_p_15038.html). Bees chew through thin canvas so a heavy weight is better. We flip it over periodically when new so the bees thoroughly coat it with propolis. An alternative is a feedbag folded in half.
2. Why do we use single brood chambers? A: Our preference is to keep hives in single brood chambers. We use queen excluders above the brood chamber and then add supers. We produce bigger crops managing our hives in singles vs doubles and we find the hive management much easier. It's become quite common here, especially over the last twenty years. We will be making a video about single brood chambers soon!
3. Are our queens for sale? A: We sell some queens but don't export. To contact us about our queens, please email us at infohbrc@uoguelph.ca. Our Buckfast collaborators also sell queens: Munro Honey www.munrohoney.com/ (for CAN sales) and Ferguson Apiaries fergusonapiaries.on.ca/ (for CAN and US sales). .
4. What breed of honeybee do we use? A: We work with Buckfast bees. Check out our website if you would like to learn more about them: www.uoguelph.ca/honeybee/breeding.shtml
5. Will we be making any more videos? A: Yes! We are looking forward to creating more videos for our RUclips channel this year! Here are some of the topics we will be covering: Working with single brood chambers, indoor overwintering.
6.How do you overwinter double nucleus colonies? A: At the University of Guelph, we winter our double nucleus colonies indoors. You can also winter them outdoors by wrapping two double nucs together with insulation on the sides and top.
7. Are double nucleus colonies prone to swarming? A: With a young queen and the supers above we don't have any problem with these nucs swarming in the first year. We do have to transfer them into a full size box early enough the following spring to prevent swarming.
8. Do we add a frame of pollen or honey into a new split? A: Ideally you add both pollen and honey. Of the two, honey is the most important.
9. Where to purchase some of the products that we use: Coveralls: We really like these Dickies all cotton coveralls. www.dickies.com/coveralls-overalls/deluxe-cotton-coverall/48700.html?dwvar_48700_color=GY#start=3. We use two sided velcro to strap up the wrists and usually tuck the legs into our socks. Plastic Queen cages: Mann Lake and their Canadian distributors sell these and they are made by the French company Nicot. www.mannlakeltd.com/hair-roller-cages. I use a wooden plug on the bottom and screw it in place with a #4 screw after pre drilling. Grafting microscope: www.amscope.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=gooseneck+binocular Mini/mating nucleus boxes: Mann Lake (US) and their Canadian distributors sell these. They are originally from Europe so are widely available there. www.mannlakeltd.com/shop-all-categories/hive-colony-maintenance/queen-rearing/nuc-boxes Queen Pheromone: The pheromone strips were developed here in Canada. They are called Tempqueen and are made by Intko Supply Ltd.Suite 604, 3345 Kingsway VANCOUVER, BC, V5R 0A7 Canada +1 (604) 356-7393. pheromonesupply@gmail.com. Mann Lake in the US and several Canadian bee supply companies carry them. Bee belt and bulk bee box: Our apiary manager Paul Kelly manufactures the Bee Belts and bulk bee box. If you are interested in more information, please email him at pgkelly48@gmail.com.
10. Should you remove any queen cells in a colony before introducing a new queen in a cage? A: Yes, you should remove the queen cells. Look very carefully to make sure you don't miss one. Shake the bees off each frame to make sure you can see them all. Accepted queens are sometimes killed by virgins that emerge from queen cells.
11. Can you make a split without adding a mated queen/can a split raise their own queen? A: A split can raise their own queen (if they have eggs), but you'd be better off buying a mated or queen cell from a local bee breeder. Queens raised by a split are reared under the worst possible conditions, are physiologically inferior, and you aren't taking the opportunity to improve your hive genetics. For a number of reasons, colonies get more aggressive if we let splits raise their own queens. We always use queen cells that we have reared from breeder colonies so we can maintain and improve our genetics. Cells found in hives can be poorly reared if conditions aren't good or if you use swarm cells you are unintentionally breeding for swarming behavior.
12. How often do we check for swarm cells? A: We check for queen cells only in colonies that are stronger based on our ratings as described in our “Swarm Control” video. We only do this at the time of year bees are prone to swarming (ie just before the main summer nectar flow). In some colonies, we check twice, a week apart, if we have the time and we've found cells in them previously. We stop looking once the nectar flow gets going and the time for swarm preparation has passed.
13. How old is a queen when we replace her? A: We re-queen if a queen isn't doing well or when she is in her third year.
14. How often should you be stung to lessen the chances of developing anaphylactic reactions? A: Please speak with an allergist if you have any concerns regarding bee sting reactions. You don’t need that many stings to build an immunity and reduce your chance of developing an allergy. However, reactions can be very different from one individual to the next. For about three years after starting beekeeping you swell more in the spring when the bee season starts. After that most people don't swell up much at all. Some beekeepers apply stings through the winter to keep building immunity.
15. What do we use as candy for the queen cages? A: You can make the candy using honey and icing sugar but the candy you see in the tubes in our videos are purchased with the cages from Mann Lake beekeeping supplies and their Canadian distributors. In our province, it's not legal to use honey in queen candy if you are distributing queens. Honey can contain American Foulbrood spores. A specialized, non-drying, sugar syrup (Nulomoline invert sugar) can be used instead of the honey. In any case the candy must be made dry enough that it's crumbly.
16. How do we make pollen patties? A: The patty is made from pollen we collect using a pollen trap. We mix the pollen pellets with sugar syrup to a dough like consistency, form the patties between layers of wax paper and then keep them frozen until they are needed. They will keep for several months frozen.
17. How do we make our grafting bars? A: We cut the wood pieces and attach them to the graft bar with liquid beeswax. We then attach the cups with liquid wax. In both cases the liquid wax is applied with a syringe. Previously, we made the wax cups but now buy them from www.kelleybees.com/.
18. Do we move full honey supers to the top of the stack so the bees can fill the lower ones? A: Some beekeepers do shuffle the supers around and do what's called bottom supering. We place supers back on in the original order and only add new supers on top (top supering). That way it's easier to see when the bees need more space. The bees also ripen the honey before moving up. We sometimes harvest full lower supers and put the top ones that aren't full back on in the original order.
19. Do we ever add brood frames to the cell builder colonies to keep their populations high? A: We do add other frames of sealed brood and sometimes we shake in more young bees from brood frames to boost the hives. About once every three weeks we'll boost the hives in one way or another.
20. How do you level hive stands? A: We level the hive stands periodically with pressure treated wood shims. If the hives are already on the stands, we use a hardwood pry bar and a brick fulcrum to lift each end for shimming.
Show less
Does the syrup last the full two weeks or do you need to feed again?
We find that in most years we only need to feed once at the beginning. We are always ready to feed though - in case.
I wonder if you’ve ever experimented with polystyrene supers, I hear they are excellent for temperature control in the winter months.
Absolutely stunning presentation. Thank you so much for such a clear and step by step demonstration. I have a question about your mini-nukes. Where do you purchase those and how much are they? also how much is the queen pheromone ,how long does it last and what happen to those small mini nukes after your 5 round of queen mating? Thank you again
Hi Chris
We get our nuc boxes from a Canadian supplier but they are made by Mann Lake in the US. The pheromone is made in Canada and many bee suppliers sell it. Check out our FAQ in the comments of our introductory video for more details. The pheromone has a shelf life of 18 months but lasts for a week or so in the hive. Not sure really how long we just leave the strip in place and remove it in the fall when we shake the bees out of the nucs.
I forgot to say thanks for your generous comments Chris. Thanks!
FAQ List:
Why do we use canvas for the hive inner cover?
A: We use canvas inner covers for a few reasons. They make it easy to take a quick peek in the hive, and are cheap and easy to make. They are light, the lids sit down well, less excess wax on the frame top bars, and we rarely need to scrape the inner cover. We use 18 oz (#8) canvas -otherwise known as duck. It's a bit hard to come by in Ontario, but it is available from online distributors (US: www.bigduckcanvas.com/number-8-18oz-cotton-duck-canvas.html, Canada www.jtsoutdoorfabrics.com/18oz-Cotton-Duck-Canvas-Untreated--Natural-60_p_15038.html). Bees chew through thin canvas so a heavy weight is better. We flip it over periodically when new so the bees thoroughly coat it with propolis. An alternative is a feedbag folded in half.
Why do we use single brood chambers?
A: Our preference is to keep hives in single brood chambers. We use queen excluders above the brood chamber and then add supers. We produce bigger crops managing our hives in singles vs doubles and we find the hive management much easier. It's become quite common here, especially over the last twenty years. We will be making a video about single brood chambers soon!
Are our queens for sale?
A: We are sold out for 2017. We sell some queens but don't export. We can sell to US customers that are able to pick them up here but otherwise recommend our Buckfast collaborators Munro Honey www.munrohoney.com/ and Ferguson Apiaries fergusonapiaries.on.ca/. To contact us about our queens, please email us at infohbrc@uoguelph.ca.
What breed of honeybee do we use?
A: We work with Buckfast bees. Check out our website if you would like to learn more about them: www.uoguelph.ca/honeybee/breeding.shtml
Will we be making any more videos?
A: Yes! We are looking forward to creating more videos for our RUclips channel this year! Here are some of the topics we will be covering: Working with single brood chambers, indoor overwintering.
How do you overwinter double nucleus colonies?
A: At the University of Guelph, we winter our double nucleus colonies indoors. You can also winter them outdoors by wrapping two double nucs together with insulation on the sides and top.
Are double nucleus colonies prone to swarming?
A: With a young queen and the supers above we don't have any problem with these nucs swarming in the first year. We do have to transfer them into a full size box early enough the following spring to prevent swarming.
Do we add a frame of pollen or honey into a new split?
A: Ideally you add both pollen and honey. Of the two, honey is the most important.
Where to purchase some of the products that we use:
Coveralls: We really like these Dickies all cotton coveralls. www.dickies.com/coveralls-overalls/deluxe-cotton-coverall/48700.html?dwvar_48700_color=GY#start=3. We use two sided velcro to strap up the wrists and usually tuck the legs into
our socks.
Plastic Queen cages: Mann Lake and their Canadian distributors sell these and they are made by the French company Nicot. www.mannlakeltd.com/hair-roller-cages. I use a wooden plug on the bottom and screw it in place with a #4 screw after pre drilling.
Grafting microscope: www.amscope.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=gooseneck+binocular
Mini/mating nucleus boxes: Mann Lake (US) and their Canadian distributors sell these. They are originally from Europe so are widely available there. www.mannlakeltd.com/shop-all-categories/hive-colony-maintenance/queen-rearing/nuc-boxes
Queen Pheromone: The pheromone strips were developed here in Canada. They are called Tempqueen and are made by Intko Supply Ltd.Suite 604, 3345 Kingsway VANCOUVER, BC, V5R 0A7 Canada +1 (604) 356-7393. pheromonesupply@gmail.com. Mann Lake in the US and several Canadian bee supply companies carry them.
Bee belt and bulk bee box: Our apiary manager Paul Kelly manufactures the Bee Belts and bulk bee box. If you are interested in more information, please email him at pgkelly48@gmail.com.
Should you remove any queen cells in a colony before introducing a new queen in a cage?
A: Yes, you should remove the queen cells. Look very carefully to make sure you don't miss one. Shake the bees off each frame to make sure you can see them all. Accepted queens are sometimes killed by virgins that emerge from queen cells.
Can you make a split without adding a mated queen/can a split raise their own queen?
A: A split can raise their own queen (if they have eggs), but you'd be better off buying a mated or queen cell from a local bee breeder. Queens raised by a split are reared under the worst possible conditions, are physiologically inferior, and you aren't taking the opportunity to improve your hive genetics. For a number of reasons, colonies get more aggressive if we let splits raise their own queens. We always use queen cells that we have reared from breeder colonies so we can maintain and improve our genetics. Cells found in hives can be poorly reared if conditions aren't good or if you use swarm cells you are unintentionally breeding for swarming behavior.
How often do we check for swarm cells?
A: We check for queen cells only in colonies that are stronger based on our ratings as described in our “Swarm Control” video. We only do this at the time of year bees are prone to swarming (ie just before the main summer nectar flow). In some colonies, we check twice, a week apart, if we have the time and we've found cells in them previously. We stop looking once the nectar flow gets going and the time for swarm preparation has passed.
How old is a queen when we replace her?
A: We re-queen if a queen isn't doing well or when she is in her third year.
How often should you be stung to lessen the chances of developing anaphylactic reactions?
A: Please speak with an allergist if you have any concerns regarding bee sting reactions. You don’t need that many stings to build an immunity and reduce your chance of developing an allergy. However, reactions can be very different from one individual to the next. For about three years after starting beekeeping you swell more in the spring when the bee season starts. After that most people don't swell up much at all. Some beekeepers apply stings through the winter to keep building immunity.
What do we use as candy for the queen cages?
A: You can make the candy using honey and icing sugar but the candy you see in the tubes in our videos are purchased with the cages from Mann Lake beekeeping supplies and their Canadian distributors. In our province, it's not legal to use honey in queen candy if you are distributing queens. Honey can contain American Foulbrood spores. A specialized, non-drying, sugar syrup (Nulomoline invert sugar) can be used instead of the honey. In any case the candy must be made dry enough that it's crumbly.
How do we make pollen patties?
A: The patty is made from pollen we collect using a pollen trap. We mix the pollen pellets with sugar syrup to a dough like consistency, form the patties between layers of wax paper and then keep them frozen until they are needed. They will keep for several months frozen.
How do we make our grafting bars?
A: We cut the wood pieces and attach them to the graft bar with liquid beeswax. We then attach the cups with liquid wax. In both cases the liquid wax is applied with a syringe. Previously, we made the wax cups but now buy them from www.kelleybees.com/.
Do we move full honey supers to the top of the stack so the bees can fill the lower ones?
A: Some beekeepers do shuffle the supers around and do what's called bottom supering. We place supers back on in the original order and only add new supers on top (top supering). That way it's easier to see when the bees need more space. The bees also ripen the honey before moving up. We sometimes harvest full lower supers and put the top ones that aren't full back on in the original order.
Do we ever add brood frames to the cell builder colonies to keep their populations high?
A: We do add other frames of sealed brood and sometimes we shake in more young bees from brood frames to boost the hives. About once every three weeks we'll boost the hives in one way or another.
How do you level hive stands?
A: We level the hive stands periodically with pressure treated wood shims. If the hives are already on the stands, we use a hardwood pry bar and a brick fulcrum to lift each end for shimming.
I'm going out now to my bees to see if bees will stick to a used queen cell.....I have lots of used plastic cells. I'll use a used cells if it attracts bees. I'm thinking of cutting thick/cadied honey in slices for the feeder plus some stored pollen and maybe some sugar syrup. I'm new to nucs of this type and have the Lyson ones, which I'm getting used to. They cost one queen, so after 5 queens I
ve made a good return on my investment.
Thank's for the look, the mini boxes are relocate about 4 Kl away or more. I will be coming to Toronto end of this month, ate making any kind of work with the bee's so maybe I can visit you or you don't have visitor's?. Coming in from Samos Greece.
Hi CC
I keep pretty busy but maybe we could have a quick visit.
pgkelly@uoguelph.ca
Looking at the schedule for queen raising it appears you put the queen cell in the mini nus when it is 10 days old. Assuming the queen hatches on day 14 is this the time the bees need to accept the cell?
We install queen cells on day 10 from grafting. The larvae we graft are 1 day old. That means 4 days since the egg was laid. So, the cells we introduce are 14 days old if you count from when the egg was laid. The queen hatches 16 days after the egg was laid.
@@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre great, thanks!
Thank you for this educational video👍. I ‘ve got one question; Do they accept the new queen cell after two weeks even if they have eggs and maybe larva in the little hives? Greetings, a beginning beekeeper from the Netherlands
Sure UoG will answer.
Meantime, each Queen Cell is near hatching age and the Virgin will I guess be giving off her own phremones, even before being Mated. This will probably stop the Workers from making their 'own queen' from the eggs/ Larva present.
Remember, UoG have that artificial plastic strip pheromone stapled in their as well. 👀
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Happy Beekeeping 2022.
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
I don't have access to these strips, so repeated adding of a QC will keep the girls busy waiting for their (next) Queen. 😊
Is there something you need to do with the slot for sugar syrup to keep the bees from drowning?
wow those 🐝🐝🐝 are really gentle
We absolutely love your videos! I have a couple of questions as I want to try this next year. When you shake out 5 frames of nurse bees from your colonies does that leave enough nurse bees to cover the existing brood in the donor colony? Also, in the video, around 14:00 I think you say you always switch out the phermone strip frame. Do you replace this with a new frame? Again, thank you for all the informative videos. It helps SO much with us less experienced beekeepers!
Hi Jimmy
Very kind of you to say that!
1. Taking that many nurse bees causes the older bees to revert to feeding larvae. There are alo of other bees in the supers and out foraging so this slows the colony down a bit but the bounce back soon after.
2. When I mentioned switching frames it was to give a queenless nuc some eggs and brood from a queen right nuc. When doing this we routinely move the frame with the pheromone on it to the other colony and vice versa. There isn't full depth in the box next to the entrance so the frame that sits there is short and a taller frame wouldn't fit in this spot. Hope that makes sense to you. We know the frame with the pheromone strip is a taller frame so its easy to keep track of.
@@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre thank you for the reply. I understand now. You all do amazing work!
Did you put the queen cells I. The same day you put the bees in?
Yes, the queen cells are put in immediately after the bees.
If you respond can you tell me how your keeping lids from getting glued and waxed down?
That doesn't seem to be a problem. We pull the lids off as shown in the video. It does take a bit of force.
15:25 RIP that bee that got squashed in the lid
:(
The downside of beekeeping :(
There’s only two absolutes in beekeeping. You’re going to get stung and bees are going to die.
Most fascinating video and thanks for sharing. In watching your video, it brings to mind a question I often have. If I were to cut off a capped queen cell out of a comb as in the case of swarm cells along the bottom of a frame, how long would that pupae live and can I insert that into a queen-less colony? Thanks!
Hi Nicki
You could do that but only with older queen cells as they are easily damaged. I'd suggest you watch our videos 'Handling queen cells' and 'why but queens' for some more thoughts.
Good work,well done, I amazing your work.🌨️🌨️🌨️🌨️🌈🌈🌈🌈👂👂👂👂👂👂👀👀👀👀🐝🐝🐝🐝🌻🌻🌻🌻💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐
:)
good morning, nice video! the only thing i don' t understand is: why ou didn' t introdice any drones in the mini nucs and where the queen is going to get them to mate??thnak u
Hi Giovanni
Small colonies like this don't raise drones and the queens mate on the wing miles from home. If you watch our Thorah Island video you'll learn more about how we manage the drone side of bee breeding.
UoG Honey Bee Research Centre i have watched that video after writing the comment..so if i want to use this tecnique i have to place the mini nucs in an apiary, so when the queen goes out, for her mating flight, will find and mate with drones from the various colonies of the apiary. .thank u..
You got it Giovanni! Thanks for letting me know you figured it out.
Hi, one small question who laid the new queen egg if there is no old queen or brood on does mini nucs? thank you.
We raise the queens in other colonies not in the nucleus colony. You could watch our other queen rearing videos and it should become more clear.
Hi Paul another great quality video just checked your questions cant find the answer im after, my question is do you get to the point of simple having to many worker bees in these Tiny Nucs with hatching over time if the answer is yes what do you generally do? before i pop off you should get yourself a miniature hive tool as it looks so strange with your normal size hive tool like a over kill lol.
Hi Prof. Thank you very much for these very informative and valuable videos. please, why is it important to clip the queen's wing? Another question, is it important to use the pheromone strips? and if I don't find it what technique can I use instead? Thank you very much in advance. Maged
Hi bakoota
You are very welcome.
1. clipping wings - see our video Marking and clipping queens for an answer
2. The pheromone helps keep the bees from absconding. Some beekeepers keep the entrance closed for a couple days and keep the nucs in a cool dark location. This can achieve the same goal.
Where did you buy your mini nucs from I’ve been looking everywhere and trying to find the best price so far Amazon but a lot of them don’t have many reviews
See our FAQ here hbrc.ca/faq/
but Mann Lake in the US is our supplier. They are also available in Europe from other suppliers. I don't know where you live.
Thanks for the video,
Is it enough time to harvest the mated queen bee 2 weeks after putting the queen cell in the mini nuc?
Great video! Very informative
Really good videos. How long does it take the bees to build comb in these mini-nucs? Would the bees build comb just with the pheromone strip in or do they need a queen cell to build comb?
Hi Again Ro Boto
I'm glad you like our videos. 21 more coming very soon. If you subscribe to our channel you'll get them as they are posted.
The bees would build the comb with just the pheromone strip. It helps hold the bees in the nuc until the queen emerges. Without it many bees would abscond so, of course, in that case comb wouldn't be built.
Hi Paul thank you for the video, I am very surprised about the pheromon being left in with the cell, as I only have seen it used for transporting bee package and being removed at the release of the queen, I thought they would replace the queen by the pheromon stick otherwise !?
Hi Free
You're most welcome. The pheromone dissipates fairly quickly. It doesn't seem to affect queen acceptance. the way we use it.
Cold you answer question: the little gauge you put in the Gueen also you put in some bees together plus the food(candy) etc..how long the Gueen life insed the gauge.
?
Hi Bret
I think you should watch our video 'Care of caged queens'. It should answer your questions.
@@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre I will see the video,thanks
Not a bee keeper (yet), so might be a dumb question, but how can he take bees in his hand and not get stung?
We do get stung occasionally but you get used to it.
Wonderful. So instructional. Kinda different and interesting...many thanks for sharing.
Where do u get the pheromone strip
Paul another great video,if I remember did you say in one of your videos you said you can't sell queens to the U.S..
Hi Carl
We don't export to the US but our Buckfast partners noted on the following link do some exports.
www.uoguelph.ca/honeybee/breeding-purchase-queens.shtml
Would it be possible to mate queens in a single frame deep or medium langstroth? It seems like they would have the same area as your little nucs.
Yes it would. Not a natural shaped hive though so I don't know how it would work. I've seen some really neat 1 x 1/2 frame nucs but they were well insulated.
If you had multiple nucs in one box you could have more problems with queens orienting to the wrong entrance. By 1 X 1/2 frame I meant one frame, full depth, i/2 length. These were individual nucs not multiple nucs in one box. A 6 5/8" deep box divided by four with half length frames works well.
How can i obtain pheromone strip? Also where can i buy this mini nuc? Also where can i buy incubator?
Please see our frequently asked questions for the answers to your questions. The link is posted in the video description under every video.
Hi Guys! This channel is really amazing! I'm from Brazil, and here I never see this technique. I wondered if it is possible to multiply my hives with this technique? can this mini nucleus become a new hive? Thanks you for all this precious information!
Glad you enjoy our videos. This method is only used for producing mated queens. The colonies are too small to use in producing full size colonies.
great video - Where can I get boxes like those? Also, what kind of paint do you use?
Two coats of exterior latex,
Hola una pregunta puede pasar la invernada las abejas en ese mini núcleo si son alimentadas en invierno?
No, we haven't been abe to winter them successfully indoors or outdoors. They are too small to thermoregulate well.
Very informative videos. What is your percentage of takes on queen cells in the mini mating nucs?
Hi Jim
Long term about 80%. We get higher rates sometimes but occasionally it doesn't work as well.
is there drowning with that feeder reservoir? I was given one of these, with a plastic reservoir that doesn't have a lid.
There is very little drowning. The bees seem to be able to grip the walls well.
@@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre mine is smooth plastic- I added foam for a float
Your school is amazing
Thanks!
The conditions in Canada are different to ours, but the system would still work here in the UK and it is what we need to aim for if we are to minimize the need for Queen bee imports into the UK.
Esses mini nucleos funciona oranproduzor novos emclames ?
Looked in your FAQ and through the comments but don't see it. Hope to get an answer despite this being an older video. How often do you feed the mating nucs? I see that you fed 1:1 on initial install, but don't know if you continue to do so. Thank you for the video.
Good question. We don't usually need to feed these nucs more than that first time. We set them up at the beginning of our major nectar flow and are finished using them by the end of the flow. Occasionally we need to add feed if the conditions haven't been good.
Hello. Great show. How do we get very small bee boxes. Student.
Please see our FAQ link posted under each video. It shows where we source equipment and supplies. Thanks!!!
Thanks for sharing sir😊
Great video but can you let me know where you got the hormone queen strip and how did you make a queen cell
Hi Alberto
Thanks!
Please see our FAQ # 9 and #17 below.
1. Why do we use canvas for the hive inner cover? A: We use canvas inner covers for a few reasons. They make it easy to take a quick peek in the hive, and are cheap and easy to make. They are light, the lids sit down well, less excess wax on the frame top bars, and we rarely need to scrape the inner cover. We use 18 oz (#8) canvas -otherwise known as duck. It's a bit hard to come by in Ontario, but it is available from online distributors (US: www.bigduckcanvas.com/number-8-18oz-cotton-duck-canvas.html, Canada www.jtsoutdoorfabrics.com/18oz-Cotton-Duck-Canvas-Untreated--Natural-60_p_15038.html). Bees chew through thin canvas so a heavy weight is better. We flip it over periodically when new so the bees thoroughly coat it with propolis. An alternative is a feedbag folded in half.
2. Why do we use single brood chambers? A: Our preference is to keep hives in single brood chambers. We use queen excluders above the brood chamber and then add supers. We produce bigger crops managing our hives in singles vs doubles and we find the hive management much easier. It's become quite common here, especially over the last twenty years. We will be making a video about single brood chambers soon!
3. Are our queens for sale? A: We sell some queens but don't export. To contact us about our queens, please email us at infohbrc@uoguelph.ca. Our Buckfast collaborators also sell queens: Munro Honey www.munrohoney.com/ (for CAN sales) and Ferguson Apiaries fergusonapiaries.on.ca/ (for CAN and US sales). .
4. What breed of honeybee do we use? A: We work with Buckfast bees. Check out our website if you would like to learn more about them: www.uoguelph.ca/honeybee/breeding.shtml
5. Will we be making any more videos? A: Yes! We are looking forward to creating more videos for our RUclips channel this year! Here are some of the topics we will be covering: Working with single brood chambers, indoor overwintering.
6.How do you overwinter double nucleus colonies? A: At the University of Guelph, we winter our double nucleus colonies indoors. You can also winter them outdoors by wrapping two double nucs together with insulation on the sides and top.
7. Are double nucleus colonies prone to swarming? A: With a young queen and the supers above we don't have any problem with these nucs swarming in the first year. We do have to transfer them into a full size box early enough the following spring to prevent swarming.
8. Do we add a frame of pollen or honey into a new split? A: Ideally you add both pollen and honey. Of the two, honey is the most important.
9. Where to purchase some of the products that we use: Coveralls: We really like these Dickies all cotton coveralls. www.dickies.com/coveralls-overalls/deluxe-cotton-coverall/48700.html?dwvar_48700_color=GY#start=3. We use two sided velcro to strap up the wrists and usually tuck the legs into our socks. Plastic Queen cages: Mann Lake and their Canadian distributors sell these and they are made by the French company Nicot. www.mannlakeltd.com/hair-roller-cages. I use a wooden plug on the bottom and screw it in place with a #4 screw after pre drilling. Grafting microscope: www.amscope.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=gooseneck+binocular Mini/mating nucleus boxes: Mann Lake (US) and their Canadian distributors sell these. They are originally from Europe so are widely available there. www.mannlakeltd.com/shop-all-categories/hive-colony-maintenance/queen-rearing/nuc-boxes Queen Pheromone: The pheromone strips were developed here in Canada. They are called Tempqueen and are made by Intko Supply Ltd.Suite 604, 3345 Kingsway VANCOUVER, BC, V5R 0A7 Canada +1 (604) 356-7393. pheromonesupply@gmail.com. Mann Lake in the US and several Canadian bee supply companies carry them. Bee belt and bulk bee box: Our apiary manager Paul Kelly manufactures the Bee Belts and bulk bee box. If you are interested in more information, please email him at pgkelly48@gmail.com.
10. Should you remove any queen cells in a colony before introducing a new queen in a cage? A: Yes, you should remove the queen cells. Look very carefully to make sure you don't miss one. Shake the bees off each frame to make sure you can see them all. Accepted queens are sometimes killed by virgins that emerge from queen cells.
11. Can you make a split without adding a mated queen/can a split raise their own queen? A: A split can raise their own queen (if they have eggs), but you'd be better off buying a mated or queen cell from a local bee breeder. Queens raised by a split are reared under the worst possible conditions, are physiologically inferior, and you aren't taking the opportunity to improve your hive genetics. For a number of reasons, colonies get more aggressive if we let splits raise their own queens. We always use queen cells that we have reared from breeder colonies so we can maintain and improve our genetics. Cells found in hives can be poorly reared if conditions aren't good or if you use swarm cells you are unintentionally breeding for swarming behaviour.
12. How often do we check for swarm cells? A: We check for queen cells only in colonies that are stronger based on our ratings as described in our “Swarm Control” video. We only do this at the time of year bees are prone to swarming (ie just before the main summer nectar flow). In some colonies, we check twice, a week apart, if we have the time and we've found cells in them previously. We stop looking once the nectar flow gets going and the time for swarm preparation has passed.
13. How old is a queen when we replace her? A: We re-queen if a queen isn't doing well or when she is in her third year.
14. How often should you be stung to lessen the chances of developing anaphylactic reactions? A: Please speak with an allergist if you have any concerns regarding bee sting reactions. You don’t need that many stings to build an immunity and reduce your chance of developing an allergy. However, reactions can be very different from one individual to the next. For about three years after starting beekeeping you swell more in the spring when the bee season starts. After that most people don't swell up much at all. Some beekeepers apply stings through the winter to keep building immunity.
15. What do we use as candy for the queen cages? A: You can make the candy using honey and icing sugar but the candy you see in the tubes in our videos are purchased with the cages from Mann Lake beekeeping supplies and their Canadian distributors. In our province, it's not legal to use honey in queen candy if you are distributing queens. Honey can contain American Foulbrood spores. A specialized, non-drying, sugar syrup (Nulomoline invert sugar) can be used instead of the honey. In any case the candy must be made dry enough that it's crumbly.
16. How do we make pollen patties? A: The patty is made from pollen we collect using a pollen trap. We mix the pollen pellets with sugar syrup to a dough like consistency, form the patties between layers of wax paper and then keep them frozen until they are needed. They will keep for several months frozen.
17. How do we make our grafting bars? A: We cut the wood pieces and attach them to the graft bar with liquid beeswax. We then attach the cups with liquid wax. In both cases the liquid wax is applied with a syringe. Previously, we made the wax cups but now buy them from www.kelleybees.com/.
18. Do we move full honey supers to the top of the stack so the bees can fill the lower ones? A: Some beekeepers do shuffle the supers around and do what's called bottom supering. We place supers back on in the original order and only add new supers on top (top supering). That way it's easier to see when the bees need more space. The bees also ripen the honey before moving up. We sometimes harvest full lower supers and put the top ones that aren't full back on in the original order.
19. Do we ever add brood frames to the cell builder colonies to keep their populations high? A: We do add other frames of sealed brood and sometimes we shake in more young bees from brood frames to boost the hives. About once every three weeks we'll boost the hives in one way or another.
20. How do you level hive stands? A: We level the hive stands periodically with pressure treated wood shims. If the hives are already on the stands, we use a hardwood pry bar and a brick fulcrum to lift each end for shimming
so 2nd time around and those there after you do not fill the feeder ?
Not of its not needed. Most years we haven't needed to feed more than once but this seems to be changing.