A little slower bee, some refer to as prolific or non prolific. The prolific bees are usually production varieties with a lot of Italian genetics. They overwinter usually in bigger clusters and blow up too fast in the early spring. It's too much work to stay ahead of them and keep them in the box. I'm using Carniolan genetics and it is less work than when I had Italians and my honey production did not suffer. Caucasian are quite similar too. I think you will be surprised and happy moving to a "less prolific" bee.
I really like watching you work the hives/bees .. today mine suddenly had huge activity and I didn't know if a swarm was coming in or going out... or if at all.. I only have two ... so I temporarily closed entrance with grass leaves etc. and there was a lot of pollen too. I have one shallow and one medium that need drawn comb so put the shallow on top the two deep hive. I don't know if they will move up rather than swarm but they sure calmed down as soon as I put the shallow on.
I don’t know a good way if you don’t have comb. Split them and get some extra combs, or watch them swarm, catch the swarm (hopefully) and then get them to draw comb.
Thanks for sharing, Nathan. Hoping to do splits in a month. Willow and red maple just starting to pop and show up on landing board in small amounts. We are a bit behind you here in central New Hampshire. Daffodils not up yet. Bees getting out to cleanse 3 or 4 day a week now. spring is coming. Keep bringing us along, Peace, Brice
I have one hive, a swarm I took out of a house last July. They seem to be doing well now. There is a lot of capped brood and a number of frames of honey. A couple of frames have long cigar shaped honey comb, 3 or 4 of these cigar shaped comb. What is this? Thanks, enjoy your videos..
Like your style very much. Can you at some time show us how stand you have your hive on is put together. I see your bending is at a minimum. Mine just sit on pallets - which I no not like. too much bending. Nothing blows over on a windy day?
Had 2 colonies out of 7 that had 2 full boxes of bees. I had to take 4 frames of fully capped brood out of each of those to boost some other colonies. Now all my colonies are a little close and I've notice tons of activity now in each hive. I will add second box with fully drawn comb and honey next week and allow her to go up top and lay out some frames. I will use those top brood boxes and split them Into 2 colonies and give them mated queens. I want to do this twice. Hopefully end the season with 40- 50 colonies
I’m looking at mine tomorrow and looking them over for cells and to add some space. Like you I hope not to split for max honey production but sometimes you have no choice. Let me know how your Caucasian queens workout timing wise. I have been wanting to try a Caucasian line also. Thanks for the video. Good luck on your honey production.
Your colonies are looking good. When you requeen a mean colony do you try and do it before she sends drones out to mate and potentially pass on her genes?
I do, but I didn’t have it with me. I don’t know if it matters in this case though as I didn’t have cells or a queen to introduce, so it really doesn’t matter where she is.
Thanks Mike, I actually prefer if the queen ends up in the top because it’ll get depopulated and will reduce her chance of swarming. But, I can manage it either way.
How soon did you catch a swarm after pollen was seen comming into your hive.. I am in eastern Canada and I think we have an other 3 weeks before I will see pollen.
@@DuckRiverHoney we got one last snow storm.. school was canceled.. and the sugar shacks are boiling maple syrup.. I think last yr my bees were bringing in pollen by the 1st of May..
Why not use all deeps for brood chambers? Or all ideal’s for everything? Or Are you brooding a few cycles in the ideals to stiffen the cells so they don’t self destruct in the extractor or something? Any way g’day from Australia 🇦🇺
Yes, Inside The Hive TV has a video showing them reusing wax titled 'Honey bee caught on camera recycling beeswax for comb remodeling - No Varroa mite in the cell'
@@DuckRiverHoney Mine are from Oregon from the Washington State University program which I imagine his stock might be from too. Two people told me some of the caucasian queens coming from the program are yellow. I have two of them. The rest of the queens are black. They are extremely gentle and overwinter easily. Out of 12 hives they are at 2 to 4 frames of brood right now and a little behind the Sakatraz, Buckfast, and Carniolan mixes. Two of the caucasian hives that were a May split have had more brood which I pulled out to equalize. Last year, the caucasian hive that started to swarm made 2 queen cells in 2 deeps and I only found them when they were capped. In comparison, the buckfast mix colonies made lots of queen cells. I’m thinking I will have to to graft from the local stock too and let them mix with the caucasian drones to get the gentleness, frugality, and overwintering of the caucasian but faster buildup of the local stock. I’m looking forward to future videos and hopefully the new queens will work out.
Shibu trained in AI under Sue Cobey and is doing some work with Bob Binnie, I know he has a line of Sues Carni’s and I think the Caucasians are from there as well. I look forward to working with them.
Hello, I just set out two packages of bees on the 2 of April I live in west tn, I noticed there will be a cold front this coming week what should I do for this cold spell? Thanks for any advice
Not much to do, I like to feed packages to get them going, you'll feed a lot of 1:1 sugar syrup this spring and possibly summer to get them to draw comb. They should be fine through the cold spell.
Nathan, why don't you add a 10 second still frame at the end of your videos listing all of this year's videos by title and date so we don't have scroll through the vignettes on the right side of the page for older videos.
It’s already there… and I don’t have extra queens yet. Swarms are really good at drawing foundation, so I have them a bunch to draw. They’ll have to get a lot stronger for her to make more drones.
@@DuckRiverHoney I ordered two queens from Texas will never do that again they was way hot. I heard you say you will get some Caucasian Queens where are you going to get them from because I would like to try two
![Swarm Prevention Marathon [22EP6]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2mvKOjGJ8Kk/mqdefault.jpg)
Nathan you have some good hives to be so strong already. Over winter Nuc’s are what we will be trying this year.
Thanks Rickey, they came through better than I expected.
nice looking hives
Thanks!
A little slower bee, some refer to as prolific or non prolific. The prolific bees are usually production varieties with a lot of Italian genetics. They overwinter usually in bigger clusters and blow up too fast in the early spring. It's too much work to stay ahead of them and keep them in the box. I'm using Carniolan genetics and it is less work than when I had Italians and my honey production did not suffer. Caucasian are quite similar too. I think you will be surprised and happy moving to a "less prolific" bee.
Thanks Tony, I’ve got a couple hives that I would consider grafting from, but most of them have blown up early.
I really like watching you work the hives/bees .. today mine suddenly had huge activity and I didn't know if a swarm was coming in or going out... or if at all.. I only have two ... so I temporarily closed entrance with grass leaves etc. and there was a lot of pollen too. I have one shallow and one medium that need drawn comb so put the shallow on top the two deep hive. I don't know if they will move up rather than swarm but they sure calmed down as soon as I put the shallow on.
Thanks David, putting foundation on before your major flow probably won’t stop them from swarming. Drawn combs have a lot more effect.
@@DuckRiverHoney I am worried about that... how do I get them to draw ?
I don’t know a good way if you don’t have comb. Split them and get some extra combs, or watch them swarm, catch the swarm (hopefully) and then get them to draw comb.
Thanks for sharing, Nathan. Hoping to do splits in a month. Willow and red maple just starting to pop and show up on landing board in small amounts. We are a bit behind you here in central New Hampshire. Daffodils not up yet. Bees getting out to cleanse 3 or 4 day a week now. spring is coming. Keep bringing us along, Peace, Brice
Thanks Brice, some sugar maples in my yard hit full bloom yesterday and they were literally buzzing.
I can't wait. Water courses in the swamps just melted out yesterday. Thanks again, your videos are very helpful.
Good luck this year
good work nathan
Thanks Mark
Honeybee math!! 1 hive =2 , 2 hives =6. Lol, Bees have their own timing, which rarely is in line with ours. God bless.
Thanks!
I have one hive, a swarm I took out of a house last July. They seem to be doing well now. There is a lot of capped brood and a number of frames of honey. A couple of frames have long cigar shaped honey comb, 3 or 4 of these cigar shaped comb. What is this? Thanks, enjoy your videos..
Cells that look like peanuts are queen cells.
@@DuckRiverHoney These are 5" long from the top of the frame almost to the bottom.
Sounds like crazy comb. They’ll build comb in all sorts of shapes if they’re allowed to.
Like your style very much. Can you at some time show us how stand you have your hive on is put together. I see your bending is at a minimum. Mine just sit on pallets - which I no not like. too much bending. Nothing blows over on a windy day?
I’ll do a video on hive stands. I’ve got those 4x4s anchored in the ground so the stand can’t tip over.
Had 2 colonies out of 7 that had 2 full boxes of bees. I had to take 4 frames of fully capped brood out of each of those to boost some other colonies. Now all my colonies are a little close and I've notice tons of activity now in each hive. I will add second box with fully drawn comb and honey next week and allow her to go up top and lay out some frames. I will use those top brood boxes and split them Into 2 colonies and give them mated queens. I want to do this twice. Hopefully end the season with 40- 50 colonies
That’s around the level I want to be at as well. Past that I think it’ll be a struggle.
I’m looking at mine tomorrow and looking them over for cells and to add some space. Like you I hope not to split for max honey production but sometimes you have no choice. Let me know how your Caucasian queens workout timing wise. I have been wanting to try a Caucasian line also. Thanks for the video. Good luck on your honey production.
Thanks, hoping it’s a good weather year
Who did you get your caucasian queens from. I have some on the way too from Winters apiaries in east tn.
I’m getting mine from Shibu Raj at Two Rivers Honeybees near Columbia, TN
Gonna be supering some of ours tommorrow
Good luck to you!
Your colonies are looking good. When you requeen a mean colony do you try and do it before she sends drones out to mate and potentially pass on her genes?
That would be the ideal….
Mo bees
Mo betta
Speaking of not finding a queen. Do you have a shaker box?
I do, but I didn’t have it with me. I don’t know if it matters in this case though as I didn’t have cells or a queen to introduce, so it really doesn’t matter where she is.
@@DuckRiverHoney Interesting, thanks.
Thanks Mike, I actually prefer if the queen ends up in the top because it’ll get depopulated and will reduce her chance of swarming. But, I can manage it either way.
How soon did you catch a swarm after pollen was seen comming into your hive.. I am in eastern Canada and I think we have an other 3 weeks before I will see pollen.
To be honest we have a trickle of pollen all 12 months. But Deadnettle really got going in February and then Red Maple in late Feb or early March.
@@DuckRiverHoney we got one last snow storm.. school was canceled.. and the sugar shacks are boiling maple syrup.. I think last yr my bees were bringing in pollen by the 1st of May..
Hurry up and wait, I know it’s hard that last little bit.
One of the reasons I run buckfast queens very low swarm rate .. they're like a 3 on the swarm chart ..
That’s where I’ll try to head, but not necessarily buckfast.
Why not use all deeps for brood chambers? Or all ideal’s for everything? Or Are you brooding a few cycles in the ideals to stiffen the cells so they don’t self destruct in the extractor or something? Any way g’day from Australia 🇦🇺
I use mediums for almost everything. I’ve only got one deep box left.
Mine swarmed today, I couldn't catch them
Hate to hear it, hard to watch them fly away.
Do hives reclaim wax from queen cups when they are no longer needed?
Yes, they’ll tear wax down and reuse it sometimes.
Yes, Inside The Hive TV has a video showing them reusing wax titled 'Honey bee caught on camera recycling beeswax for comb remodeling - No Varroa mite in the cell'
I’m curious too where you purchased your caucasian queens from. I am in east TN and have been building my stock using caucasian bees.
Shibu Raj at Two Rivers Honeybees near Columbia.
@@DuckRiverHoney
Mine are from Oregon from the Washington State University program which I imagine his stock might be from too. Two people told me some of the caucasian queens coming from the program are yellow. I have two of them. The rest of the queens are black.
They are extremely gentle and overwinter easily. Out of 12 hives they are at 2 to 4 frames of brood right now and a little behind the Sakatraz, Buckfast, and Carniolan mixes. Two of the caucasian hives that were a May split have had more brood which I pulled out to equalize.
Last year, the caucasian hive that started to swarm made 2 queen cells in 2 deeps and I only found them when they were capped.
In comparison, the buckfast mix colonies made lots of queen cells.
I’m thinking I will have to to graft from the local stock too and let them mix with the caucasian drones to get the gentleness, frugality, and overwintering of the caucasian but faster buildup of the local stock.
I’m looking forward to future videos and hopefully the new queens will work out.
Shibu trained in AI under Sue Cobey and is doing some work with Bob Binnie, I know he has a line of Sues Carni’s and I think the Caucasians are from there as well. I look forward to working with them.
Are those double screen boards the ones Bob Binnie sells?
No, I built those. I’ve got some others I bought from Byran Farris I’ll use this year, I really like these new ones.
I have watched Bob’s videos. They look the same. I’ve been wanting to order some. Thanks for all your videos.
Thanks Joe, I built mine out of advantech which is NOT as good as HDO (what Bob uses). The ones I bought are cypress and quite well done.
Hello, I just set out two packages of bees on the 2 of April I live in west tn, I noticed there will be a cold front this coming week what should I do for this cold spell? Thanks for any advice
Not much to do, I like to feed packages to get them going, you'll feed a lot of 1:1 sugar syrup this spring and possibly summer to get them to draw comb. They should be fine through the cold spell.
Nathan, why don't you add a 10 second still frame at the end of your videos listing all of this year's videos by title and date so we don't have scroll through the vignettes on the right side of the page for older videos.
I’ll start putting a link to the 2022 playlist in the end card. I’m also trying to title them all with the episode number to make it make sense.
Yea, when the bees are on the verge of taking flight with the boxes themselves in tow, its time to split 🤣
😂
Who are you getting Queens from
Shibu Raj at Two Rivers Honeybees near Columbia, TN.
As a new beekeeper, how far do I have to move my bees away from the yard to relocate them in a different position?
3 feet or miles is the rule of thumb
^ +1
Thanks. I haven't found a local beekeeper to ask questions.
If I block off the entrance with a sponge tonight will that be ok until in the morning?
They should be fine, unless it’s really hot where you are.
👀👀👍
👍
Maizing bosQ
I would have got rid of her all she go do is make more drones and swarm again and it's going to be in your bees
It’s already there… and I don’t have extra queens yet. Swarms are really good at drawing foundation, so I have them a bunch to draw. They’ll have to get a lot stronger for her to make more drones.
@@DuckRiverHoney I ordered two queens from Texas will never do that again they was way hot. I heard you say you will get some Caucasian Queens where are you going to get them from because I would like to try two
I’m getting mine from Shibu Raj at Two Rivers honeybees near Columbia, TN.