I'm super happy to see your vlog in my feed today. I look forward to it every week! You are a major inspiration! I've been here since before week one and I can say from the progress you've made from the beginning.. battling startup challenges, establishing the honey house, enhancing methodologies and operations. You're in a better standing than ever. I believe if anyone could double their operation, it'd be you Nathan. I'm proud of the progress you've made as a Content creator, Business man, and Beekeeper. You're very brave for forging this path for yourself. Keep going!
Wow Nathan..we love watching bees…but dadgum those human babies of yours are precious!! She was so funny pulling up her dress and then when Reed was “embarrassed” so stinking cute! Sometimes they’re a handful but wow what a blessing God gave us with children! Now to bees!🤣🤣glad you’re able to get some bees to build your counts up! Praying you have a really great year Nathan!
Great new video Nathan, I always enjoy my weekend mornings because of your videos. I remember really enjoying playing in the water when I was younger, something intangibly fun about it.
I appreciate you posting Randy's article, he's got some good stuff. He has another one on predicting nuc growth based on how the nuc was put together (queen type, brood and bee amount, etc..). He also includes a handy nuc calculator that is pretty interesting to play with. It really got me thinking about how I build my nucs when i have a desired goal in mind or season timing becomes a factor. I really enjoy your videos, thanks for putting them out there.
I have had to hammer hive beetles this spring also , I’ve been keeping bees about 9 years and I’ve never seen them this bad this early. I’m also in TN. Good luck with the upcoming season.
Glad to see your getting out there 😊 looking forward to a new season. Good luck. Like to see video on your new bees when you get them 😊 I enjoy watching your channel. Thank You
Great video as always, thanks for the Oliver link, I skimmed it and decided I needed to print it off and really digest it, lots of good data there, I am old school, got to have paper in hand to process well. Thanks for the info.
Another quick comment. Spring is a great time to check for VSH the old fashioned way. Parts of cannibalized larvae on the floor of the hive is a fairly good indicator if you scrape it off after the winter.
I saw the first red maple blooms open February 6th. Bees already working yellow belly sap sucker holes in the bases of the maples. Tapping maples and hitting blooms on the same day. It’s full on, I’ve had walking drones for a week now. Good luck on your season little brother!!!
Thanks Nathan for a great video! I had as my goal to count frames to time things up with the honey flow last year here in Denver. Same logic as you. I found I was more aggressive at pulling frames from strong hives in early spring when there were more than 4 frames of bees to begin than in past years. Two things were challenging: my first honey flow in Denver is a dandelion/fruit tree bloom in late April, then a second big flow late June (linden trees). I have a hard time saying when my honey flow begins for calculating frame expansion. My swarms are usually end of April, early May, but this last year I had swarms at end of June, into July. I wonder if it was because of the splitting I was doing early took away the early swarm risk, but then just backed it up to the later summer nectar flow. Something for you to watch for this year.
My guess is you delayed swarming. With flows 8-9 weeks apart you could probably split after the first flow and have hives ready for the second. It’d be hard to hold them that long with not much to do.
Love it... soon as dad tells 'em not to go in deeper than their boots someone goes looking for a deeper hole! Did he find it? Well if that little nuc isn't queen right it is definitely beetle right... wow lots of beetles. With respect to sizes on the hives coming out of winter... In my yard of 22 overwintered hives I've got all sizes. Some differences in the sizes I attribute to genetics - they are all strong enough to make it some just a little slower to brood up they all catch up before the flow - amazing how that happens. They have plenty of food stores left which I am surprised about but bees surprise us with something every year. Tons of fresh pollen coming in in all colors. Have some hives I could split right now if I had some queens but new queens arrive mid April. First of April, weather permitting, I'll be pulling nucs to fill pre-sold orders. Just now seeing flying drones 3/8/24 thats early for us usually its the end of March. Even found one booming hive with queen cups and one had an egg 3/8 - whats up with that! Our swarm season usually doesn't start til end of April and early May. Tell your son even 67 year old beekeepers fall in the creek so I hope he never stops having fun. Next time he just needs to tell ya he got hot so he took a dip to cool off! Going to be teaching beginner bee classes with the local club again starts 3/16 and each month thereafter to August so getting ready for that. Do you think you might move some of those higher elevations down lower for the winter?
Thanks Nancy, it’s always good to hear from you. I’m hoping that treating my yards with GrubEx will turn the corner on beetles this year. It’s a long term treatment instead of a right now fix, but I should start seeing results this spring IF the old beetles start ageing out and the new larvae die in the ground. I try to let the kids be kids. I was into all sorts of stuff when I was young, it’s good for them. I’ll probably leave the yards where they are this year, but believe me I’m taking note of the yards that winter poorly. First is to get enough yards, then I can work on culling and improving yards.
Bob Binnie is selling about 32 colonies...........Hmmmmm .......could that be to you? Good luck! Enjoying watching your venture. I'm still a little ways behind you and not being near as aggressive, but I sure would like to hurry and get there. Thanks for the chart. Looks like it's basically figuring a 2 frame buildup of bees per week in case anyone is out in the field and doesn't have the chart with them.
Great video! That chart is super helpful! I have a lot of colonies that are 1-2 frames. I will likely need to boost them. Our tulip poplar blooms here around middle May to the beginning of June. This is year #5 for me, and now I've finally got the equipment and knowledge of my area to be able to capitalize on a whole honey flow! Spring can't come fast enough!
brood tranfer box I made 1 to from bob binnies video. They are great. Your kids are funny, the chart is great it is very helpful thanks for posting it.
Nice video as always. The table at the end shows that a queen + colony can make 2 frames of bees a week. Or the queen lays basically 1000 eggs a day. But I really enjoy when one of my colonies raises 3 new queens, the old queen sticks around, and they are making a frame of bees every day or two! It's not uncommon with africanized genetics, that's how their colonies grow into 100k+ monsters. (yes, eventually you end up with massive swarms if you don't split them up) I love my mean bees!
Randy based his work on other research that did account for attrition among the older workers. It’s good info, but in beekeeping there are lots of variables.
I got three caucasians last year. I went to look at my hives the other day. The difference between the clusters was unbelievable. They definitely don't overwinter with as many bees or use the same amount of resources as my others, including my NWC's. Beetles I don't have to deal with that much thank goodness. That was unbelievable amount, do you think that yard is that bad already because it's just not hot enough yet in that full sun?
Hey Nathan just a thought. Im trying to increase quickly here in oz before Varroa shows up. Im breaking down whole colonies into three 6 framer nucs and running supers over like Steppler. Making nucs, increasing and a fast honey crop. You could turn 60 deeps into 180 6 framers and super up. Working for us here.
Great video and advice. I agree that chart from Randy is a handy tool for planning. And Reed your dad is right, we have all fallen in the pond at some point, to our chagrin. LOL So Bob is selling 32 double deeps and Nathan is buying 32 doubles. Will you show that on your video next week? It should be a good move as long as you get a decent honey crop. You've been getting some good rains so you should get good honey crop. Looks like you need one of those Beatle Blaster 5000 from the Bugman in George.
What you show at 3:30 is nothing like a Carniolan spring nest. Carniolans just insulate the surface of the brood ellipsoid, that's how they get fast spring development with small winter clusters.
Thanks for the videos. For 4 frames of bees to peak in 7 weeks do you know if that's assuming they have drawn combs to work on and good nutrition along the way? I have heard Bob binnie and others say that but never heard the specifics. It would be interesting to see the graph for colonies that are given foundation vs drawn combs.
Nathan, you talk about the timing of having certain number of frames of bees versus start of honey flow. As a fellow all medium beekeeper, I always wonder how what the masses say gets applied/adjusted to alternate configurations, especially since I run 8-frame mediums. Sounds like your goal may be 3 mediums going into the main flow for honey production. Since you are run mediums vs. what Bob & most others are using (deeps), how many frames of bees and brood are you striving for at beginning of main flow? Regarding frame feeders, what is it you like better with the ones you swapping out for versus the the ones your pulling out? Still preferring the Mann Lakes over the other brand cap/ladder style feeder you use? Are you leaving feeders in throughout the year even when not feeding, or you pulling them out as some point. Keith / STL, MO
Two deeps = three mediums. One medium = 2/3 of a deep. On the feeders, check out some of my videos from last season. I had a lot of bee death in the motherlode feeders, especially the style with floats instead of caps and ladders. Beetles bred in those dead bees. I’m swapping those out for the Mann lake cap and ladder feeders.
Hey Nathan, I switched to using a lot of the PVC migratory lids like you did. Are you having any issues with the condensation building and or dripping on the underside of the lid? I know that they don't soak up any moisture like the wood tops did. Thanks Brady James
Anything different you plan to do with wintering smaller colonies next year? Equalize more or just split earlier? Seems like those late splits are more work to overwinter
They’re definitely more work to overwinter, but will be some of my best colonies this spring. I’ll probably just try to make more nucs earlier this year.
The growth chart says frames of bees. It's not talking brood frames right? I assume it means seams of bees covering frames? I am 5 weeks to the flow with 15+ frames of bees. I'm going to need to cut them back a bit!
![Building a Bee Business [Vlog #1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GF7ZxzpZlOo/mqdefault.jpg)
Link to Randy Oliver’s article. scientificbeekeeping.com/understanding-colony-buildup-and-decline-part-4/
Thanks for the link.
I'm super happy to see your vlog in my feed today. I look forward to it every week! You are a major inspiration! I've been here since before week one and I can say from the progress you've made from the beginning.. battling startup challenges, establishing the honey house, enhancing methodologies and operations. You're in a better standing than ever. I believe if anyone could double their operation, it'd be you Nathan. I'm proud of the progress you've made as a Content creator, Business man, and Beekeeper. You're very brave for forging this path for yourself. Keep going!
Thanks, I appreciate it!
Wow Nathan..we love watching bees…but dadgum those human babies of yours are precious!! She was so funny pulling up her dress and then when Reed was “embarrassed” so stinking cute! Sometimes they’re a handful but wow what a blessing God gave us with children!
Now to bees!🤣🤣glad you’re able to get some bees to build your counts up! Praying you have a really great year Nathan!
Thanks Meloney 😄
I still fall in the water. I never did learn. Best of luck on the plan for this year brother. I’m pulling for you like always.
Thanks Dave!
Great new video Nathan, I always enjoy my weekend mornings because of your videos. I remember really enjoying playing in the water when I was younger, something intangibly fun about it.
Thanks Rainier!
I appreciate you posting Randy's article, he's got some good stuff. He has another one on predicting nuc growth based on how the nuc was put together (queen type, brood and bee amount, etc..). He also includes a handy nuc calculator that is pretty interesting to play with. It really got me thinking about how I build my nucs when i have a desired goal in mind or season timing becomes a factor.
I really enjoy your videos, thanks for putting them out there.
Thanks!
I have had to hammer hive beetles this spring also , I’ve been keeping bees about 9 years and I’ve never seen them this bad this early. I’m also in TN. Good luck with the upcoming season.
Thanks!
Glad to see your getting out there 😊 looking forward to a new season. Good luck. Like to see video on your new bees when you get them 😊 I enjoy watching your channel. Thank You
Thanks Brian!
Great video as always, thanks for the Oliver link, I skimmed it and decided I needed to print it off and really digest it, lots of good data there, I am old school, got to have paper in hand to process well. Thanks for the info.
Love your videos man ! Keep it up and hope you have a great season ahead
Thanks!
The chart on colony size is cool/helpful. Could you give the link? Thanks. Bee 🐝blessed!!!!
Got it up, thanks for the reminder. I can’t pin a comment till after the video publishes.
Another quick comment.
Spring is a great time to check for VSH the old fashioned way. Parts of cannibalized larvae on the floor of the hive is a fairly good indicator if you scrape it off after the winter.
Enjoyed the interview videos you were posting, but I'm glad you are back in the bees!
Me too 😉
I saw the first red maple blooms open February 6th. Bees already working yellow belly sap sucker holes in the bases of the maples. Tapping maples and hitting blooms on the same day. It’s full on, I’ve had walking drones for a week now. Good luck on your season little brother!!!
Thanks Tim!
Thanks Nathan for a great video! I had as my goal to count frames to time things up with the honey flow last year here in Denver. Same logic as you. I found I was more aggressive at pulling frames from strong hives in early spring when there were more than 4 frames of bees to begin than in past years. Two things were challenging: my first honey flow in Denver is a dandelion/fruit tree bloom in late April, then a second big flow late June (linden trees). I have a hard time saying when my honey flow begins for calculating frame expansion. My swarms are usually end of April, early May, but this last year I had swarms at end of June, into July. I wonder if it was because of the splitting I was doing early took away the early swarm risk, but then just backed it up to the later summer nectar flow. Something for you to watch for this year.
My guess is you delayed swarming. With flows 8-9 weeks apart you could probably split after the first flow and have hives ready for the second. It’d be hard to hold them that long with not much to do.
Love it... soon as dad tells 'em not to go in deeper than their boots someone goes looking for a deeper hole! Did he find it? Well if that little nuc isn't queen right it is definitely beetle right... wow lots of beetles. With respect to sizes on the hives coming out of winter... In my yard of 22 overwintered hives I've got all sizes. Some differences in the sizes I attribute to genetics - they are all strong enough to make it some just a little slower to brood up they all catch up before the flow - amazing how that happens. They have plenty of food stores left which I am surprised about but bees surprise us with something every year. Tons of fresh pollen coming in in all colors. Have some hives I could split right now if I had some queens but new queens arrive mid April. First of April, weather permitting, I'll be pulling nucs to fill pre-sold orders. Just now seeing flying drones 3/8/24 thats early for us usually its the end of March. Even found one booming hive with queen cups and one had an egg 3/8 - whats up with that! Our swarm season usually doesn't start til end of April and early May. Tell your son even 67 year old beekeepers fall in the creek so I hope he never stops having fun. Next time he just needs to tell ya he got hot so he took a dip to cool off! Going to be teaching beginner bee classes with the local club again starts 3/16 and each month thereafter to August so getting ready for that. Do you think you might move some of those higher elevations down lower for the winter?
Thanks Nancy, it’s always good to hear from you. I’m hoping that treating my yards with GrubEx will turn the corner on beetles this year. It’s a long term treatment instead of a right now fix, but I should start seeing results this spring IF the old beetles start ageing out and the new larvae die in the ground. I try to let the kids be kids. I was into all sorts of stuff when I was young, it’s good for them. I’ll probably leave the yards where they are this year, but believe me I’m taking note of the yards that winter poorly. First is to get enough yards, then I can work on culling and improving yards.
Kent Williams mentions putting powdered lime below and around hives to kill hive beetles.
Thanks, I am treating yards with Scott’s Grubex
Bob Binnie is selling about 32 colonies...........Hmmmmm .......could that be to you?
Good luck! Enjoying watching your venture.
I'm still a little ways behind you and not being near as aggressive, but I sure would like to hurry and get there.
Thanks for the chart. Looks like it's basically figuring a 2 frame buildup of bees per week in case anyone is out in the field and doesn't have the chart with them.
Nope, mine were singles, not doubles.
Thaks for sharing that chart, amazing stuff!
Thanks!
Always exciting to see your spring start up knowing mine will be coming in a couple months
Great time of year!
As always AWESOME VID
Thanks Harold!
Great video! That chart is super helpful! I have a lot of colonies that are 1-2 frames. I will likely need to boost them. Our tulip poplar blooms here around middle May to the beginning of June. This is year #5 for me, and now I've finally got the equipment and knowledge of my area to be able to capitalize on a whole honey flow! Spring can't come fast enough!
Good luck Noah!
brood tranfer box I made 1 to from bob binnies video.
They are great. Your kids are funny, the chart is great it is very helpful thanks for posting it.
Thanks!
Nice video as always. The table at the end shows that a queen + colony can make 2 frames of bees a week. Or the queen lays basically 1000 eggs a day. But I really enjoy when one of my colonies raises 3 new queens, the old queen sticks around, and they are making a frame of bees every day or two! It's not uncommon with africanized genetics, that's how their colonies grow into 100k+ monsters. (yes, eventually you end up with massive swarms if you don't split them up) I love my mean bees!
Randy based his work on other research that did account for attrition among the older workers. It’s good info, but in beekeeping there are lots of variables.
Thanks!
Thanks David, I appreciate that!
I got three caucasians last year. I went to look at my hives the other day. The difference between the clusters was unbelievable. They definitely don't overwinter with as many bees or use the same amount of resources as my others, including my NWC's. Beetles I don't have to deal with that much thank goodness. That was unbelievable amount, do you think that yard is that bad already because it's just not hot enough yet in that full sun?
Here is west Georgia, we had some Sugar Maple that bloomed before the Red Maple.
Wow, that’s odd.
@@DuckRiverHoney it is not native here, so people have planted and it has spread. I am not complaining 😄
Hey Nathan just a thought. Im trying to increase quickly here in oz before Varroa shows up. Im breaking down whole colonies into three 6 framer nucs and running supers over like Steppler. Making nucs, increasing and a fast honey crop. You could turn 60 deeps into 180 6 framers and super up. Working for us here.
Thanks Aidan. That system works but you’ve got to have the equipment.
Great video and advice. I agree that chart from Randy is a handy tool for planning. And Reed your dad is right, we have all fallen in the pond at some point, to our chagrin. LOL
So Bob is selling 32 double deeps and Nathan is buying 32 doubles. Will you show that on your video next week? It should be a good move as long as you get a decent honey crop. You've been getting some good rains so you should get good honey crop.
Looks like you need one of those Beatle Blaster 5000 from the Bugman in George.
I got singles, not doubles. The ones Bob showed went to somebody else. Good to hear from you as always Russell!
What you show at 3:30 is nothing like a Carniolan spring nest. Carniolans just insulate the surface of the brood ellipsoid, that's how they get fast spring development with small winter clusters.
Thanks
I miss falling in ponds.
Simpler days!
Hello baby ❤
Thanks for the videos. For 4 frames of bees to peak in 7 weeks do you know if that's assuming they have drawn combs to work on and good nutrition along the way? I have heard Bob binnie and others say that but never heard the specifics. It would be interesting to see the graph for colonies that are given foundation vs drawn combs.
Assume drawn comb and a laying queen. If you make a nuc with a queen cell it’ll slow them down by 2-3 weeks. Foundation will slow them further.
Do u ever try Peppermint oil or candy...think i might try that this year, I'm seeing overwintered beetles
Have you tried scattering GRUB-X around the hives on the ground to kill the beetle grubs when they go to pupate? It seems to be quite effective.
I treated all my yards with GrubEx last fall and am about to treat again.
Nathan, you talk about the timing of having certain number of frames of bees versus start of honey flow. As a fellow all medium beekeeper, I always wonder how what the masses say gets applied/adjusted to alternate configurations, especially since I run 8-frame mediums. Sounds like your goal may be 3 mediums going into the main flow for honey production. Since you are run mediums vs. what Bob & most others are using (deeps), how many frames of bees and brood are you striving for at beginning of main flow? Regarding frame feeders, what is it you like better with the ones you swapping out for versus the the ones your pulling out? Still preferring the Mann Lakes over the other brand cap/ladder style feeder you use? Are you leaving feeders in throughout the year even when not feeding, or you pulling them out as some point. Keith / STL, MO
Two deeps = three mediums. One medium = 2/3 of a deep. On the feeders, check out some of my videos from last season. I had a lot of bee death in the motherlode feeders, especially the style with floats instead of caps and ladders. Beetles bred in those dead bees. I’m swapping those out for the Mann lake cap and ladder feeders.
Well… Did he leave the wet boots outside and the cloths in the hamper?
markers and a pocket-full of queen clips
Yep
So how are you going to deal those hive beetles?
Hey Nathan, I switched to using a lot of the PVC migratory lids like you did. Are you having any issues with the condensation building and or dripping on the underside of the lid?
I know that they don't soak up any moisture like the wood tops did.
Thanks
Brady James
Some issues. Big colonies handle it fine. Small colonies I prefer wood or telescoping.
Question, your chart at the end of your video is that based on deep frames or your medium frame set up?
It’s based on deeps.
Anything different you plan to do with wintering smaller colonies next year? Equalize more or just split earlier? Seems like those late splits are more work to overwinter
They’re definitely more work to overwinter, but will be some of my best colonies this spring. I’ll probably just try to make more nucs earlier this year.
Did you learn anything? That’s always a really good question,😀
😂
What temperatures do you have there at this time of year
50’s today, it’ll be over 70 several days this week.
The growth chart says frames of bees. It's not talking brood frames right? I assume it means seams of bees covering frames? I am 5 weeks to the flow with 15+ frames of bees. I'm going to need to cut them back a bit!
Yep, it’s talking about frames of bees. Brood frames are assumed to be around half I’d guess.
Glade we don’t have beetles yet
Do you use only swiffer brand? I told my wife to get me some swiffer pads and she bought me some generic crap.
I’ve had better luck with unscented Swiffer brand.
ha are u buying the bees tht bob sold. think he said 35 colonies for nthink he said 250 a piece. u did good if it is you
Those weren’t mine.