Great information that offers causes, conclusions, and corrections. Mr. Kovak is methodical in explaining the aspects of good hive management and this has helped me become a proactive " new beekeeper," this bee-ing my first year in beekeeping.
This is by far the best video on this subject in all respects--audio, video, editing, and most of all a tight, step-by-step guide to what to do. Thank you very much!
In the early spring, I had a problem with my hive, starting from a package. Long story short, the queen unfortunately as a bum, and I ended up with a worker layer situation as well, figuring that out after a failed re-queening. Since I only had one hive, and no one had brood to spare, the eviction method was my only choice as I knew it. Already had a new queen in a cage, for the workers that knew how to get back home. Fortunately it worked for me.
So after watching your video on feeding the bees with the honey still in the frame, I had honey leftover from hive that didn't make it through the winter. So I fed them That yesterday. It's smelled like maybe there was a little fermentation on the bottom of the plastic containers I stored the frames in . Should that be something I need to worried about? Thanks in advance.
I doubt it. How much of the frame was capped? If the entire frame was uncapped and it was old it may be a problem. If you start to see bee poop (dysentery) on the hive, pull the frame. I've never had a problem with honey still in the comb, but you never want to feed honey back to the bees that you extracted and heated, just fyi.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Very well presented with good close ups. Sound low occasionally. Very helpful for this ancient Aussie amateur.
Stinger Juice Bee Man I think you might try taking your hive further away, at least 100 ft. away from location.I run 50 + hives and have done this several times over past years and it has always worked.enjoyed your video.
no theatrics, calm [voice-over is perfect] and poignant instructional vlogg. I can get to work ~ tremendous thank you. Confirm: What would/ n't happen if the eggs are introduced with the capped brood frames and not after 3 days. ok:I understand its to introduce the new pheromone "switch" so logic is best to allow some days so they become biologically primed to start feeding royal jelly to the newby larvae (is that about right ?). ~Fab macro close ups too , greetings from SA.
I am a first year hobby beekeeper. I have this situation and this video has been extremely helpful. I understand and appreciate the idea of pheromones from the brood and moving some from the queenright hive to the queenless hive. What I don't understand are the pros and cons of moving the bees along with the frames. Any info to help out there? I am looking for the discussion of the pros and cons of moving good "bees and brood" from queenright to queenless AND moving bees and brood from a queenless hive (to include laying workers) to a queenright hive. Thanks.
Most of the information I get is from either Bee Culture magazine or the American Bee Journal. ABJ cites excellent references as well that you can follow up with. Scientificbeekeeping.com or Randy Oliver is also a good resource. However, when moving frames between different colonies you have to know how to diagnose diseases and honey bee pests and make sure that the frames you are moving don't transmit a disease directly to another hive. The danger of moving frames from a queen right colony to a queen less colony is that you take the queen! When doing the opposite, if you have a drone layer and she is accidentally moved or united with a queen right colony, you will risk the possibility of getting the healthy queen killed and ending up with two colonies of drones!
How likely is it that a hive would be fine if left to it's own devices? Asking cos I'd love to have one, but obviously dont want to neglect it if they need care, supervision, and intervention like livestock.
I’ve watched another channel and he’s found that drones are laid when the hive is getting full. He takes the drones out and splits the hive. The original queen stops laying drones and lasts another season. Have you tried this?
Sir I have a laying worker hive I introduce a queen but the laying worker still continue laying multiples eggs in a cell,so haw many days the laying worker will stop laying egg after they accepted a new queen????
Well...if I have laying workers I never just introduce a queen. In fact, my common practice is to unite a nuc with the queenless hive. I have never lost a queen using this method...ever. I twice tried to shake out bees 50 yards away from the hive, and introduced a queen, thinking the laying workers would be too heavy to return to the hive. I lost both queens - 100%. It didn't take me long to figure out there was a better method. After that I started adding caged queens with brood using a controlled release method that I could evaluate the behavior of the workers to the queen after three days. I never lost a queen because if the workers were aggressive, I added the queen to a nuc and then united them later. I also have worked with two mentors that have tried shaking bees to rid the hive of laying workers, both of them told me it never worked for them and they had over 100 years of beekeeping experience combined. Bottom line for me is...why take the effort to shake an entire hive of bees, when you can unite them with a queen right hive with better success? Work smarter, not harder. Hope that answers your question. Thanks for commenting.
+Honey Bee Honey well with the "myth" method you can just shake and intro the queen. Just because a method does not work for you does not mean it does not work...
I agree with you, however, it has been well established that laying workers can, and do, fly. They have no trouble getting back to the hive. I haven't the time to mark specific passages, though you can research through Ross Conrad's book, I believe, as well as newer editions of ABC & XYZ, The Hive and the Honeybee, etc. So, I am using collective knowledge in stating that it is a myth, and my experience has certainly agreed with it. Also, I stated above that it wasn't just my experience that I was referring to. If it works for you, great. I for one, would not, and do not recommend it.
+Honey Bee Honey just FYI if it works for others it's not a myth.... That's the problem with some beekeepers on TH-cam they are my way or the highway beekeepers.
If you've paid attention to any of my videos you would have observed that I usually give multiple ways to handle a situation, not any one single viewpoint. The idea is to give the information out and for the end user to decide how they would like to proceed given different choices. In addition, to give methods that would have the highest chance of success. In truth, it seems you have taken the exact stance you are trying to project - one single way to deal with a hive that is queen less and has laying workers (i.e. my way or the highway) rather than to agree that there are other ways to handle it successfully. If you have indeed had 100% success using this method, that is great. It also means you have no experience with other methods...why fix what isn't broken?
Hi Terry, my learning curve was quite a few videos to correct sound. However, my newer videos shouldn't have a problem with sound. Understand though, that when I process the video and sound, on my end there are no problems. I'm not sure why other people can't hear videos that I have no problem hearing, but I know that it happened in older videos. I used extensive sound algorithms in this video to equalize the volume because of the large amount of dubbing. Hopefully, this isn't a problem in future videos.
So its normal for a queen to lay drones if she is laying them in the proper location- a good sign.(1). But if in odd places, its either she is a less experienced new queen who will likely get better at it, or she's no longer good for the hive and must be eliminated? ...(2)...Also, how does a queen know if she is going to lay drones( when she does it in the correct location) or workers? (3). Do drones from one hive mate with queens from other hives? Thanks!
Hi Rose: The drone cell is larger in diameter than a worker cell. The queen uses her two front legs to measure the size of the cell and then deposit an egg. The workers construct the cells based on hive needs, so if they feel they need more drones they will tear apart a section of worker cells and make the cells larger, but this is usually in the bottom of the frames and in the corners. An entire comb could be drone cells too, but there will be patches of drone brood. What you shouldn't see is drone cells scattered amongst worker brood. This means that the queen laid an unfertilized egg in a worker cell and then the workers re-sized the cell to accommodate the drone egg. This does happen sometimes when a queen is very young, but not usually. Also, yes, drones only mate with queens from other hives...if not, you get a situation called diploid drone syndrome and this is the result of queen rearing methods by beekeepers. i doubt that it happens at all in a natural hive, though I have no evidence. Does this help?
Yesterday, i requenned a hive, they did not take to her, but I left her overnight. Went back today, they still were not keen to her at all. So i took her cage out, put a layer of newspaper and then an empty box and frames with one frame of honey and I released her myself yhinking that by the time they get through that newspaper, Im hoping, they will be accustomed to her presence. What do u think??
Definitely two. The advantage in starting with two hives is that if one of your hives loses a queen, you can insert a comb of eggs, or swarm cells, or even honey from the other hive, depending on the situation and time of year. It also helps to compare so that a broader base of reference points are established.
That is really a surprise for me. All your methods never worked the only one which worked fine was the method you call a myth.... I am really confused now
![The Wall Song ร้องข้ามกำแพง | EP.213 | กรีน อัษฎาพร | 3 ต.ค. 67 [1/5]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3KrlLbCsadI/mqdefault.jpg)
Perfect video!! Thank you! I just combined a queen right colony with what I think was a colony with a new queen poorly mated.
Very helpful. I have several hives with drone brood in worker cells and multiple eggs in some cells.Now I know what I've got.
Thanks. I'm glad you found it helpful.
By far the most knowledgeable bee keeper on youtube. Especially useful for me as I am from Colorado as well. Thank you for your videos.
Great information that offers causes, conclusions, and corrections. Mr. Kovak is methodical in explaining the aspects of good hive management and this has helped me become a proactive " new beekeeper," this bee-ing my first year in beekeeping.
Excellent video. Thank you!
This is by far the best video on this subject in all respects--audio, video, editing, and most of all a tight, step-by-step guide to what to do. Thank you very much!
Thanks for the input!
I agree with previous comments. You are very knowledgeable and generous with your time and expertise. Thank you
A very helpful video!
Thank you for taking the time to let me know!
In the early spring, I had a problem with my hive, starting from a package. Long story short, the queen unfortunately as a bum, and I ended up with a worker layer situation as well, figuring that out after a failed re-queening. Since I only had one hive, and no one had brood to spare, the eviction method was my only choice as I knew it. Already had a new queen in a cage, for the workers that knew how to get back home. Fortunately it worked for me.
Thanks for a well thought out, well presented video. Very informative. Subscribed.
Very good value advice! Exactly where I am at with one of my hives. THANK YOU!
appreciate the straight to the point info
Your videos are the best and most informative videos I have seen yet. Thanks
Thanks for the complements. Hopefully they will only get better, as I get more experience making them!
So after watching your video on feeding the bees with the honey still in the frame, I had honey leftover from hive that didn't make it through the winter. So I fed them That yesterday. It's smelled like maybe there was a little fermentation on the bottom of the plastic containers I stored the frames in . Should that be something I need to worried about? Thanks in advance.
I doubt it. How much of the frame was capped? If the entire frame was uncapped and it was old it may be a problem. If you start to see bee poop (dysentery) on the hive, pull the frame. I've never had a problem with honey still in the comb, but you never want to feed honey back to the bees that you extracted and heated, just fyi.
Thanks, almost all of it was still capped.
That won't be a problem then.
Very useful and very well done. Thank you!
Great video
Awesome music
Way better than that electronic noise on so many videos
Excellent, very informative. Thanks
Thankyou for a very informative video.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Very well presented with good close ups. Sound low occasionally. Very helpful for this ancient Aussie amateur.
Thanks for the input, very much!
Thankyou so much for this informative video from DownUnder!
thank you very informative video
Hi, same as the previous video, professional and very instructive. Thanks a lot.
Mounir
Thanks very good vedio
Great information very useful thanks
Wow this answered so many questions. Thank you for the great explanations and photos.
this was so helpful and informative! thank you for posting this!
Thank you! Very helpful.
Excellent tutorial! Thanks!
Thanks for taking the time to let me know!
Excellent so well presented thank you for sharing cheers from Qld Australia
Thank You!
Very informative thank you for putting it together!
+bryan batts Thanks, Bryan. Glad you liked it.
Awesome ~ definitely learned a lot! Great job
A queen that never mated? That's a surprise! An older queen that lays drone eggs will usually go out and mate after a while.
Awesome. Thank you. Most coherent video i've seen so far.
Thanks.
Stinger Juice Bee Man I think you might try taking your hive further away, at least 100 ft. away from location.I run 50 + hives and have done this several times over past years and it has always worked.enjoyed your video.
no theatrics, calm [voice-over is perfect] and poignant instructional vlogg. I can get to work ~ tremendous thank you. Confirm: What would/ n't happen if the eggs are introduced with the capped brood frames and not after 3 days. ok:I understand its to introduce the new pheromone "switch" so logic is best to allow some days so they become biologically primed to start feeding royal jelly to the newby larvae (is that about right ?). ~Fab macro close ups too , greetings from SA.
Very detailed video w/ awesome pictures! Now I have to go back into my hive and diagnose, but I think I may have a drone laying situation. :(
Sorry to hear about that. If you need any help let me know!
Honey Bee Honey
Thank you! Maybe if I can't quite decide what the hive is doing, I will take some photos and contact you later today?
You can also email me at honeybeehoneysite@gmail.com if you do not wish to have them on a public forum...just in case in interests you.
Very helpful.
Thanks so much!
Thank you!
I am a first year hobby beekeeper. I have this situation and this video has been extremely helpful. I understand and appreciate the idea of pheromones from the brood and moving some from the queenright hive to the queenless hive. What I don't understand are the pros and cons of moving the bees along with the frames. Any info to help out there? I am looking for the discussion of the pros and cons of moving good "bees and brood" from queenright to queenless AND moving bees and brood from a queenless hive (to include laying workers) to a queenright hive. Thanks.
Most of the information I get is from either Bee Culture magazine or the American Bee Journal. ABJ cites excellent references as well that you can follow up with. Scientificbeekeeping.com or Randy Oliver is also a good resource.
However, when moving frames between different colonies you have to know how to diagnose diseases and honey bee pests and make sure that the frames you are moving don't transmit a disease directly to another hive. The danger of moving frames from a queen right colony to a queen less colony is that you take the queen! When doing the opposite, if you have a drone layer and she is accidentally moved or united with a queen right colony, you will risk the possibility of getting the healthy queen killed and ending up with two colonies of drones!
How likely is it that a hive would be fine if left to it's own devices? Asking cos I'd love to have one, but obviously dont want to neglect it if they need care, supervision, and intervention like livestock.
Or move the hive to a different location where the drones are different.
I’ve watched another channel and he’s found that drones are laid when the hive is getting full. He takes the drones out and splits the hive. The original queen stops laying drones and lasts another season. Have you tried this?
Sir I have a laying worker hive I introduce a queen but the laying worker still continue laying multiples eggs in a cell,so haw many days the laying worker will stop laying egg after they accepted a new queen????
The "myth" works for me every time.... How many queens have you had killed introducing them to a laying worker hive?
Well...if I have laying workers I never just introduce a queen. In fact, my common practice is to unite a nuc with the queenless hive. I have never lost a queen using this method...ever. I twice tried to shake out bees 50 yards away from the hive, and introduced a queen, thinking the laying workers would be too heavy to return to the hive. I lost both queens - 100%. It didn't take me long to figure out there was a better method. After that I started adding caged queens with brood using a controlled release method that I could evaluate the behavior of the workers to the queen after three days. I never lost a queen because if the workers were aggressive, I added the queen to a nuc and then united them later. I also have worked with two mentors that have tried shaking bees to rid the hive of laying workers, both of them told me it never worked for them and they had over 100 years of beekeeping experience combined. Bottom line for me is...why take the effort to shake an entire hive of bees, when you can unite them with a queen right hive with better success? Work smarter, not harder. Hope that answers your question. Thanks for commenting.
+Honey Bee Honey well with the "myth" method you can just shake and intro the queen. Just because a method does not work for you does not mean it does not work...
I agree with you, however, it has been well established that laying workers can, and do, fly. They have no trouble getting back to the hive. I haven't the time to mark specific passages, though you can research through Ross Conrad's book, I believe, as well as newer editions of ABC & XYZ, The Hive and the Honeybee, etc. So, I am using collective knowledge in stating that it is a myth, and my experience has certainly agreed with it. Also, I stated above that it wasn't just my experience that I was referring to. If it works for you, great. I for one, would not, and do not recommend it.
+Honey Bee Honey just FYI if it works for others it's not a myth.... That's the problem with some beekeepers on TH-cam they are my way or the highway beekeepers.
If you've paid attention to any of my videos you would have observed that I usually give multiple ways to handle a situation, not any one single viewpoint. The idea is to give the information out and for the end user to decide how they would like to proceed given different choices. In addition, to give methods that would have the highest chance of success. In truth, it seems you have taken the exact stance you are trying to project - one single way to deal with a hive that is queen less and has laying workers (i.e. my way or the highway) rather than to agree that there are other ways to handle it successfully. If you have indeed had 100% success using this method, that is great. It also means you have no experience with other methods...why fix what isn't broken?
🤗🤗🤗
What happened to the audio? A little after 9:47 it gets so quiet I can't hear you over the air conditioner.
I watch quite a few of yours and they are good BUT it seems that when it is something important I should hear the sound drops.
Hi Terry, my learning curve was quite a few videos to correct sound. However, my newer videos shouldn't have a problem with sound. Understand though, that when I process the video and sound, on my end there are no problems. I'm not sure why other people can't hear videos that I have no problem hearing, but I know that it happened in older videos. I used extensive sound algorithms in this video to equalize the volume because of the large amount of dubbing. Hopefully, this isn't a problem in future videos.
Thanks for getting back to me, love your experience. Glad problems are getting fixed. Don't like to miss anything you have to tell/show us.
Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it.
So its normal for a queen to lay drones if she is laying them in the proper location- a good sign.(1). But if in odd places, its either she is a less experienced new queen who will likely get better at it, or she's no longer good for the hive and must be eliminated? ...(2)...Also, how does a queen know if she is going to lay drones( when she does it in the correct location) or workers? (3). Do drones from one hive mate with queens from other hives? Thanks!
Hi Rose:
The drone cell is larger in diameter than a worker cell. The queen uses her two front legs to measure the size of the cell and then deposit an egg. The workers construct the cells based on hive needs, so if they feel they need more drones they will tear apart a section of worker cells and make the cells larger, but this is usually in the bottom of the frames and in the corners. An entire comb could be drone cells too, but there will be patches of drone brood. What you shouldn't see is drone cells scattered amongst worker brood. This means that the queen laid an unfertilized egg in a worker cell and then the workers re-sized the cell to accommodate the drone egg. This does happen sometimes when a queen is very young, but not usually. Also, yes, drones only mate with queens from other hives...if not, you get a situation called diploid drone syndrome and this is the result of queen rearing methods by beekeepers. i doubt that it happens at all in a natural hive, though I have no evidence. Does this help?
Yesterday, i requenned a hive, they did not take to her, but I left her overnight. Went back today, they still were not keen to her at all. So i took her cage out, put a layer of newspaper and then an empty box and frames with one frame of honey and I released her myself yhinking that by the time they get through that newspaper, Im hoping, they will be accustomed to her presence. What do u think??
Jeff Roberts took the paper out Monday, she’s in the layin eggs today... WORKED!
I may start with bees next year. Should I begin with one or 2 hives? I'm actually thinking 2 and have unlimited time.
Definitely two. The advantage in starting with two hives is that if one of your hives loses a queen, you can insert a comb of eggs, or swarm cells, or even honey from the other hive, depending on the situation and time of year. It also helps to compare so that a broader base of reference points are established.
5.23 map is Europe's bees Drones are great location.
That is really a surprise for me. All your methods never worked the only one which worked fine was the method you call a myth.... I am really confused now
Random odd thought..
Why could a queen that is going infertile NOT (if someone had the ability) be artificially inseminated to restore her fertility?