Backyard Beekeeping Q&A 253, Let's Talk About Buying Virgin Queens with Cory Stevens.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
- Bite Resistant Virgin Queens By Mail.
How you introduce them to your hives.
Welcome to another episode of The Way To Bee
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Today's special guest, Cory Stevens responds to a question regarding how to prepare for and install virgin queen honey bees.
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Love the intro of the bees tanking up. The micro bubbles in the feed jar.....so well composed. Bravo, Fred.
Thank you so much :)
Mr Dunn, your ability to ask all of the right questions never ceases to amaze me. Thank you for another excellent and informational video.
Thank you very much! I'm glad you got something out of this video, and took a moment to comment :)
Agreed; Fred is an outstanding interviewer.
Fantastic surprise. I hope you'll bring Cory back for more. Thank you.
I hope so too!
I love your videos at the beginning of your talk.
Oh thank you!
Thanks Fred, great interview, Cory is a wealth of information, have a wonderful weekend!
He certainly is! Thanks, Red!
Thanks!
Thank you, Yvonne :)
This was a fascinating interview! I learned a ton. Thanks Fred!
Thanks for taking the time to watch :)
I rescued a swarm today at a big city post office on their loading dock and before I got there some guy sprayed them with wasp spray. Everyone was mad at him. A bunch were dead and hopefully they survive. I always hang around until they all go in my hive at dusk when I rescue bees. I don’t want to leave any behind. I just unloaded them from my truck. Not easy with a horizontal hive when you have no help. Id rather just put them in their future home than keep pestering them with multiple moves. Turned 62 today. Born on Friday the 13th. I got stung on the thumb while getting them and my hand looks like a ball. I can’t even close my hand or see my knuckles. I guess I’m allergic to them. I always swell up.
I'll react a little to my first sting of the year. Benadryl and pepcid always help me.
Glad you go them, what a shame about the soap spraying guy. You don't have to wait for all of the bees to go into your box, any that are left behind, or that show up after you've departed, will just return to their originating hive. There really aren't any orphans out there. :)
@@FrederickDunn it was wasp spray he used. They said he went to the store to buy it. He ask me later what I did with the nest. I told him it was a swarm looking for a new home and no nest. I gave them 2 Bettercombs and sugar water.
@@jamesbarron1202 Good show, James!
Nice job, Wyatt! Thanks for sharing your talent. And the opening sequence was sweet!
We definitely need more Wyatts in the beekeeping world :)
Hi Fred! Thanks for the interview. Been doing splits since the 1st of the month here in North Central Ohio. Building up strong despite the rain. 😅
That's great! Based on what I've been seeing around here yesterday, there is a population explosion happening out there :)
Great interview Fred! I always learn when I listen to Cory
Thank you so much, he's a great guy and excellent resource. :)
Great interview!
Thank you :)
That was a wonderful intro sequence, and I wish I could get Mr Stevens' bees here in Ontario Canada
(Hahaha, the 253rd Like for episode 253!). As I am still just getting myself set up, and don’t have any bees yet, I went ahead and bought 2 bags of the switchgrass pellets for future use
Thank you, Gigi, put those pellets in dry storage and they will be ready when you are. Thank you for your support. :)
Great topic and as Cory said there is a potential for many other topics there. His rationale for virgins makes sense. Thank you once again for sharing your connections and experts with us.
My smoker is in a zinc bucket. A simple cork in the end is all I need to shut it off when I'm done, and it hooks right onto the lid of the bucket.
Great tips, thanks!
Nice design, Wyatt!! Like your feeder
I agree, Wyatt is a great young man, and I hope he continues with his beekeeping.
As being the one who made these I've made 4-5 for home use and they're always on it.
That 3D printed feeder is a awesome idea. Im gonna go buy that design and print some out!!! Awesome job young man!
I figured out that I can just pour some aquarium gravel in the feeder pan and no dead bees at all.
Gonna keep that in mind. Great video and interview as always.
Hi Fred. Really liked the format of the video!
PS. Re: smoker storage, ammunition cans that can be found at Harbor Freight or yard sales, pawn shops etc are perfect for smoker storage! Almost EXACTLY the right size!
One of the best interviews of Cory I've seen!!!! SO many times, interviewers like to get WAY too technical with Cory and my eyes glaze over. 😄 Tulip poplars are about to pop here and temps in the 80's the next few days. Gonna bee a fun week!!!! Thanks as always Fred!!
Hi Keith, I'm so glad you enjoyed that as much as I did. I was so glad he was available to do that for us. :)
Great friday Fred, met Cory at the Delaware State Bee Association meeting a couple of weeks ago and had a chance to talk queen introduction with him really exciting and eye opening. Will definitely be trying some hopelessly queenless stuff soon!
That's great! Wow, Cory really does get around. I hope it all goes well for you :)
Wow Love you guys!. So much passion! learned a lot! Thank you❤
You're very welcome, I'm so glad you enjoyed it :)
If you don't have a 3D printer, you can usually find someone on Etsy selling their services, all you have to do i provide the STL file and work out a payment amount with them.
Great tip, thanks for sharing! I think I may look into 3-D printers as I have ideas often, and they don't exist at the moment. But then, it's a time thing :)
G’day Fred… what a gr8 way to answer a question… “Let’s Ask an Expert!”… wonderful change up in your format…have a gr8 W/E
🍻 Johno
Hi Johno, I think this may be something I continue to do in the future. :)
@@FrederickDunn 👌👍🍻
I watch every week. Great change up. I agree, the questions you ask your guests and info you provide are greatly appreciated. Couple hours south of you in Armstrong county. Thanks Fred
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it :)
Hey Fred, You mentioned the third winter is usually when a beek would experience losses from mites. Coming out of my third winter all 7 -10 frame hives survived again . Last year was tough all my hives swarmed I let all my hives requeen bc I'm a backyard beek in no hurry. My first inspection they all have around 6 frames eggs larva capped. No drones yet. Started with Two hives 15:29 3 yrs ago. Two out of four nucs survived. The two that didn't starved even with emergency food sugar and hive alive fondant. I'm not around to check them in the winter. Anyway my point I learned most of everything from you! My set up are the same as yours. One thing I'm doing diffrent this year is rotating boxes bc my bottom deeps have always been too light going into winter. That's why I winter a deep and med. Wish I had a local club or like minded beeks in my area... Thank you for all you do! The info you share is invaluable!
the bee feeder is as big as most 3d printers can print. I was able to make it square and a little bigger to fit on a 21CM X 21CM bed and designed a cover that will let you place it over the top like you discussed in the video. I would be glad to print and send you one if you want to let me know where I can send it. Any feedback you provide I can make those changes.
Thanks for the info!
Another Great! Love the intro of bees open feeding. I also enjoyed the zoom session with Corey. I have been interested getting virgin queens but here in Southern California, we tend to have Africanized bees and I wonder if using Coreys queens once mated, would produce spicy bees? Or because of all the available drones, I might get lucky and have a mated queen that may not produce spicy girls? What are your thoughts? Maybe something to talk about next time? Thanks in advance ~Allen
The open mating will always introduce local genetics, I didn't realize that California was having issues with Africanized stock as many othe border States are. Something to consider for sure. Girl Next Door Beekeeping is in San Diego, I'd check in with Hilary to get her thoughts on that?
Tomorrow I will be going into my 3 nucs to do the first 7 day inspection .
I will be:
Checking for new eggs
Adding a second brood box ( if needed )
Treating for V mites with Formic Pro
Adding Beetle traps baited with Boric Acid-Crisco-honey mix
I have taken to heart all of your suggestions for “ Better Bees “ .
Thanks for your mentorship !👍
Ha Fred great video, I have 21 mated queens coming on the 30 of this month. After hearing this from cory how would you introduce mated queens. I think I will be trying virgins someday soon. Thanks for this wonderful video. Have a Blessed week
This was a good day to split hives and arrange equipment, even got one in a trap,i wss moving cells,and young larva around,😊
Good stuff 😊 great information Thanks Fred 😊
Glad you enjoyed it
I can definitely confirm you need a torch to get the switch grass smoker pellets going.
I ordered a bag and during the eclipse had my first ever bee inspection with the PA state inspector. I thought this great time to try them out so I offered him a couple handfuls. Poor guys had no chance getting them lit with a match and I did not have a torch with me 😂
Worked out anyways since we didn’t need a smoker for my 11 hives.
Happy to support locals and bee clubs so I highly recommend.
I always enjoy the discussions I have with State Inspectors. I hope your apiary got a clean bill of health :) Did you get your smoker going on another day? What was your impression? Thanks so much for commenting.
@@FrederickDunn it was very interesting with him. He had some really insightful tips and tricks that he shared.
I passed with flying bees 😁 I have one that is a laying worker that he basically thinks is a goner.
I have not tried it since. I’ve been in swarm trap set up and install. I rarely ever use smoke at all but will try it this week when I add some frames.
Luckily there were no queen cells or even cups that we saw in any of my hives but the dandelions just blew up so won’t be long. I’m hoping to split and want to wait until there are charges queen cells. Running all Layen’s hive has its challenges but I love them.
I keep a bottle of HEET carburetor additive handy; a little bit of that and one match works every time
Great episode as always! I as always used it to build up my knowledge base. I have checked out Cory's site and saw that he also sold package bees. The price seemed low enough that I wasn't sure if it included a queen and now, I'm wondering if it does will she be mated. I guess I should ask that question on his site though. I wish I had Layens drawn comb frames for my swarm traps, my daughter called me late yesterday afternoon and said there was a swarm in the middle of the street in front of her house and it looked like it had been run over by at least one car. It broke my heart but, I didn't go out with a swarm trap to try to get them to walk into it. It's a different City then the one I live in but, I knew I would not be allowed to block the street try to save them. She said she has a lot of bees in her area, so I'll be setting up a swarm trap somewhere in her yard and hope I can catch another one. In a situation like mine with not having drawn comb, I'm using a Layens 6 frame swarm trap with two full sheets of the wax starters Dr Leo sells and the rest at 1/3 sheets at the top, how long would you think I should let the bees fill out comb before I relocate them? Most of what I have heard about this is from the LA MS area and SW Missouri is a little different climate wise. I know conditions of what is available for them to grow on and build out the wax and such. I think my area is closer to the spring conditions you get then the deep south. Warmer but we still get many cold swings in the spring.
Bees on pavement are perfectly situated for the Colorado Bee Vac, or the Eveything Bee Vac. You may consider a vac system in the future. I have the DeWalt Power Station that I can just leave in the back of my car to plug any vac into. Swarm in the grass or on pavement, it gathers them up pretty fast. :)
@@FrederickDunn If I had the Everything Bee Vac I would have gone for sure, I've seen it in use many times with Randy and Jeff, great system from what I have seen.
Great interview and Q&A well done Fred 👍🏻
Thanks, Darren!
I used queen isolation cages for two hives to introduce mated queen of packages. I suggest a well-waxed or drawn comb frame (as my bees had to drawn on lightly waxed foundation). Also, I left it long enough to get burr comb, trying not to be the novice bee keeper who bothered the bees too soon. I nearly had a heart attack cutting away burr comb and trying to lift the frame with the queen out gently without any rolling. It worked for me. However I would toss a coin between the risk of absconding in a newly installed package vs potential rolling damage to the queen removing the frame from the isolation cage. I think an isolation cage would be highly recommended for a captured swarm.
Thank you for sharing what you do and how you manage :)
Thanks Fred
You're welcome, thanks for watching, Richard!
Thanks Fred, thanks Cory, great conversation, lots of info. Here in central NH, the 3 feet of snow that fell since the end of March has melted away with these recent rains. Alders, pussy willows, and poplar are blooming and it's all showing up on the landing board. Snow drops are past, and Johnny Jump ups are showing their cheery faces. I'm going to plant peas, lettuce, and various bee forage wildflower seeds such as aster and goldenrod in the ground this week. I also am going out with my pruners and collecting elderberry cuttings and planting directly in moist ground where I what them the spread. It's not 100% take, but it's also not much effort. Fred, it's always informative, aways pleasure, Take care, Brice
Oh, I have lots of elderberry around here, I hadn't thought of making cuttings and just sticking them in the ground! Thank you for that :)
@@FrederickDunn it works early spring, later not so good.
Putting the cuttings in a pot this spring and replant next spring if you want better take
I bought 4 mated queens and a package yesterday... The package had a giant queen all alone in her queen cage and a QMP noodle had been stuck into the cage. This queen was last year's; it is obvious. Even though she'd been marked green, I could tell she's last years. I don't know how to feel about this... An experienced layer, but one with a lesser expected lifespan.
I tore down my biggest Carniolan colony and found out it was NO LONGER Carniolan. It was Africanized. There were tons of drones but I couldn't find a queen. I ended up vacuuming tons of bees out, had almost nothing but the drawn frames, and the caged queens. Made two hives; workers returned later. They sure were all over those queen cages. I vacuumed them again Sunday afternoon. These workers sure were hostile. I wish I'd had a queen intro cage. We'll see what happens.
I wish there were a device to help hang the queen cage up in the frames.
One of my 2 colonies wasn’t flying again today, so I took a peek under the lid. They were somewhat sluggish so I decided to put on some syrup a 9w to 8s mix. I did inspections earlier this week and neither had much nectar or honey so I went ahead and put some on the other hive too. Hopefully they’ll be good after this week. I also glad that you agreed with me on this Fred 😂😂
Yes, I just can't let them perish when something as simple as a feeder of sugar syrup can turn things around in an hour. :)
That was a great interview. Completely enjoyed it. I'm trying to learn queen rearing this year and this was a wealth of information.
Thanks
Look into the Nicot system for your queen rearing. I think it's also a great alternative from manually grafting. :)
@@FrederickDunn I just bought the book. Thanks
I put sponges where the trough is. The bees can land and drink without drowning.
That's a great idea if the trough has no raised points. Sponges work in some instances, but with this particular design with all of the raised pillars in it, plastic canvas works very well.
Great vdo very new info for me
Thank you :)
Just fill the feeder up with small rocks where the drink.
Thanks for sharing
Just started your video and you just answered my question
That's fantastic :)
Happy Friday Fred :) have a great weekend 😁🐝👍🐝
Thanks Grayson! You too :)
Its called needle point
It's plastic canvas, my mind drew a blank in that moment. Needle point is often done with a stretcher and no substrate at all. Thanks for getting me thinking about it.
Yo, where my man Adam at? 🧐 He always got those timestamps. He's the best.
Oh, you're right! Maybe because we didn't really do a list, it wasn't necessary?
Mr .Dunn what are your thoughts on on buying virgin queens? The good /bad of it !? Thanks for sharing your thoughts and opinions! Joe from DewBee farms Cali
I think, as a spring boost, they would be fine, becasue your drones in the area would be locally adapted stock that did survive winter. Later in the year, you'd be potentially gambling with other stock that may have been brought in during the summer/autumn. I buy queens from breeders that I want to support, so that's part of it too.
Hey Fred. Thanks for another great video. When swarms are looking for their new home don’t they go inside and measure everything to make sure they are going to be happy with the size? I ask because I have had several very large swarms attempt to move into my swarm traps, only to not be able to fit and then within a couple hours leave. They will fly out and gather onto a tree limb as though they had just swarmed. I have been lucky enough to witness several of these and have been able to get them into a full size deep and medium hive so they can all fit, but I worry about the ones that I may not be around to be able to hive into full sized equipment.
Thanks in advance.
David Shrewsberry
Friday! :) We'll discuss this.
Thanks Fred. If you need anymore details before then, just let me know.
I stopped feeding my bees a week ago. I’m on Long Island NY. When I looked inside, both hives had new capped honey already and they were consuming the 1:1 very slowly. I figured we are in the beginning of the spring flow. Should I still be feeding the hives? Temps have been 40’s- high 50’s mostly with occasional low to mid 60’s. We did get one day of 72.
Absolutely, if they have capped honey and stored resources there is no need to supplement their feed. I'm so glad all is going well with your bees :)
Thank you Fred! I hope that you have an Above Average weekend!
Always, Steven :) you too!
In my flow hive bottom i use vegetable oil its cheaper and i dont take pics
Sounds good to me, Peter :)
Wash your bee suit? Sacrilege!!!!🤣😛🤓
I've also known people who never wanted their coffee cup washed... it builds character over time I'm told. Totally optional :)
Hi Fred! What was the name of the grafting tool you liked?
The Master Grafter... it's from Pierce Beekeeping Products. Many keepers who graft thousands a day say those are their favorite. I'm no master grafter by any stretch, but it's a well designed piece of gear. :)
@FrederickDunn Thanks Fred.
What kind of feeder is that and where can we purchase it ? Thanks Joe From DewBee farms California
The link to the design is in the video description. You can't buy them that I know of, you need to have someone print it with a 3D printer. If someone actually manufactured them, and made the pan area a little larger in diameter, I'd be one of their first customers :)
Fred, do u ever see all black honey worker bees at your place? I sure do see alot of them here in NE ohio when I set out frames to get cleaned up., possibly feral bees ? They have no stripes, just black & black abdomens.. to me theyre definitely a honey bee & not a Native bee
Yes, I have a few colonies that have all black queens as well as the workers. They simply moved in on their own and it's something that other keepers in my area are also seeing. They are very good performers.
@@FrederickDunn I hope I can catch some of them in one of my traps this year!! I really like them!
You have Tom Seeley's New book already ??! I'm jealous
I do, and it's available to everyone now. :) He covers much that's been discussed before, but puts lots if information regarding how he composed his experiments and observations. If Tom writes it, I get it. :)
Really like the feeder how do I get one
The link to the feeder file is in the video description. You will need to have someone 3D print it out for you.
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Is that a 3D printed base? If so shere did you get the program I'd like to print a few.
Thanks
I'll add the link to the video description asap.
I purchased one similar last year from BlackLodgeCreative on Etsy
Hi 👋 Fred
Getting a lot of flack about using bleach 10:1 1 being bleach to disinfect old comb. Any research on that? Thank you so much!
Those are standard sanitization methods. Check in with any DVM, and you'll find it's a standard dissinfectant. If someone is giving you "flack" what are their concerns? You're rinsing comb, using 10% bleach, drying it out, and the bees are using it. I'd put the question to them, what are the risks? Watch honey bees drinking swimming pool water in summer... what are those risks? www.agricultforest.ac.me/data/20210930-14%20Bojanic.pdf If those giving you flack are open to science, maybe they will read this document?
@FrederickDunn Thank you Fred. I Lile to know stuff! Great read
Plastic canvas 😊
Yes, that's it!
I tried to order Cory's V-Queens yesterday but out of stock 😢
True, get yourself on that email list and he'll let you know what's available as they emerge.
They go fast. I think he sold out in 2-3 days. I hesitated and missed out on this round. Hopefully will be faster on the next round
6:28
why would you even state that much
Hi Rick, because it was important to him to get a shout-out. Easy to do. Are there other concerns that I should know about?
Hi Fred I'm from Delaware county PA started bee keeping April 15th 2023 where in PA are you located
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