I think this is still my favorite TH-cam video. The information provided, the way it’s presented, made something click in my head a couple years ago when I first watched it.
I was thinking of you Canadians the other day and how much difference there is in our spring. Sometimes I wish our winter was longer. Our winter projects never seem to get finished.
Well I live in North Romania and folowing you both I can tell that the weather here is closer to what Bob gets over there. Hell of a job you are doing in the North Ian too. Solid advice from you both inspired me a lot!
Hi Bob. I've just found your channel and enjoy the content you present . You have a new subscriber from Australia....Many thanks. I hope you have a great honey season .
My wife and I are newbies and we pick up our nuc tomorrow. Thank you so much for the content. It really helps give me an idea as to what I'm getting in to. It can be a bit overwhelming
Great videos I look forward to your videos. Lot of knowledge was going to the honey Convention to hear you speak. I live in Indiana . Run 25 hives. Thank you for all your help. Keep videos coming
This video was very helpful to me and I thankyou for making this video I wish u would make more on the management of the hives that u do just every thing u do it is just great I have watched every one of your videos I love watching videos on beekeeping but I want the people that know what they are really doing and u really do I watched uog honey bee research center all there videos as well they were great but they don't make any more what make the videows so wonderful u explain what u are doing as u go any way thank you so very much do u checker board or any thing like that thanks for every thing.. I hope u keep the videos coming I am one of your biggest fans thanks and have a wonderful day I live in Virginia
Hi Frances. I didn't know UOG stopped making videos. To bad, they are good. We do checker board occasionally for swarm control measures. It depends on how strong a colony is. We do it with colonies we feel are to strong leading up to a flow. It works a lot better with drawn comb than it does with foundation. I'm glad you like the videos. Thanks.
Was looking forward to meeting you at the Knoxville Honey Convention but of course it has been canceled. Equalizing hives I find is never talked about in detail in any of the bee meetings that I attend in Maryland and Pennsylvania, in my opinion it is a management technique that should be taught more at bee conferences and meetings. Your video said the you are going to put two extracting supers on the hive, are they used to feed the hive or to let the hive fill them with honey? I have grown my apiary into a sideliner business I would like for you to do a video on how you inspect and manage 50 hives or more at that level , I am shore their is a big difference between a Backyard beekeeper inspection and sideliner inspection. I appreciate all the videos that you make.
We like to put empty honey supers on early if the colony is strong to simply keep the bees from feeling congested and these colonies will be strong in just a few weeks. As you grow your colony numbers you will be learning shortcuts. It really all comes down to experience. You won't have time to spend on every little thing and you'll need to manage things with a look to the future, like equalizing. I will remember your suggestion for a video. Thanks.
If the apiary is safe from diseases, you can apply the method of rearranging the frames. Since spring I have been giving points to bee colonies 1 to 5 or 1 to 3. Then, before the honey harvest, I massively swap the brood. In practice, the ratio of the two frames works well. This means that from the strong one we take 2 - the printed (closed brood at the exit), and from the weak open bee brood. And we swap places. The method works 100% as a warning. But the main thing is to prevent swarming. If the family has entered a swarming state, other methods are needed. If there is any doubt about the presence of infectious diseases, you need to apply another method. Or mark frames with a marker to avoid negative consequences
Great video again Bob. Do you install a electric fence around all your yards? You must use solar power? I'm too close to Ian to have any bees flying yet, so these videos gives me hope we may get some warm weather soon.
Hi Russell. Out of 42 locations 10 don't have electric fences and we gamble on those 10 because they're close in town or next to a major highway. We have bears everywhere. We use solar panels on most of our fences.
Hello Mr. Binnie. Thank you for Taking the time to make these great well-thought-out videos. I was wondering what drives your preferance of 32 to 40 hives per yard. Is that solely based upon what the area around your average yard can sustain?
It's our happy medium when considering efficiency for travel, ease of work and good pasture for the bees. When we get past 48 it feels like we're beginning to have to many bees for their forage. Sort of like to many cows on a pasture. If the main honey flow is good it doesn't matter but if the pickings are slim it does. Large yards can also be very unpleasant if robbing gets started. It feels good at 32 to 40 colonies but I have to admit that most of our yards are 48 with a few even bigger. We just don't ever seem to have enough yards.
What's your magic number of Brood you left in Donor hive with a month before flow? Looked like 5 frames of Brood or so? This one of toughest things for me to figure out is how many to leave it seems , some just do better ..Good Video Bob AS ALWAYS!!!
We left 6 frames in these colonies at 4 weeks out. That's pushing it, 5 frames might have been better. That's one of the reasons we'll begin supering early.
Hey Bob I really respect your opinion and the reason I asked this question out here in California we are experiencing massive smoke do you think this is going to have an effect on getting my queens mated? I’m a bit worried! Just wanted to here what you have to say.
Hi Scott. A few years ago we had some yards experiencing heavy smoke from a nearby fire and I noticed that foraging and activity in general slowed way down. I wouldn't be surprised if you have mating problems with heavy smoke.
It's an educated guess for me and depends on conditions. Are they low on pollen and food stores which will slow them down? Or are they fat and sassy and moving full steam ahead? I'm sure one could create some sort of equation but I just go with what feels right at the moment. 40 years ago a true master beekeeper I knew told me it takes 4 frames of bees 8 weeks to peak in population if conditions are favorable and I've found this to be true. In this video you see I left 6 frames of brood of varying sizes one month out and they will be fairly strong when the flow starts. As a swarm control measure it could be pushing it if the flow starts late and there could be extra swarming issues. If a colony gets into a honey flow without preparing to swarm, and it has the room to store it, more times than not they will forget about swarming and settle in to making honey. I know this probably isn't the answer you were expecting but I don't know how to say it better.
Hi Don. We do not use use pollen supplement often. We have pollen beginning in late Feb. or early March in this area which seems to be early enough to accomplish what we need. We may use it in July or August in a drought year or in late winter on small colonies to maintain brood rearing to get them through.
Good Morning, Mr Binnie. When you equalize, do shake the bees into the original hive? Or do you place the brood frame with the bees into the weaker hive?
How much nectar do they put in the brood nest vs the "early" supers? As you know from your time in the PNW, we get big leaf and vine maple in April/May, weather permitting, here in WA state. Some years they don't put nectar in the supers, but seem to raise brood on it, and some they fill supers, but we have to feed before blackberry in June/July
It seems the early nectar generally goes where the brood is. When that need is satisfied it starts to show up in the supers. The reason we put supers on early is so the bees don't feel congested. This early supering to helps with swarm control.
All of our lids have that hole for feeding and all our double deeps have an inside feeder. I knew we wouldn't be back for awhile and they were probably light. Sometimes we'll actually use a bucket along with the inside feeder.
With single story brood chambers we do use excluders and with double deeps we rarely do. We do get a little brood in the supers with the double deeps, but not enough to want us to use excluders there.
Do the holes in the center of the lids leak when it rains or when snow is melting? I would like to do that for the simplicity it lends to feeding. Also i use polystyrene hives, this could complicate the idea.
I have seen drone frames in your hives in several of your videos. Do they stay in year round. Can you tell us newbees your views and reason. I enjoy your videos tips and tricks.
We try and put one in each colony if we can and two in a double deep is OK. If you don't provide the bees a place to rear drone brood they will create a place. I once read that some colonies can build up to 17% of their comb in drone and if they don't have a place to do it they will carve a place out in any comb or on any foundation. If you look closely at our videos you will see that we have relatively little drone brood in our worker comb frames. We like this for a variety of reasons. We sell a lot of nucs and we want our customers to feel like they are getting decent comb without excessive drone comb. In late winter and very early spring the colonies are not rearing drones but if there is excessive drone comb in the middle of the brood nest they will have to keep that space warm also, along with the worker brood they are raising. Also, if you run ten frames in your brood boxes as we do, any drone brood (which sticks out farther) can potentially effect the frame next to it creating a space that is void of brood. You'll notice we generally keep these frames next to the wall. When the bees are ready to rear drones they will absolutely move over and use them. If not they become a frame of honey.
Hello Mr Bob, Can you please show how and when you add suppers , space to expand the brood nest . Do you take brood frames from the bottom to the suppers and put foundations in their place ? Thank you
Hello Iahcen. If you have double deep colonies such as the ones shown in this video, that strong, you should put all the brood possible in the bottom box and put any empty comb left in the middle of the second box and then add your supers. If the colony is strong this is best done a week or two before the main nectar flow begins. You could put some brood frames just above the double deeps if you have to much. If you lift brood several boxes over the brood nest be aware that they could start queen cells up there because of the separation. Some people do this on purpose.
Hello Bob, yes I have Langstoth double deeps, what I've meant , is how do you manage your frames once the bottom box is full and you need to add the second brood box? Do you take one or 2 frames of brood from the bottom to the second brood box and replace them with foundation to make bees build new frames or you put the second brood box without doing any frame's manipulation. What I do, when the bottom box , single box, is full , I add the second box on top with 1 or 2 frames of brood taken from the bottom , I replace them with foundation , and fill the second box with foundation and empty combs . That's make them build fast . I don't know if it is the fastest way to make them grow .
@@lahcenajar7489 I do what you do. We call that "baiting" the second box. Even one frame helps. If I have any drawn comb on hand we will use that also.
Pure carniolans definitely have a smaller peak population than Italians but in our area they perform just as well overall as a unit. They keep their brood area more compact and together and don't spread brood all over the place. They store more honey in the brood boxes which can make it seem that they make less because there isn't as much in the supers. Personally, I prefer this trait.
Also in a pretty bad dearth bees are very hungry right now I have 21 colonies and expanding as my experience grows. I’m open feeding and going through a lot of sugar. When do you quite feeding syrup or what are you usually looking for? Thank you again
Here in north Georgia we are currently (August 24) feeding thin syrup ( 1.3 parts water to1 part sugar) to keep our bees somewhat stimulated and healthy. We're not trying to put on an excessive amount of weight yet because we don't want the colonies to run out of room to brood during the golden rod bloom. As late summer progresses into fall and then early winter we thicken our syrup some and finally get them really heavy just before they stop rearing brood. I know a lot of reputable beekeepers open feed but I never really cared for it because it can be hard on the bees unless you give them plenty of room at the trough so they don't fuss and fight with each other. Good luck with the smoke.
Bob, how soon prior to your main flow do you start feeding sugar and pollen? Is it once every two weeks for six weeks? Also, do you use any kind of stimulants? Grateful.
That would be a highly variable answer. If a colony has plenty of food I may choose not to feed anything at all. I rarely use products to stimulate but do occasionally use them for the health benefits and to keep sugar syrup from fermenting in warm weather.
What do you prefer to do with strong singles when the flow is over and colonies are on their peak,to ad medium on top(single,deep) or make nuc,some split?thanks
We use some of our singles to continue splitting and some may get fed to build out another deep box. Others will start a steady preparation for winter.
In determining the number of colonies for an area would I account for undeveloped land around me that is not my own? I have 6 of my own 15 of my neighbors that she keeps as "prairie" plus about another 20 of woods.
@@bobbinnie9872 thank you. So I'm guessing 32 to 40 would be my ultra max on my property. To do additional yards I would need to talk to family, friends and neighbors outside the 2 mile zone. And always grow with the bees. If you can t manage 4 you can't manage 40 or 400. I'm sure this post is becoming email worthy at this point. Thank you again.
There will be a great discovery in beekeeping. If they begin to mark the queen bee with substances that are quickly found by sensors - scanners. Quickly scanned and found a queen bee
This was a good video u did a wonderful job when u put the frames of brood in the hives with the bees on them to strengthen the hives do they fight I have massive hives 16 frames of brood in them how many can I take out and still get a honey flow thanks I live in virginia
We rarely have fighting and if it occurs it's usually when colonies are very defensive, like during a robbing frenzy. If we're worried about fighting we will dribble a little syrup on the top bars with the feeding nozzle seen in this video. They're all sisters when they start cleaning up the mess. You could also use a spray bottle with light syrup to lightly spray the bees if you are concerned. But again we rarely have a problem. There is usually an equation with brood removal and honey production that has to do with size and timing. In this video you saw us leave 6 frames of brood of varying sizes with the flow 4 weeks out. These colonies will definitely make honey if the flow is decent. 4 frames would make honey too, just not as much. If the time is closer to the flow we leave more, if it's farther away we leave less. We don't want them to peak to soon.
Hi!! Can i use the queen excluder to help me prevent swarming? when the colonie makes 8 frames of brood, i take 2 of them and put them above of the excluder. I do that every week, about 3 times, at the period of swarming of course. Does it helps? Thanks
Yes, that would help, as long as you're able to put frames with drawn comb back in the bottom. I've done that sort of thing with foundation before and found it i didn't have as much of the desired affect as drawn comb.
I love your videos very informative and thorough! I do have a question, what size hole saw do you use for cutting your lids to fit the small mouth lids?
It's an odd size. It's just slightly larger than 2 3/4 inch. Some people swell out a 2 3/4 hole saw. I had a custom carbide cutter made because we cut so many.
I use a 2 3/4 inch inch also with some sandpaper by hand to make the lid fit in smoothly. I get my lids from a brand of spaghetti sauce that has a one piece lid instead of the mason jar 2 pc system. 2-3 minutes of sanding is all the hole needs with 40 grit sandpaper, so for a small beek it works.
An “adjustable hole cutter” works really well on wood. The one I use ranges from 2”-7”. Can be used in drill press or milling machine. I hope this helps.
@@chriskelley8304 80 grit sandpaper wrapped around 1 1/2" dowel rod works well for touch-up sanding. I use a electric spindle sander. Another option if you are making several feeder lids is purchase s sanding drum that will chuck into a drill. It doesn't take much sanding...you can make it too large an opening real quick.
When you put the first floor and feed the bees, does it affect the honey, or the honeycomb you haven’t put it on yet, and the floor and the first floor do not remove the honey from them?🙏🙏🙏🙏
Bob, I've scrolled through the comments below looking to see if someone already asked but didn't find it. My apologies if this is a duplication. How often do you equalize, or rather, for which events annually to do you equalize? In this video, you're equalizing for the Spring nectar flow. I imagine you would similarly equalize late Summer/early Fall to prepare the colonies to overwinter. Perhaps you also equalize for a late season nectar flow? What other events, if any, do you equalize, and how many equalizations do you average annually? Or do you instead equalize during every bee yard inspection rather than prepping for a particular event? Thanks.
Hi Charles. All of the above and more. We will boost a smaller colony with frames of brood or honey anytime we think it can benefit us. We refer to them as assets when we're working. We even do things like take brood from colonies that have swarmed, knowing that they won't bounce back until after the flow is over, and give it to strong colonies to make them even stronger going into the flow. We are constantly moving brood around for many reasons. Think outside the box.
@@bobbinnie9872 I checked all my colonies over the warm December weekend here in NC and I've never had such consistently strong colonies going in to Winter. I equalized my entire apiary back in August. They're doing so well I felt the need to come back to thank you for all the content you've created. I've read about equalization and watched other videos over the years, but your video and detail of explanation was what I needed to hear, when I needed to hear it, and in a way I needed to see and hear it. There are other nuances within your videos that prove helpful as well and would be lost if only in written form - things that are normally only attainable while working directly with an experienced beekeeper. I greatly appreciate your willingness to help the beekeeping community at large learn and grow. Your content has really proven helpful.
Bob, how would you describe the “ honey bee colony PEAK” ? I am after understanding how “bees PEAK” look like as an amount of bees or an amount of brood frames in a hive. Thank you for your time and very informative videos !!
The hatch off that occurs just after the queen reaches peak laying capacity. Another, simpler way would be when you reach two deeps packed (boiling) with bees.
@@bobbinnie9872 does it mean if I would replace several brood frames with empty frames to add a space for a queen to lay I would slow down the peak time ?
@@bobbinnie9872 thank you for your quick responses that help me a lot. I am from Rocky Mount VA and with this year cold Spring we still have a few hours of 58- 62 F for me to open hives. I am ready to split a several of my strong hives ( 8 brood frames ) for a Nuc with out an extra queen ( to give a future Nuc a frame with some eggs) using your method . I am concerned about a temperature not being constantly warm . Am I rushing in your opinion?
@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks so much! Also, I'm wondering if you equalize this time of year too. Do you strive for a general # of brood, # of frames of bees, etc. you like to have in a hive this time of year? I'm not sure what a hive population should look like going into fall and winter to maximize survival rates and minimize swarm rates in spring. I'm in zone 7, so we are seeing snow on the prairie. The goldenrod and ragweed are starting to bloom now. Thanks for all your videos too! As a new beekeeper, I have learned so much from you!
@@brandisurber1684 We are also in zone seven and a healthy, well fed colony, with a good, young queen and low mite count generally will get by with five to seven frames of young bees going into winter. Some will survive with less and some need more. We have a lot of Carniolan stock which will get by on less. Yes we do equalize this time of year to achieve the minimum numbers needed as long as there are larger colonies to take from.
@@bobbinnie9872 so you don't shake the bees off before adding frames from a different colony? I thought I saw that but I always thought they would fight
We usually leave the bees on the frames we add and generally have little trouble. We may also shake in extra bees from open brood frames (young nurse bees) if we think they need them. If they're really thick on a frame we're moving we may shake a few off to help insure we don't miss the queen. If the bees are in an extra defensive mood you could lightly mist them with water or light syrup to insure they don't fight. We will occasionally dribble a little syrup in the hive from the feed nozzle seen in this video to accomplish this.
Great video Mr. Binnie! 32 to 40, with some at 48; is there a reason you choose to limit your yard sized that way? Be interesting to hear your thoughts on why those ranges work best for you vs the problems with fewer and the problems with more hives in a yard.
With some cases it has to do with the space available to lay the yard out, in others it may have to do with the forage available. We have a few yards that are only 24 because there's limited fall pollen plants like Goldenrod. At one time many of our yards were 64 because that is what fit on a truck and we were moving a lot. Although it's more efficient for travel I don't like larger yards like that because robbing can get fierce while working the bees in a dearth period. Unless it is the major honey flow time smaller yards always seem to do better and are easier to work with.
Thanks for the vid! Do you ever worry in the spring equalizing frames from one hive to another that the queen in the receiver hive could be attacked by the donor frame bees? If not, is there a threshold (i.e., adding 8 frames to a 2 frame small hive) or is none of that relevant in the spring?
I'm sure there is a limit. The more you add the greater the risk. We don't add more brood than the size of the receiving colony and if we add a lot we may splash a little syrup around to lessen the risk.
@@bobbinnie9872 may I ask another question? My bees are in 2 boxes, how important is you setup to rearrange thing such that all/most activity is in the bottom box after equalization? Some of my hives have 3 on top and 2 on the bottom. Does that matter? Is it better to move all brood to the bottom and if so, why?
@@theoeicher It is important to move as much brood as possible to the bottom for swarm control because it helps if the colony has a sense of empty space above to expand into.
Seems odd I know but we do it all the time and rarely have problems. The occasions you have to be careful are when the bees are very defensive such as when they are robbing badly. If in doubt you can spray a light mist of very light sugar syrup on them.
Great video! Will the 6 frames of brood four weeks out from your main honey flow give you around 60,000 bees for max production? Im trying to hit that 60,000 number for my main flow which is typically the middle of June in eastern Nebraska. I think I’m off on my calculations as I’m coming up with 8-10 frames of brood 5 weeks from the flow since those will be the bees working the flow.
Thank you! I appreciate your videos and the answers to mine and everyone else’s questions. I’m really learning a lot from your videos and I appreciate the time you put in taking and editing the videos.
Thanks for sharing all this Bob. One question out of curiosity, with all your bee sites, who's land are you typically setting down on? Is it some form of forestry company, national park, private land? Land access is one of the biggest issues we seem to face down here in Australia
@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks Bob, sounds the same down here and it's something I need to do more of I think. All the best to you and thanks again for sharing your knowledge
Bob, another question? If you come into a yard that is way to strong and the average number of brood frames are 7 or 8, do you then make some splits or nucs? Probably not a bad problem but you don't want your bees in the trees either.
Exactly. The yard in this video was unique because there were lots of small ones to equalize into. Many of our yards are full of colonies like the double deeps you saw in this video and we cut all of them back to a level we think is appropriate for that time or date. That is how we generate most of the nucs we sell.
I have read that you need to give bees from a different colony time to get used to each other (like using newspaper to combine hives), but you seem to be just taking frames of bees from one hive and putting them in another hive. Is it just because it's early in the season or can you do this anytime? Thanks in advance. Great videos!
We do it all the time. The only time we have trouble is if the bees are defensive because of robbing or other problems. If we are combining boxes of bees we will splash a little syrup around with the hose nozzle you saw in this video. After they're done licking each other off they're all sisters.
Bob Binnie at Blue Ridge Honey Company I have been learning a lot from the few videos I’ve watched. I was shaking my brood frames (vigorously, not violently) when moving them to a different colony. Not doing this seems like a time saver and potentially bee saver. Thanks!
Hello Bob, thanks for the great videos! I live just southwest of Atlanta in Fayetteville GA near Peachtree City. I have about 20 hives and am trying to get them to peak right after the main honey flow starts. I was wondering if you know when the main flow starts in my area? You said up in north Ga where you are at it is early April. Also does this year (2021) seem to be on schedule or a little behind with the colder weather we've had in January and February?
The main nectar flow in Lakemont starts around the third week in April and my guess is you would be ten days to two weeks earlier than that. So far it seems like it could be a few days late but that can change easily.
Please correct me where I am wrong. Typical brood box set up - pollen frames next to brood nest, then, honey past that = 1 honey, 2 pollen - 6 brood frames, 9 pollen, 10 honey - but your saying put the honey next to brood and the pollen to the walls to equalize Apriori the flow in double deeps?
Hi Joe. Without watching the video I can't remember exactly what I said but I like to see pollen frames next to the brood unless they are growing very rapidly and are bring in pollen in which case I may choose to put an empty comb next to the brood and then the pollen frame. Bees don't move pollen around so it either needs to be close to the brood or be coming in. They can move honey needed. If the colony is in two boxes putting the honey above mixed with empty combs works well also. Things change rapidly in the spring and what may be appropriate one time may not be the next.
I envy those gentle bees. I got queens that where mated in Georgia, and i can open them up frame by frame without a suit if im careful. But any colony mated in Texas would be tearing yall up. I gota go full beesuit and gloves. Im goin to try intrumentaly inseminating my stock using bees mated out of state. It so pleasant to work bees bear handed
We're using a FloJet ,12 volt, 6 gpm pump with with a 40 pd switch installed. We buy them from David Farrer at Depco Pump Co. in Florida. 727 446 1656.
I used to literally knock on doors if I found good spots. I was told no a lot but occasionally I would get a yes. These days they seem to be mostly offered to me because I've become well known in the community.
In this case yes. Often we do both at the same time if there are more bees than we want the colonies to have at that point. Whenever we make quantities of splits we try to leave the original colonies equal.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks for the response, Bob. So you would’ve been making splits from the doubles if you didn’t have the new singles to strengthen. Correct? Also, it seems like you were equalizing to approx 6 frames of brood 2 weeks prior to the nectar flow - as opposed to 5 frames brood 4 weeks prior to the flow? I think that’s how you arranged your parent colonies in the splitting video.
Do you ever find that marking them then releasing them immediately gets a bad reaction from the bees i.e. they don't like her smell? Or is that a myth?
We vaporize OA. I have used the dribble method in the past and it seemed to be harder on the bees. It was especially noticeable if done two times or more close together.
you add deeps to over wintered singles. why not just equalize and add supers. Maybe move the queen and split the over populated deeps and add cells to the deeps? Do you split the double deeps later in the spring?
What you're suggesting would definitely work. We generally prefer double deeps for our production colonies and in this yard we were taking advantage of the opportunity to move in that direction before the spring honey flow. When you see so many singles in our videos they are usually spring nucs that are grown to be a good single by late June in time for the Sourwood flow. Yards of overwintered double deeps always give us many nucs while still being strong enough for the spring honey flow. Thanks for the question, it reminds me that in the future I want to do a video on singles vs doubles.
Yea I would love for you to give the entire process with timing. Going from single to double to split back to single. I get there is no wrong way and equipment can be an issue but I will try your process. Im looking at growing in a few years in Asheville. Last year I made a zillion queens but want to build more hives when I have the space. I'm pushing it here with 30 in the hood.
Bob i am a first year beekeeper and need some advice. I have two hives i think i made a mistake. I put honey supers over my single deep brood boxes now bulk of honey is on medium frames. What do i do to leave adequate honey for winter? I added the second deep to each hive.
You can feed thin sucrose syrup (1.3 water to 1 sugar) to get them to draw out new foundation if you don't have a nectar flow. I just put up a new video "Mating Yard Update" that shows results on that near the end.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks Bob for your prompt reply! I am in New Brunswick. Canada and i don't think my girls will have time to make enough honey for the winter.I was thinking more about how i can get the honey from the medium frames to the deep brood boxes. There is adequate honey in the medium supers to last the winter! Rookie mistake i guess! Thanks in advance, stay safe#
I use this method frequently on my established hives in the spring to prevent swarming. I purchased several packages this spring to replace winter loss and the honey flow is on in NC. Would I benefit from taking 3-4 frames of brood from one package to build up another package to increase honey production? I know one big hive makes more honey than 2 small hives. Thanks Bob
@@bobbinnie9872thank you! I came across your sourwood video after I posted that comment. I think I’ve watched it a few times in the past haha. I’d love to see a video on why you can equalize frames without issues, but if you stack a queenless brood box on another hive, you need to separate them with newspaper. Maybe the newspaper isn’t needed even though I’ve always combined hives with that method. Thanks for all the info
@@ZoysiaRUs I know newspaper works good. We often splash syrup on the queenless unit and perhaps a bit in between before combining. Always had good luck with that.
Yes. As long as they have ample pollen and feed and plenty of young nurse bees they can raise a decent queen. If you remove the sealed queen cells at four days you will only have cells left that were started from larvae two days old or less. Feeding light sugar syrup during the cell building period will also help with quality.
@@bobbinnie9872 thank you for the reply. I purchased a 5 frame nuc May 15th (I'm in Reva, Va.). As of today, they've completely built comb on 2 more frames and started on a third. I built a horizontal hive so they have plenty of room. I anticipate them being strong enough next year to split however I don't think they'll swarm or even build queen cells because they have ample room to grow and the queen is young (blue dot). I want to get another colony started next year in a standard deep box because the horizontal is hard to work with. Hence, my initial question. I intend to pull 5 frames from the horizontal in May of next year for the new deep box. I do not plan on taking any honey from them at all this year and still feed them sugar syrup to supplement. I was unable to get in a class this year due to the virus. Your videos have been so helpful. I can't say thank you enough. I know you're super busy, so there is no need to respond unless you think what I'm doing is not going to work. If you have time let me know. God bless.
@@Linux-user Colonies generally begin building emergency cells between 8 and 24 hours after becoming queen-less. I don't know if you can stop them if they have larvae to build cells with. Most often they choose larvae that are around 48 hours old but occasionally they will use larvae that are a bit older. These are the ones that will be already sealed on the fourth day and are the ones to get rid of provided you have some that are unsealed.
If there is burr comb between the boxes with drone larvae in them we would see mites on the larvae. Mites prefer drone brood and they would definitely be visible if they had very many.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you! I'm planning to give them treatment in April when all the nucs arrive. I had 8 hives, we had 5 cold waves, each cold wave killed each hive, all my bees buddies said I have mites but I don't see any mites on their bodies or deformed wings. I don't want to do alcohol test to kill my bees either. 😫 I gave them honey b healthy n amino b booster n bee pro mixed sugar water. Have you tried that? Bees became agitating, fighting, robbing each other. Driving me crazy 🤪 😩 😫
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you for a fast reply. I'm trying to figure out what kind of bees I had in the 80's it was the original hive was left behind from a keeper that keep bees on my father farm. I split it a dozen times. They where a small black bee with hard to see stripes. Till one November day I checked on them and a bear destroyed them all.
I understand in this video you had a lot to go though but when you kill bees by not really being gentle, don’t those bees give off pheromones making them mad?
@@bobbinnie9872 ok. Another question, I just started bee keeping in April, removed a hive from a in ground water meter box. The colony had a mixture of honey and capped brood. I rubber banded in 5 frames of said comb into the nuc box. Never found a queen sifting through the comb. Left the box there overnight and installed a new queen the day later, took the box home at night. My question is; when the queen is freed, will she be tempted to leave because there might be minimal room for her to lay? I plan on removing some of those frames and adding wax covered foundation. Is that the right thing to do? Appreciate your response.
I don't where gloves either. I'm in South Florida so I get stung every once in a while. They itching after the sting is what bothers me. If I put baking soda paste on right away I don't swell at all
I think this is still my favorite TH-cam video. The information provided, the way it’s presented, made something click in my head a couple years ago when I first watched it.
Makes me want to get beekeeping already, but also, when you crack those doubles I sweat with a little bit of stress ! Lol
I was thinking of you Canadians the other day and how much difference there is in our spring. Sometimes I wish our winter was longer. Our winter projects never seem to get finished.
Bob Binnie at Blue Ridge Honey Company
Lol! Neither do mine ha ha ha
Well I live in North Romania and folowing you both I can tell that the weather here is closer to what Bob gets over there.
Hell of a job you are doing in the North Ian too. Solid advice from you both inspired me a lot!
Hi Bob. I've just found your channel and enjoy the content you present . You have a new subscriber from Australia....Many thanks. I hope you have a great honey season .
Thanks
My wife and I are newbies and we pick up our nuc tomorrow. Thank you so much for the content. It really helps give me an idea as to what I'm getting in to. It can be a bit overwhelming
Good luck and have fun.
Thanks Bob for your videos. We really enjoy watching how you do things.
Thank you.
Really enjoyed your video. I’m a new subscriber and look forward seeing your progress throughout the season.
Thank you.
Great videos I look forward to your videos. Lot of knowledge was going to the honey Convention to hear you speak. I live in Indiana . Run 25 hives. Thank you for all your help. Keep videos coming
I was looking forward to the convention. Perhaps next year.
Just found your channel Bob thanks for the great content!
Welcome!
Great video keep them coming Bob Thanks,
Than you
Thanks Bob!! Another great vidoe!!
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing valuable video🐝🐝
Thanks for the Great Content!!! More Please : )
Thank you very much for this video
Thanks for the great content. Very informative and appreciated.
Thanks.
Bob Binnie You make beekeeping look easy but it is hard work even when you have a handful of boxes.
I like to say it's a little like digging ditches with a bee suit on.
Great video on equalizing!!!show's neebies how its done .🐝safe and keep your smoker lit!!!
Konrad
Thanks
learned a lot. thank you.
Good information. Y’all make it Look easy working as a crew.
Thanks
New sub. Thanks for sharing. I’ll be able to get into mine soon, I’m in NE Ohio.
Ohio is a different world from us. (to cold for me)
Great video, great job👌
Thanks.
Great video, can't wait till we start working with our bees 👌🐝🐝
Thanks.
This video was very helpful to me and I thankyou for making this video I wish u would make more on the management of the hives that u do just every thing u do it is just great I have watched every one of your videos I love watching videos on beekeeping but I want the people that know what they are really doing and u really do I watched uog honey bee research center all there videos as well they were great but they don't make any more what make the videows so wonderful u explain what u are doing as u go any way thank you so very much do u checker board or any thing like that thanks for every thing.. I hope u keep the videos coming I am one of your biggest fans thanks and have a wonderful day I live in Virginia
Hi Frances. I didn't know UOG stopped making videos. To bad, they are good. We do checker board occasionally for swarm control measures. It depends on how strong a colony is. We do it with colonies we feel are to strong leading up to a flow. It works a lot better with drawn comb than it does with foundation. I'm glad you like the videos. Thanks.
Was looking forward to meeting you at the Knoxville Honey Convention but of course it has been canceled. Equalizing hives I find is never talked about in detail in any of the bee meetings that I attend in Maryland and Pennsylvania, in my opinion it is a management technique that should be taught more at bee conferences and meetings. Your video said the you are going to put two extracting supers on the hive, are they used to feed the hive or to let the hive fill them with honey? I have grown my apiary into a sideliner business I would like for you to do a video on how you inspect and manage 50 hives or more at that level , I am shore their is a big difference between a Backyard beekeeper inspection and sideliner inspection. I appreciate all the videos that you make.
We like to put empty honey supers on early if the colony is strong to simply keep the bees from feeling congested and these colonies will be strong in just a few weeks. As you grow your colony numbers you will be learning shortcuts. It really all comes down to experience. You won't have time to spend on every little thing and you'll need to manage things with a look to the future, like equalizing. I will remember your suggestion for a video. Thanks.
If the apiary is safe from diseases, you can apply the method of rearranging the frames. Since spring I have been giving points to bee colonies 1 to 5 or 1 to 3. Then, before the honey harvest, I massively swap the brood. In practice, the ratio of the two frames works well. This means that from the strong one we take 2 - the printed (closed brood at the exit), and from the weak open bee brood. And we swap places. The method works 100% as a warning. But the main thing is to prevent swarming. If the family has entered a swarming state, other methods are needed. If there is any doubt about the presence of infectious diseases, you need to apply another method. Or mark frames with a marker to avoid negative consequences
Great video again Bob. Do you install a electric fence around all your yards? You must use solar power? I'm too close to Ian to have any bees flying yet, so these videos gives me hope we may get some warm weather soon.
Hi Russell. Out of 42 locations 10 don't have electric fences and we gamble on those 10 because they're close in town or next to a major highway. We have bears everywhere. We use solar panels on most of our fences.
Hello Mr. Binnie. Thank you for Taking the time to make these great well-thought-out videos.
I was wondering what drives your preferance of 32 to 40 hives per yard. Is that solely based upon what the area around your average yard can sustain?
It's our happy medium when considering efficiency for travel, ease of work and good pasture for the bees. When we get past 48 it feels like we're beginning to have to many bees for their forage. Sort of like to many cows on a pasture. If the main honey flow is good it doesn't matter but if the pickings are slim it does. Large yards can also be very unpleasant if robbing gets started. It feels good at 32 to 40 colonies but I have to admit that most of our yards are 48 with a few even bigger. We just don't ever seem to have enough yards.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you for the reply Sir
Great video, you mention that you use oxalic acid twice, one time in December as we saw in the other videos, but when do you do the second one?
We actually do it twice while they are brood-less in winter. The first round gets 90% to 95% and the next round gets 90% of what's left.
good video
Thank you.
What's your magic number of Brood you left in Donor hive with a month before flow? Looked like 5 frames of Brood or so? This one of toughest things for me to figure out is how many to leave it seems , some just do better ..Good Video Bob AS ALWAYS!!!
We left 6 frames in these colonies at 4 weeks out. That's pushing it, 5 frames might have been better. That's one of the reasons we'll begin supering early.
Hey Bob I really respect your opinion and the reason I asked this question out here in California we are experiencing massive smoke do you think this is going to have an effect on getting my queens mated? I’m a bit worried! Just wanted to here what you have to say.
Hi Scott. A few years ago we had some yards experiencing heavy smoke from a nearby fire and I noticed that foraging and activity in general slowed way down. I wouldn't be surprised if you have mating problems with heavy smoke.
Great video. Thanks. Do you get good honey production from all 30+ hives in a single location?
Yes. We're in a good area provided it doesn't rain to much.
1:38 look how well populated that single is 😳
Bob, you often talk about hive population peaking before/after the flow. Can you explain the dynamics and how you do that calculation? Thanks!
It's an educated guess for me and depends on conditions. Are they low on pollen and food stores which will slow them down? Or are they fat and sassy and moving full steam ahead? I'm sure one could create some sort of equation but I just go with what feels right at the moment. 40 years ago a true master beekeeper I knew told me it takes 4 frames of bees 8 weeks to peak in population if conditions are favorable and I've found this to be true. In this video you see I left 6 frames of brood of varying sizes one month out and they will be fairly strong when the flow starts. As a swarm control measure it could be pushing it if the flow starts late and there could be extra swarming issues. If a colony gets into a honey flow without preparing to swarm, and it has the room to store it, more times than not they will forget about swarming and settle in to making honey. I know this probably isn't the answer you were expecting but I don't know how to say it better.
Do you feed pollen patties in the Winter or use a pollen sub feeder in Feb-Mar to get your hives to brood up that much before your flow starts?
Hi Don. We do not use use pollen supplement often. We have pollen beginning in late Feb. or early March in this area which seems to be early enough to accomplish what we need. We may use it in July or August in a drought year or in late winter on small colonies to maintain brood rearing to get them through.
Good Morning, Mr Binnie. When you equalize, do shake the bees into the original hive? Or do you place the brood frame with the bees into the weaker hive?
We move the bees along with the brood.
How many frames of brood must have a double deep colony at the peak?
Great videos ,👍
Highly variable. If there was only brood on the frames, and not extra honey and pollen, it would probably fit on ten frames or less.
How much nectar do they put in the brood nest vs the "early" supers? As you know from your time in the PNW, we get big leaf and vine maple in April/May, weather permitting, here in WA state. Some years they don't put nectar in the supers, but seem to raise brood on it, and some they fill supers, but we have to feed before blackberry in June/July
It seems the early nectar generally goes where the brood is. When that need is satisfied it starts to show up in the supers. The reason we put supers on early is so the bees don't feel congested. This early supering to helps with swarm control.
Hi Bob. Very good video learning alot of good information from you. My question is when you put the honey supers after this equalizing.
We try to put supers on ten days to two weeks before the nectar flow starts.
@@bobbinnie9872 thank you for the answer
Bow have another question. Whats your opinion on drone trap frames ?
@@deyvidtsenov3472 They can help a lot as long as you are on time and consistent.
Great videos 👍. You have hive feeders but filling the jars? Why?
All of our lids have that hole for feeding and all our double deeps have an inside feeder. I knew we wouldn't be back for awhile and they were probably light. Sometimes we'll actually use a bucket along with the inside feeder.
Are you using Queen excluders for your honey production of you don't mind the queens moving through the hive?
With single story brood chambers we do use excluders and with double deeps we rarely do. We do get a little brood in the supers with the double deeps, but not enough to want us to use excluders there.
Do the holes in the center of the lids leak when it rains or when snow is melting? I would like to do that for the simplicity it lends to feeding. Also i use polystyrene hives, this could complicate the idea.
The hole is a snug fit and the bees tend to seal it with propolis.
Are you using frame feeders and jars simultaneously?
Great video, thanks
There are times when we do if a colony is too light but generally we use one or the other.
What make the decision to use frame feeder or jars ? Why would you not use one or the other?
I have seen drone frames in your hives in several of your videos. Do they stay in year round. Can you tell us newbees your views and reason. I enjoy your videos tips and tricks.
We try and put one in each colony if we can and two in a double deep is OK. If you don't provide the bees a place to rear drone brood they will create a place. I once read that some colonies can build up to 17% of their comb in drone and if they don't have a place to do it they will carve a place out in any comb or on any foundation. If you look closely at our videos you will see that we have relatively little drone brood in our worker comb frames. We like this for a variety of reasons. We sell a lot of nucs and we want our customers to feel like they are getting decent comb without excessive drone comb. In late winter and very early spring the colonies are not rearing drones but if there is excessive drone comb in the middle of the brood nest they will have to keep that space warm also, along with the worker brood they are raising. Also, if you run ten frames in your brood boxes as we do, any drone brood (which sticks out farther) can potentially effect the frame next to it creating a space that is void of brood. You'll notice we generally keep these frames next to the wall. When the bees are ready to rear drones they will absolutely move over and use them. If not they become a frame of honey.
@@bobbinnie9872 many thanks for your answer. Keeping up your great information is helping all of us so much.
Hello Mr Bob,
Can you please show how and when you add suppers , space to expand the brood nest . Do you take brood frames from the bottom to the suppers and put foundations in their place ?
Thank you
Hello Iahcen. If you have double deep colonies such as the ones shown in this video, that strong, you should put all the brood possible in the bottom box and put any empty comb left in the middle of the second box and then add your supers. If the colony is strong this is best done a week or two before the main nectar flow begins. You could put some brood frames just above the double deeps if you have to much. If you lift brood several boxes over the brood nest be aware that they could start queen cells up there because of the separation. Some people do this on purpose.
Hello Bob, yes I have Langstoth double deeps, what I've meant , is how do you manage your frames once the bottom box is full and you need to add the second brood box? Do you take one or 2 frames of brood from the bottom to the second brood box and replace them with foundation to make bees build new frames or you put the second brood box without doing any frame's manipulation.
What I do, when the bottom box , single box, is full , I add the second box on top with 1 or 2 frames of brood taken from the bottom , I replace them with foundation , and fill the second box with foundation and empty combs . That's make them build fast .
I don't know if it is the fastest way to make them grow .
@@lahcenajar7489 I do what you do. We call that "baiting" the second box. Even one frame helps. If I have any drawn comb on hand we will use that also.
Hi Bob,how would you describe peak for carniolan bees(in terms of brood,population etc)Thanks again
Pure carniolans definitely have a smaller peak population than Italians but in our area they perform just as well overall as a unit. They keep their brood area more compact and together and don't spread brood all over the place. They store more honey in the brood boxes which can make it seem that they make less because there isn't as much in the supers. Personally, I prefer this trait.
Also in a pretty bad dearth bees are very hungry right now I have 21 colonies and expanding as my experience grows. I’m open feeding and going through a lot of sugar. When do you quite feeding syrup or what are you usually looking for? Thank you again
Here in north Georgia we are currently (August 24) feeding thin syrup ( 1.3 parts water to1 part sugar) to keep our bees somewhat stimulated and healthy. We're not trying to put on an excessive amount of weight yet because we don't want the colonies to run out of room to brood during the golden rod bloom. As late summer progresses into fall and then early winter we thicken our syrup some and finally get them really heavy just before they stop rearing brood. I know a lot of reputable beekeepers open feed but I never really cared for it because it can be hard on the bees unless you give them plenty of room at the trough so they don't fuss and fight with each other. Good luck with the smoke.
Bob, how soon prior to your main flow do you start feeding sugar and pollen? Is it once every two weeks for six weeks? Also, do you use any kind of stimulants? Grateful.
That would be a highly variable answer. If a colony has plenty of food I may choose not to feed anything at all. I rarely use products to stimulate but do occasionally use them for the health benefits and to keep sugar syrup from fermenting in warm weather.
What do you prefer to do with strong singles when the flow is over and colonies are on their peak,to ad medium on top(single,deep) or make nuc,some split?thanks
We use some of our singles to continue splitting and some may get fed to build out another deep box. Others will start a steady preparation for winter.
In determining the number of colonies for an area would I account for undeveloped land around me that is not my own? I have 6 of my own 15 of my neighbors that she keeps as "prairie" plus about another 20 of woods.
When I establish yards I take a two mile radius into consideration.
@@bobbinnie9872 thank you. So I'm guessing 32 to 40 would be my ultra max on my property. To do additional yards I would need to talk to family, friends and neighbors outside the 2 mile zone.
And always grow with the bees. If you can t manage 4 you can't manage 40 or 400.
I'm sure this post is becoming email worthy at this point. Thank you again.
There will be a great discovery in beekeeping. If they begin to mark the queen bee with substances that are quickly found by sensors - scanners. Quickly scanned and found a queen bee
This was a good video u did a wonderful job when u put the frames of brood in the hives with the bees on them to strengthen the hives do they fight I have massive hives 16 frames of brood in them how many can I take out and still get a honey flow thanks I live in virginia
We rarely have fighting and if it occurs it's usually when colonies are very defensive, like during a robbing frenzy. If we're worried about fighting we will dribble a little syrup on the top bars with the feeding nozzle seen in this video. They're all sisters when they start cleaning up the mess. You could also use a spray bottle with light syrup to lightly spray the bees if you are concerned. But again we rarely have a problem.
There is usually an equation with brood removal and honey production that has to do with size and timing. In this video you saw us leave 6 frames of brood of varying sizes with the flow 4 weeks out. These colonies will definitely make honey if the flow is decent. 4 frames would make honey too, just not as much. If the time is closer to the flow we leave more, if it's farther away we leave less. We don't want them to peak to soon.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank u so much for responding.. keep the videos coming they are great and thanks again
@@bobbinnie9872 Bob, wdo you have a feel for what the strategy might have been if you were running all 8 frames mediums for brood boxes?
@@mocarp1 I have a friend that runs three eight frame mediums as a brood nest and is very successful.
Hi!! Can i use the queen excluder to help me prevent swarming? when the colonie makes 8 frames of brood, i take 2 of them and put them above of the excluder. I do that every week, about 3 times, at the period of swarming of course. Does it helps? Thanks
Yes, that would help, as long as you're able to put frames with drawn comb back in the bottom. I've done that sort of thing with foundation before and found it i didn't have as much of the desired affect as drawn comb.
I love your videos very informative and thorough! I do have a question, what size hole saw do you use for cutting your lids to fit the small mouth lids?
It's an odd size. It's just slightly larger than 2 3/4 inch. Some people swell out a 2 3/4 hole saw. I had a custom carbide cutter made because we cut so many.
I use a 2 3/4 inch inch also with some sandpaper by hand to make the lid fit in smoothly. I get my lids from a brand of spaghetti sauce that has a one piece lid instead of the mason jar 2 pc system. 2-3 minutes of sanding is all the hole needs with 40 grit sandpaper, so for a small beek it works.
Thank y’all for the reply’s, it’s darn near impossible to find a 2-13/16 bit that’s reasonably priced. I’ll give the 2-3/4 a shot.
An “adjustable hole cutter” works really well on wood. The one I use ranges from 2”-7”. Can be used in drill press or milling machine. I hope this helps.
@@chriskelley8304 80 grit sandpaper wrapped around 1 1/2" dowel rod works well for touch-up sanding. I use a electric spindle sander. Another option if you are making several feeder lids is purchase s sanding drum that will chuck into a drill. It doesn't take much sanding...you can make it too large an opening real quick.
When you put the first floor and feed the bees, does it affect the honey, or the honeycomb you haven’t put it on yet, and the floor and the first floor do not remove the honey from them?🙏🙏🙏🙏
We stop feeding one to two weeks before putting our honey boxes on and have not had a problem with sugar getting in our honey.
Bob, I've scrolled through the comments below looking to see if someone already asked but didn't find it. My apologies if this is a duplication. How often do you equalize, or rather, for which events annually to do you equalize? In this video, you're equalizing for the Spring nectar flow. I imagine you would similarly equalize late Summer/early Fall to prepare the colonies to overwinter. Perhaps you also equalize for a late season nectar flow? What other events, if any, do you equalize, and how many equalizations do you average annually? Or do you instead equalize during every bee yard inspection rather than prepping for a particular event? Thanks.
Hi Charles. All of the above and more. We will boost a smaller colony with frames of brood or honey anytime we think it can benefit us. We refer to them as assets when we're working. We even do things like take brood from colonies that have swarmed, knowing that they won't bounce back until after the flow is over, and give it to strong colonies to make them even stronger going into the flow. We are constantly moving brood around for many reasons. Think outside the box.
@@bobbinnie9872 I checked all my colonies over the warm December weekend here in NC and I've never had such consistently strong colonies going in to Winter. I equalized my entire apiary back in August. They're doing so well I felt the need to come back to thank you for all the content you've created. I've read about equalization and watched other videos over the years, but your video and detail of explanation was what I needed to hear, when I needed to hear it, and in a way I needed to see and hear it. There are other nuances within your videos that prove helpful as well and would be lost if only in written form - things that are normally only attainable while working directly with an experienced beekeeper. I greatly appreciate your willingness to help the beekeeping community at large learn and grow. Your content has really proven helpful.
@@charlesfleming6418 Thank you Charles.
I have been wondering if it was okay to just pick up the queen. Now I know. What type of marker do you use?
We use "Posca" brand markers as seen in the Mann Lake and Dadant catalogs.
Bob, how would you describe the “ honey bee colony PEAK” ? I am after understanding how “bees PEAK” look like as an amount of bees or an amount of brood frames in a hive. Thank you for your time and very informative videos !!
The hatch off that occurs just after the queen reaches peak laying capacity. Another, simpler way would be when you reach two deeps packed (boiling) with bees.
@@bobbinnie9872 does it mean if I would replace several brood frames with empty frames to add a space for a queen to lay I would slow down the peak time ?
@@FlorinaDarr Yes, this is also the concept of taking out a split to curtail swarming.
@@bobbinnie9872 thank you for your quick responses that help me a lot. I am from Rocky Mount VA and with this year cold Spring we still have a few hours of 58- 62 F for me to open hives. I am ready to split a several of my strong hives ( 8 brood frames ) for a Nuc with out an extra queen ( to give a future Nuc a frame with some eggs) using your method . I am concerned about a temperature not being constantly warm . Am I rushing in your opinion?
Great video! So, you put 6 frames of brood and 2 pollen frames. What were in the other 2 frames?
Honey if we have it. Any empty frames, if we have some, would go in the top box.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks so much! Also, I'm wondering if you equalize this time of year too. Do you strive for a general # of brood, # of frames of bees, etc. you like to have in a hive this time of year? I'm not sure what a hive population should look like going into fall and winter to maximize survival rates and minimize swarm rates in spring. I'm in zone 7, so we are seeing snow on the prairie. The goldenrod and ragweed are starting to bloom now. Thanks for all your videos too! As a new beekeeper, I have learned so much from you!
@@brandisurber1684 We are also in zone seven and a healthy, well fed colony, with a good, young queen and low mite count generally will get by with five to seven frames of young bees going into winter. Some will survive with less and some need more. We have a lot of Carniolan stock which will get by on less. Yes we do equalize this time of year to achieve the minimum numbers needed as long as there are larger colonies to take from.
Thanks for the info please keep them coming. Is it okay to mix bees from one colony with another?
Yes, we do it all the time and don't have problems unless there is a robbing frenzy going on or something else that makes them excessively defensive.
@@bobbinnie9872 so you don't shake the bees off before adding frames from a different colony? I thought I saw that but I always thought they would fight
We usually leave the bees on the frames we add and generally have little trouble. We may also shake in extra bees from open brood frames (young nurse bees) if we think they need them. If they're really thick on a frame we're moving we may shake a few off to help insure we don't miss the queen. If the bees are in an extra defensive mood you could lightly mist them with water or light syrup to insure they don't fight. We will occasionally dribble a little syrup in the hive from the feed nozzle seen in this video to accomplish this.
Great video Mr. Binnie! 32 to 40, with some at 48; is there a reason you choose to limit your yard sized that way? Be interesting to hear your thoughts on why those ranges work best for you vs the problems with fewer and the problems with more hives in a yard.
With some cases it has to do with the space available to lay the yard out, in others it may have to do with the forage available. We have a few yards that are only 24 because there's limited fall pollen plants like Goldenrod. At one time many of our yards were 64 because that is what fit on a truck and we were moving a lot. Although it's more efficient for travel I don't like larger yards like that because robbing can get fierce while working the bees in a dearth period. Unless it is the major honey flow time smaller yards always seem to do better and are easier to work with.
@@bobbinnie9872That gives me much better insight. Thank you for the response!
Thanks for the vid! Do you ever worry in the spring equalizing frames from one hive to another that the queen in the receiver hive could be attacked by the donor frame bees? If not, is there a threshold (i.e., adding 8 frames to a 2 frame small hive) or is none of that relevant in the spring?
I'm sure there is a limit. The more you add the greater the risk. We don't add more brood than the size of the receiving colony and if we add a lot we may splash a little syrup around to lessen the risk.
@@bobbinnie9872 may I ask another question? My bees are in 2 boxes, how important is you setup to rearrange thing such that all/most activity is in the bottom box after equalization? Some of my hives have 3 on top and 2 on the bottom. Does that matter? Is it better to move all brood to the bottom and if so, why?
@@theoeicher It is important to move as much brood as possible to the bottom for swarm control because it helps if the colony has a sense of empty space above to expand into.
@@bobbinnie9872 I really appreciate your help!!
So, you have no problems transferring frames with brood and Bees on them to other hives?
Seems odd I know but we do it all the time and rarely have problems. The occasions you have to be careful are when the bees are very defensive such as when they are robbing badly. If in doubt you can spray a light mist of very light sugar syrup on them.
Great video! Will the 6 frames of brood four weeks out from your main honey flow give you around 60,000 bees for max production? Im trying to hit that 60,000 number for my main flow which is typically the middle of June in eastern Nebraska.
I think I’m off on my calculations as I’m coming up with 8-10 frames of brood 5 weeks from the flow since those will be the bees working the flow.
With six frames of brood a colony should reach its top population in approximately five weeks, depending on weather, feed, etc.
Thank you! I appreciate your videos and the answers to mine and everyone else’s questions. I’m really learning a lot from your videos and I appreciate the time you put in taking and editing the videos.
Thanks for sharing all this Bob. One question out of curiosity, with all your bee sites, who's land are you typically setting down on? Is it some form of forestry company, national park, private land? Land access is one of the biggest issues we seem to face down here in Australia
All of our yards are on private property. If we see a spot we like we just stop and ask. And of course we get told no a lot.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks Bob, sounds the same down here and it's something I need to do more of I think. All the best to you and thanks again for sharing your knowledge
Bob, another question? If you come into a yard that is way to strong and the average number of brood frames are 7 or 8, do you then make some splits or nucs? Probably not a bad problem but you don't want your bees in the trees either.
Exactly. The yard in this video was unique because there were lots of small ones to equalize into. Many of our yards are full of colonies like the double deeps you saw in this video and we cut all of them back to a level we think is appropriate for that time or date. That is how we generate most of the nucs we sell.
Do you transfer bees too or do you shake them off
We transfer the bees too.
I have read that you need to give bees from a different colony time to get used to each other (like using newspaper to combine hives), but you seem to be just taking frames of bees from one hive and putting them in another hive. Is it just because it's early in the season or can you do this anytime? Thanks in advance. Great videos!
We do it all the time. The only time we have trouble is if the bees are defensive because of robbing or other problems. If we are combining boxes of bees we will splash a little syrup around with the hose nozzle you saw in this video. After they're done licking each other off they're all sisters.
Bob Binnie at Blue Ridge Honey Company I have been learning a lot from the few videos I’ve watched. I was shaking my brood frames (vigorously, not violently) when moving them to a different colony. Not doing this seems like a time saver and potentially bee saver. Thanks!
Hello Bob, thanks for the great videos! I live just southwest of Atlanta in Fayetteville GA near Peachtree City. I have about 20 hives and am trying to get them to peak right after the main honey flow starts. I was wondering if you know when the main flow starts in my area? You said up in north Ga where you are at it is early April. Also does this year (2021) seem to be on schedule or a little behind with the colder weather we've had in January and February?
The main nectar flow in Lakemont starts around the third week in April and my guess is you would be ten days to two weeks earlier than that. So far it seems like it could be a few days late but that can change easily.
@@bobbinnie9872 thank you!
Please correct me where I am wrong. Typical brood box set up - pollen frames next to brood nest, then, honey past that = 1 honey, 2 pollen - 6 brood frames, 9 pollen, 10 honey - but your saying put the honey next to brood and the pollen to the walls to equalize Apriori the flow in double deeps?
Hi Joe. Without watching the video I can't remember exactly what I said but I like to see pollen frames next to the brood unless they are growing very rapidly and are bring in pollen in which case I may choose to put an empty comb next to the brood and then the pollen frame. Bees don't move pollen around so it either needs to be close to the brood or be coming in. They can move honey needed. If the colony is in two boxes putting the honey above mixed with empty combs works well also. Things change rapidly in the spring and what may be appropriate one time may not be the next.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you for the reply, I think I understand.
I envy those gentle bees. I got queens that where mated in Georgia, and i can open them up frame by frame without a suit if im careful. But any colony mated in Texas would be tearing yall up. I gota go full beesuit and gloves. Im goin to try intrumentaly inseminating my stock using bees mated out of state. It so pleasant to work bees bear handed
I bought queens from Texas. Once.
Can you explain what kind of syrup pump you use? It sounds like it is electric. I’m looking for something simpler than a gas driven pump.
We're using a FloJet ,12 volt, 6 gpm pump with with a 40 pd switch installed. We buy them from David Farrer at Depco Pump Co. in Florida. 727 446 1656.
I suppose you have different bees there in the US? Here in South Africa I would not work in a hive without gloves. What is the name of your bees?
The bees in this video are Carniolan and Italian.
What was the temperature that day do you remember
I don't remember exactly but it was fairly cool.
Whats the best way for finding land for yards?
I used to literally knock on doors if I found good spots. I was told no a lot but occasionally I would get a yes. These days they seem to be mostly offered to me because I've become well known in the community.
Was this equalizing done in lieu of splitting? Had your overwintered doubles already been split?
In this case yes. Often we do both at the same time if there are more bees than we want the colonies to have at that point. Whenever we make quantities of splits we try to leave the original colonies equal.
@@bobbinnie9872
Thanks for the response, Bob.
So you would’ve been making splits from the doubles if you didn’t have the new singles to strengthen. Correct?
Also, it seems like you were equalizing to approx 6 frames of brood 2 weeks prior to the nectar flow - as opposed to 5 frames brood 4 weeks prior to the flow? I think that’s how you arranged your parent colonies in the splitting video.
Do you ever find that marking them then releasing them immediately gets a bad reaction from the bees i.e. they don't like her smell? Or is that a myth?
We've not noticed a problem.
Do you dribble or subordinate oa?
We vaporize OA. I have used the dribble method in the past and it seemed to be harder on the bees. It was especially noticeable if done two times or more close together.
you add deeps to over wintered singles. why not just equalize and add supers. Maybe move the queen and split the over populated deeps and add cells to the deeps? Do you split the double deeps later in the spring?
What you're suggesting would definitely work. We generally prefer double deeps for our production colonies and in this yard we were taking advantage of the opportunity to move in that direction before the spring honey flow. When you see so many singles in our videos they are usually spring nucs that are grown to be a good single by late June in time for the Sourwood flow. Yards of overwintered double deeps always give us many nucs while still being strong enough for the spring honey flow. Thanks for the question, it reminds me that in the future I want to do a video on singles vs doubles.
Yea I would love for you to give the entire process with timing. Going from single to double to split back to single. I get there is no wrong way and equipment can be an issue but I will try your process. Im looking at growing in a few years in Asheville. Last year I made a zillion queens but want to build more hives when I have the space. I'm pushing it here with 30 in the hood.
Can l do this in the fall to help winter build up?
Absolutely.
Thanks Bob
Bob i am a first year beekeeper and need some advice. I have two hives i think i made a mistake. I put honey supers over my single deep brood boxes now bulk of honey is on medium frames. What do i do to leave adequate honey for winter? I added the second deep to each hive.
You can feed thin sucrose syrup (1.3 water to 1 sugar) to get them to draw out new foundation if you don't have a nectar flow. I just put up a new video "Mating Yard Update" that shows results on that near the end.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks Bob for your prompt reply! I am in New Brunswick. Canada and i don't think my girls will have time to make enough honey for the winter.I was thinking more about how i can get the honey from the medium frames to the deep brood boxes. There is adequate honey in the medium supers to last the winter! Rookie mistake i guess! Thanks in advance, stay safe#
@Wayne Hollen Thanks Wayne, i have watched some of his videos#
I use this method frequently on my established hives in the spring to prevent swarming.
I purchased several packages this spring to replace winter loss and the honey flow is on in NC. Would I benefit from taking 3-4 frames of brood from one package to build up another package to increase honey production? I know one big hive makes more honey than 2 small hives.
Thanks Bob
I've done that type of thing many times, especially before our Sourwood flow.
@@bobbinnie9872thank you!
I came across your sourwood video after I posted that comment. I think I’ve watched it a few times in the past haha.
I’d love to see a video on why you can equalize frames without issues, but if you stack a queenless brood box on another hive, you need to separate them with newspaper. Maybe the newspaper isn’t needed even though I’ve always combined hives with that method. Thanks for all the info
@@ZoysiaRUs I know newspaper works good. We often splash syrup on the queenless unit and perhaps a bit in between before combining. Always had good luck with that.
I may try that as well!
How come I getting stung on my hands and y’all don’t? Did you smoked your hands before start remove lid?
We do occasionally get stung but our bees are fairly gentle so it's not much.
Okay, thanks. Just begin wonder.
Is it possible to make a split without a second queen? Will the queenless colony make a queen cell and raise their own queen?
Yes. As long as they have ample pollen and feed and plenty of young nurse bees they can raise a decent queen. If you remove the sealed queen cells at four days you will only have cells left that were started from larvae two days old or less. Feeding light sugar syrup during the cell building period will also help with quality.
@@bobbinnie9872 thank you for the reply. I purchased a 5 frame nuc May 15th (I'm in Reva, Va.). As of today, they've completely built comb on 2 more frames and started on a third. I built a horizontal hive so they have plenty of room. I anticipate them being strong enough next year to split however I don't think they'll swarm or even build queen cells because they have ample room to grow and the queen is young (blue dot). I want to get another colony started next year in a standard deep box because the horizontal is hard to work with. Hence, my initial question. I intend to pull 5 frames from the horizontal in May of next year for the new deep box. I do not plan on taking any honey from them at all this year and still feed them sugar syrup to supplement. I was unable to get in a class this year due to the virus. Your videos have been so helpful. I can't say thank you enough. I know you're super busy, so there is no need to respond unless you think what I'm doing is not going to work. If you have time let me know. God bless.
@@Linux-user Colonies generally begin building emergency cells between 8 and 24 hours after becoming queen-less. I don't know if you can stop them if they have larvae to build cells with. Most often they choose larvae that are around 48 hours old but occasionally they will use larvae that are a bit older. These are the ones that will be already sealed on the fourth day and are the ones to get rid of provided you have some that are unsealed.
what are you using for that smoke?
Pine straw and wood stove pellets.
@@bobbinnie9872 thanks for replying!
How can you tell by looking so quickly on top of surface to knowing that no mites?
If there is burr comb between the boxes with drone larvae in them we would see mites on the larvae. Mites prefer drone brood and they would definitely be visible if they had very many.
@@bobbinnie9872 Ohh...OK I'm going to open the drone brood to see any mites. I don't have a lot, should I check all of them? Thank you for sharing!
Sorry, this is Cindi Chan.
No need to check all of them but if you see any mites at all at this time of year know that they are only going to increase.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you! I'm planning to give them treatment in April when all the nucs arrive. I had 8 hives, we had 5 cold waves, each cold wave killed each hive, all my bees buddies said I have mites but I don't see any mites on their bodies or deformed wings. I don't want to do alcohol test to kill my bees either. 😫 I gave them honey b healthy n amino b booster n bee pro mixed sugar water. Have you tried that? Bees became agitating, fighting, robbing each other. Driving me crazy 🤪 😩 😫
Be nice if you would call out the breed of the bees.
Most of the colonies we currently have are Carniolan with some Italian and Caucasian. Next year at this we will have much more Caucasian.
@@bobbinnie9872
Thank you for a fast reply. I'm trying to figure out what kind of bees I had in the 80's it was the original hive was left behind from a keeper that keep bees on my father farm. I split it a dozen times. They where a small black bee with hard to see stripes. Till one November day I checked on them and a bear destroyed them all.
I understand in this video you had a lot to go though but when you kill bees by not really being gentle, don’t those bees give off pheromones making them mad?
Yes they can.
@@bobbinnie9872 ok. Another question, I just started bee keeping in April, removed a hive from a in ground water meter box. The colony had a mixture of honey and capped brood. I rubber banded in 5 frames of said comb into the nuc box. Never found a queen sifting through the comb. Left the box there overnight and installed a new queen the day later, took the box home at night. My question is; when the queen is freed, will she be tempted to leave because there might be minimal room for her to lay? I plan on removing some of those frames and adding wax covered foundation. Is that the right thing to do? Appreciate your response.
hi bob, why bees don't sting you? you're always gloveless, what is the secret?
No secret. We occasionally get stung but not too much.
I don't where gloves either. I'm in South Florida so I get stung every once in a while. They itching after the sting is what bothers me. If I put baking soda paste on right away I don't swell at all
SUBTİTLE PLS
Why do you feed the bees? Don't you fear to contaminate your honey with syrup?
No, we never feed in such a way that it can contaminate the honey.