I'm curious if you recommend to requeen at end of 2nd year? Or at end of 1st year? I'd heard good reasons for both. And I'd done the research and reading, but when you listen or read from people you can't tell if they are actually doing well or just repeating what they heard w/o proving it. It seems to me I should be listening to people like you with high overwintering survival rates more than others. Very cool videos. I never get tired of bees. Even right now I want to go in a colony.
I don't recommend a regular requeening at all. I get the idea, lower swarm tendency, higher brood production, but, that eliminates your ability to find supernatural queens. Requeen when necessary and split your hives every year. Take notes and propagate from your best bees. I think those things will go further toward a successful operation than regular requeening.
The surviving hives all have brood now. I wouldn't expect a queenless hive to survive around here. If they did they would be thin and desperate in the spring and without assistance by way of frames of brood and a mated queen, they'd die quickly. Sorry to be so blunt about it.
I got my first hive last Saturday from a friend of a friend. I didn't get any info on the bees at all. It's a small colony and extremely calm. There is brood hatching and some larvae but no eggs. There seem to some drone cells but not loads. Not much pollen but they are storing nectar and sugar syrup in old brood cells. The bees are leaving the hive with their wings open. 2 inspections and I can't find the Queen. Does it sound queen less? If I bought a queen and added her what's the worst that could happen? I want the bees to do well and am not worried about honey in my first year. Have one brood box with activity on 11 frames and one super on. Any advice gratefully received!! 😊🐝
Ellie Wiltshire, First make sure you see eggs or very young larvae... If you can't find any, there may be no queen. If you find eggs and if you have another box, you can take frames out and place half of them into the other box... Now here's the fun part. The box of bees that starts to roar will be the box without the queen. When you hear the difference between the two boxes you will be amazed. Now you have half the frames to deal with in the quiet box to find the queen.
Matt Peneguy Thanks ever so much. No evidence of eggs or small larvae. I could put some of the frames in another hive and listen up. Your experiment sounds interesting. Is it normal for them to be so calm without a queen? They have the best temperament.
Ellie Wiltshire, I don't know if a hopelessly queenless colony is more docile or not. But some of the people posting queen raising videos, where they deal with such hives, don't wear veils or gloves. So, I'd guess they wouldn't be any more defensive. If you are new to this (and you sound like you could be). It can be difficult to see the eggs, especially if it is new wax (and queens really like to lay in new wax). I have to use a high power flashlight and glasses sometimes (direct sunlight works great, but we have some trees that make it difficult). So she may still be in there. If you do end up getting a new queen, you may consider having her marked. It makes her easier to find, and you will know she hasn't swarmed or been superceded.
Matt Peneguy Thanks Matt. I'll keep looking for her and have another look for some eggs. Some of the comb is older and dark but just full of nectar and sugar syrup. Thank you so much for your advice. Am very grateful 🐝
Ellie Wiltshire I'm seeing a lot of nectar being backfilled in my brood boxes. I have taken some of those frames out to provide room for my queens to lay. If they fill all the available space with nectar and honey, the queen has nowhere to lay. That situation is called honey bound. And it is a possibility in your case, too. What I've done before is to take those frames out and replace them with new frames. I put the honey frames into a super and put it on top of the brood box. We went with all deep frames and it makes situations like that easier to deal with.
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had to re-queen this year for 2 hives...... it was a step back....... but all good..... thanks.... great vidio
Enjoy your mini vacation!
I'm curious if you recommend to requeen at end of 2nd year? Or at end of 1st year? I'd heard good reasons for both. And I'd done the research and reading, but when you listen or read from people you can't tell if they are actually doing well or just repeating what they heard w/o proving it. It seems to me I should be listening to people like you with high overwintering survival rates more than others.
Very cool videos.
I never get tired of bees. Even right now I want to go in a colony.
I don't recommend a regular requeening at all. I get the idea, lower swarm tendency, higher brood production, but, that eliminates your ability to find supernatural queens. Requeen when necessary and split your hives every year. Take notes and propagate from your best bees. I think those things will go further toward a successful operation than regular requeening.
Ur answer makes more sense. It does seem wasteful 2 purge Qs that R not bad. Thanks.
Do you have a recipe for your bee candy you would share. Thanx
hi good videos quick question what happens to a hive over winter if it goes into winter queenless ? please let me know thanks
The surviving hives all have brood now. I wouldn't expect a queenless hive to survive around here. If they did they would be thin and desperate in the spring and without assistance by way of frames of brood and a mated queen, they'd die quickly. Sorry to be so blunt about it.
@@BKBees yea thats why im askimg i had a couple die im northern illinois they were fed good to plenty of honey stored
What was the mite situation?
@@BKBees i did treat in sept i didnt see any i dont think when i tok the ded hive apart. would you see them still daed ?
I got my first hive last Saturday from a friend of a friend. I didn't get any info on the bees at all. It's a small colony and extremely calm. There is brood hatching and some larvae but no eggs. There seem to some drone cells but not loads. Not much pollen but they are storing nectar and sugar syrup in old brood cells. The bees are leaving the hive with their wings open. 2 inspections and I can't find the Queen. Does it sound queen less? If I bought a queen and added her what's the worst that could happen? I want the bees to do well and am not worried about honey in my first year. Have one brood box with activity on 11 frames and one super on. Any advice gratefully received!! 😊🐝
Ellie Wiltshire,
First make sure you see eggs or very young larvae... If you can't find any, there may be no queen. If you find eggs and if you have another box, you can take frames out and place half of them into the other box... Now here's the fun part. The box of bees that starts to roar will be the box without the queen. When you hear the difference between the two boxes you will be amazed. Now you have half the frames to deal with in the quiet box to find the queen.
Matt Peneguy Thanks ever so much. No evidence of eggs or small larvae. I could put some of the frames in another hive and listen up. Your experiment sounds interesting. Is it normal for them to be so calm without a queen? They have the best temperament.
Ellie Wiltshire, I don't know if a hopelessly queenless colony is more docile or not. But some of the people posting queen raising videos, where they deal with such hives, don't wear veils or gloves. So, I'd guess they wouldn't be any more defensive.
If you are new to this (and you sound like you could be). It can be difficult to see the eggs, especially if it is new wax (and queens really like to lay in new wax). I have to use a high power flashlight and glasses sometimes (direct sunlight works great, but we have some trees that make it difficult). So she may still be in there.
If you do end up getting a new queen, you may consider having her marked. It makes her easier to find, and you will know she hasn't swarmed or been superceded.
Matt Peneguy Thanks Matt. I'll keep looking for her and have another look for some eggs. Some of the comb is older and dark but just full of nectar and sugar syrup. Thank you so much for your advice. Am very grateful 🐝
Ellie Wiltshire I'm seeing a lot of nectar being backfilled in my brood boxes. I have taken some of those frames out to provide room for my queens to lay. If they fill all the available space with nectar and honey, the queen has nowhere to lay. That situation is called honey bound. And it is a possibility in your case, too.
What I've done before is to take those frames out and replace them with new frames. I put the honey frames into a super and put it on top of the brood box. We went with all deep frames and it makes situations like that easier to deal with.
First viewer!
Dirty Lens.