Beekeeping: Swarm Cells, Adding The Next Box & What's The Best Queen?

it's always the last hi that I work I mean I know that oh don't work that Hive first it's over all right when I take the green chair it's serious it's like captain's chair that means I have some questions I got to answer uh yeah when I take this chair it means that I got to make a video that's really uh I'm G to address that so this is going to be good hey everybody David Burns good to be with you I do love sitting out in the green chair under nice shade trees at our property and uh good opportunity I just got done working about U 20 plus hives and I mean working I didn't do m test but I went through frame by frame and some of them have 30 maybe I think one has 40 uh 40 frames in it you know like four boxes and I went through all of them and inspected like a be inspector would looking for uh any kind of problems how much uh re sources they have fruit eggs larv all that you know uh quality of the queen I also I found two of them that were queenless um I mean hopelessly queenless if that's a word you're not familiar with uh hopelessly queenless means no way they're going to make a queen no eggs in there they're just queenless so I was able to put some Queens in there get those kind of going and um I was um particularly looking for any kind of brood diseases like American fou brood European foul brood just making sure it all look good there that's something we all should always be mindful of um checking out the brood diseases and uh oh and I I was on the lookout for a small Hy Beetle because you know this beard by the way I'm going to answer some really important questions uh coming up um but this beard that I moved down there is in the shade last year I battled small high Beetle fingers crossed knock on wood I'll be right back that's a long reach all right I knocked on the wood wall um beetles were not bad at all today I kept track of how many Beetles I saw now there may be more but the ones that I saw and killed out of like 20 plus hives five beetles it's like wow they were beautiful the colonies are doing so well The Brood looks good I'm going to make some videos in a few days down there and you're going to love it so add a good time and uh I was proud of my back and my my strength uh some of those boxes were just uh terribly heavy and uh feeling pretty strong actually I'm thankful that I'm feeling good and feeling strong I'm 64 years old and uh I've kind of worked hard all my life stayed active all my life I was raised by a dad that taught me how to work hard and uh be a hard worker and I do enjoy staying stay busy my kids you know my boys especially grown boys will say man dad you're always doing something you're always busy working don't you just like to sit on a rest sometimes don't you just want to go see a movie and chill I I I kind of like that sometimes but you know I guess I guess I am my dad did raise me good or bad it may not be good but my dad did raise me to be a hard worker and stay busy stay active um and I do enjoy that I it kind of therapeutic for me so I want to answer some questions that um I saw on my YouTube channel and I thought it'd be a good time to just pop in here and answer some by the way I made a video a couple of days ago maybe yesterday but it's it's uh getting a lot of views and I want you to drop by and look at it if you haven't looked at it already in fact I'm going to leave the description uh in the link of this video and I'll also refer to the video that I just made at the end of this video but I want you to watch it it's it's a good one uh for really understanding um a lot of you might be wrestling with your bees and as particularly the queens and that's what that video was that I made is about we need to check on the queen again do we have a mated queen or is she still a virgin Queen uh that's really important by the way I see squirrels running running around here and we've had squirrels ever since we've moved here 20 years years ago but Sherry has been babying my squirrels or her squirrels now they had a family they had little squirrels and get this these squirrels have bright white tails now here in where I live they're red tail squirrels big squirrels red tail squirrels but this mama squirrel had two or three white tail squirrels and they're beautiful I mean bright white tails and uh one of them has died but they're still running around the trees well Sherry has been feeding them trying to get them more tamed and I see one up in the tree there but uh you might see one walk by me they're getting really tamed she's feeding them nuts and stuff and uh we don't want a dog we've had dogs before but then when we I have to speak somewhere and we have to be gone or something we had to find people to take care of the dog so squirrels they they tend to the eles all right somebody asked me this question what do you mean by swarm cells let me let me give you all the questions I'm going to answer because you might you might want to know what hat and Veil is that I'm going to tell you what hat and Veil I use uh do you always run two deeps how do you know when to add a deep and when to add a honey super what is a green drone comb what type of feeder board where did you purchase it and another question or comment was David what race of bees are you raising in the video yeah so uh let me talk about that let's talk about the hat in the veil first uh this is a hat in the veil that you'll see me wear a lot in some of my videos now I bought this uh hat and Veil believe it or not I think I bought it back when it was only like I think I bought it for $6 but that was a long time ago it has held up pretty good I this these things have kind of gotten stretched out and uh I actually cut a piece of plastic and cut my screen I made a video on how to do this yes I'm aware that you can buy them already made to kind of cut and screw together but I wanted to make a video on how to do it yourself so you know it's hard sometimes seeing uh Queen eggs when you're looking through the mesh black material and so wanted to have a clear material that I could look through um and it it has worked really well this one is a little bit High I make it work but I should have put it a little bit lower but I have a video if you want to go back in my videos and watch How I made this and I actually use silicone and it's set in there perfectly wow it's amazing so anyway I'll leave a link in the description below where you can buy these hats they're $20 now on Amazon and I find them to be uh quite nice now the strap inside that goes under your chin broke made of cheap material these aren't something that are really made to last forever I don't think but they're just uh they get the job done okay so that's my hat that I wear and I do enjoy it the other thing somebody said what is a green drawn comb and I think they misunderstood what I was saying I'm a little sloppy when I talk I don't pronunciate my words that's carefully as I should especially if I get tired or something I don't know if you're that way uh but I need to work on uh pronouncing pronuncia words more accurately but anyway uh I actually said green drone comb drone is the male honeybee the I've made uh two or three videos about the green drone comb I'll leave a link in the description below on how you use these to trap the veral destructor M so you don't have to use chemicals and treatments in your hive you can use this as just a mechanical way to trap mites because mites prefer young drones or developing drones and so you put this in there the queen lays uh unfertilized eggs in it and then before they hatch the mites jump in there on the pey and before the pey emerge uh you take it out and freeze it kill all the mites and put it back in so it's a great way that I've recommended one of the methods of treating mites or caring for mites caring for mites more like killing mites I've recommended it for years so that's that's a good thing to know and before I get into my next question let me remind you guys that please subscribe to my channel we're we've made it past 144,000 subscribers which is amazing thank you guys so much for subscribing that means a lot to me uh we'll make 150 hopefully by the end of this year so uh that that's that that tickles me really does so I I appreciate it hit the Subscribe button doesn't cost you anything just the way if you click on the Bell you'll be notified each time I make a new video which I'm about to do back here in this Hive where I painted it red the comb I didn't really paint it but I put red wax down doing an experiment you want to know when that video is going to come out you got to subscribe so you'll be notified each time I make a video like that so let's get back and answer more questions another comment was what type of feeder board is that uh what do you use thanks uh the feeder board is something I actually created I invented and it I made this a long time ago out of a out of a desperation of like how do I feed my bees from the top because I didn't I wasn't having I used to manufacture we used to make uh Reservoir top feeders and uh I didn't like those and used to be the people used entrance feeders pretty heavily in the Spring to feed their bees I didn't really like that when it got really cold bees uh just just wouldn't go down there and eat out of them um so I wanted something at the top so I created this that fits on the top box that you have on your hive whatever that top box is and it comes with the jar lids with holes in them this is made if you want to push a pollen Patty through there and you know I don't like the word Queen extruder you've heard me say don't say queen extruder it's not called a queen extruder it's called a queen excluder you exclude the queen from going up into your supers but this actually is an extruder when you push your pollen Patty through this uh 1/8 inch Hardware mesh cloth um it does extrude the the pollen Patty and make it I think more edible for the bees if pollen patties is your thing I prefer to feed protein pollen powder uh protein powder and the sugar water uh through my jars that I put on top of this so you see this a lot of my videos we do sell a ton of these uh and I'll leave a link in the description if you want one it's good for putting on a package or a brand new nucleus that you're still drawing out comb on um the foundation uh is is needing to be drawn out feeding them will help the bees draw the foundation out so if you can feed them to get more frames drawn out it's going to help you a lot so that's what the answer to that question these are the feeder boards that I uh make and that we sell and there's a bee visiting me probably left over from the field down there still mad at me uh David what race of honeybees are you raising in this video I have always raised my own particular bees that I like I choose a hive every year or two that is Stellar meets all the qualifications and I have many hives now because I rais my own Queens I have many hives that I love I've got one Hive down there boy talk about a mean Hive a aggressive defensive just outright mean I'm telling you what I'll have to work it with you one day so you can see um and I don't like it if it wasn't so mean I'd re Queen it but I can't hardly get in there I've thought I've got to put a whole suit on I mean I'm probably going to have to put a suit I mean pants one piece big old suit on and duct tape everything and go go get that Queen out of there cuz that that Queen is not something I like anymore but anyway it's an outstanding Hive as most terribly defensive and aggressive hives are it's just so good it makes so much honey it you can't kill it I think you could pour gas on it and burn it and come out alive I mean it won't die it's just an awesome Hive I I would raise Queens from that Hive if it wasn't so defensive I mean you pop the top off and they're on you no matter how much smoke you use they get worse too you you keep it open for in in 15 minutes you got to get out of there it's just unmanageable so I I don't know I'm keeping it it's always the last Hive that I work I mean I know that oh don't work that Hive first it's over you the whole yard lights up they go around and get all the other hives mad at me so that's the last Hive that I'll work and they they'll behave they won't bother me I mean I can work all my other very gentle colonies but when I go to that Hive and open it up that's the last Hive I work get her done get out of the yard come back here wow they're not Africanized or anything like that they don't follow you far but they're just right there on you you know it's terrible so I raise bees from the hives that I like that are gentle they overwinter well uh I don't have to treat them for mites they control mites or keep M levels really low on their own they're not very aggressive or defensive and they make a lot of honey for me if they meet qualifications like that I'll raise Queens from them and so that's what I'm stuck on usually I every year I'll uh I kind of mix it up a little bit uh this year I've got a hive that has done so well I think about three or four years now and I like the the queen that has been with that one last year or two so I'm raising Queens from her and I really love that so um a lot of times people talk about you know you got all these new kind of queens that people say or I'm not going to mention any names but you know they have names to them and people say oh I want to try that one because it's supposed to be more might resistant and all that U just pick you a good Queen uh that that does the job and learn how to raise Queens I've got a queen ring class where I teach you guys online how to raise your own Queens do what I do go out there find a hive that's done really good look people this isn't hard come on this is simple I know there's so much stuff on YouTube there's so much stuff on Facebook groups there's so many businesses selling queens and all look no simplify it come on can we just be simple find you a good Hive that's doing great in your yard or you know and then raise Queens from her that's what I do and it's worked out great I'm not going to raise any Queens out of a hive that doesn't make it through winter number one you can't cuz they're dead but you get my point a hive makes it through winner got a lot of good qualities hey raise Queens from that Hive something's going on good there people it's so simple why do we complicate things anyway that's a long answer to Dave what race of bees are you raising in this video all right uh what do you mean by swarm cells yeah um not everybody knows that most beekeepers know what a swarm cell is but swarm cells um are created in a hive when a hive wants to reproduce make another uh colony of bees and so a a colony has to reproduce and they usually do it every year a strong Colony will and so if you have a hive that's doing really good they overwintered well they will likely swarm in the spring that's how they reproduce and make another Colony about half of the colony will leave with the old original Queen in the parent colony and they will fly away to a new home your other half that stays at home in the spring raises a queen now they'll raise swarm cells and those are the new queens that will fight it out until one is left and that one Queen will be the new Queen in the original colony now why why don't they swarm with a Virgin Queen because the Virgin Queen number one is not mated so that's risky and number two she does doesn't have a proven genetic or laying pattern uh she's not been proven so when they leave with the older Queen she's proven they know her genetics they know what she's producing her Offspring and so they want to leave with her now I've seen this time and time again that after Hive swarms with the old Queen it's very likely that they'll off with her head as soon as they get established in a new home and she lays some brood they seem to want to replace her they seem to know that it's time for a new Queen but that is what's meant by a swarm cell they're usually located anywhere from the middle down they're on the lower part to the bottom of the frames and there's always multiple numbers of swarm cells they just raise a whole bunch for insurance I guess and uh that's what it's meant by a swarm cell all right another uh question is um do you always run two deeps how do you know when to add a deep and when to add a honey super now this is simple again I love to simplify things you talk about man I I guess that's because I'm simple I love to simplify things there goes that white tail squirrel over there she they're looking for Sherry to throw some more nuts out there they're just standing by the back door um yeah no I like to simplify things so here's how to simplify it everybody wants to complicate when to add another box simply put you want to add another box when about five or seven frames in a box has been drawn out it has beads on it and it has whatever that comb would receive like it may have nectar honey may have brood on it may have different things on it like that but once they're drawn out and they contain uh what would be on that frame brw or resource es 5 to 7 it's time to add another deep box now if you have if you're running two deeps and you want to add a super I usually do the same thing when about five to seven frames on my second deep is drawn out with bees and resources or brw or whatever when it's got that on there you can slap a queen excluder there and put a honey super on so you don't want them to get too far uh more than seven in a box because then they can get crowded in the Swarm if you're not staying right on top of it now here's another question related to that a lot of you say I can't get my comb drawn out in my super above a queen excluder and it is hard because bees don't like to go up through that Queen excluder and work that super it's like a desert to them and so what I like to do is add more wax to your honey super Foundation if it's plastic and then I like to leave the Queen excluder off off at least for however many days until they start drawing that out keep an eye on it otherwise the Queen's going to lay up there she likes to lay in fresh comb like that but keep an eye on it and if you see that the queen is they've drawn it out and the queen may lay up there it's time to put the queen excluder there but a lot of beekeepers make that mistake putting the queen excluder down and uh that comb just gets uh ignored bees won't go up there I'm looking forward to having a live audience for a future live stream on June the 6th now I don't know if anybody's interested in that uh getting a ticket to be I've only got enough room for 20 people I don't know maybe nobody's interested but I thought I'd try it out and see if you'd be interested in doing it come and be a part as a meet and greet spend time with me out here on the beef farm and uh you'll be able to be a part of the live stream that night and then a meet and greet with Refreshments afterwards we've got some special giveaways um for those of you that are coming uh to do that that would purchase a ticket for that event and it's coming up I know it's kind kind of inconvenient on a Thursday night to drop by unless you're in the in the area but keep that in mind I'll leave a link right here if you want to be a part of the live audience we're kind of testing this out see if that's something you guys would be interested in all right I made a video on whether or not this queen has taken a mating flight is she still a virgin queen or is she mated and that give you a little tip the best way to tell if a queen has been mated is eggs She lays eggs but watch this video I'll see you guys over there

Channel: David Burns

Views: 10,122

Keywords: Beekeeping, beekeeping 101, Beekeeping tips, beekeeping training, honey bees, how to inspect a hive, beekeeping classes, beekeeping basics, beekeeping for beginners, how to start beekeeping, why keep bees, lighting a smoker, david burns beekeeping, varroa mite, when to start beekeeping, packages of bees, queen bee, where to buy a queen bee, bee suit, beekeeping business, green drone comb, best queen, swarm cells

Id: Uhv-JyYdOzU

Length: 22min 5sec (1325 seconds)

Published: Wed May 22 2024