How to build up a colony and stop swarming with the Demaree method
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- čas přidán 14. 06. 2022
- The Demaree method of depopulating the brood chamber is not discussed much here and is probably under utilized. Thanks to Tony Van Oostrom who suggested this video! There are many variations of the Demaree method...here is just one...maybe I will do a few more if you like it!
i used to run 300 to 350 hives by myself,didn't have time to fool around like this, a swarm would be a very rare event, the best way to prevent swarms is to have young queens, normally a hive with queen under a year old will not swarm regarrdless of how strong or full they are, the following spring they will , they won't however if you add a box of empty combs you have stored over winter, NOT FOUNDATION , a queen can't lay on that, if they are very strong and building queen cups split the brood in bottom box with two or three empty combs,NOT FOUNDATION. the important thing is give her lots of room,''to do her thing'' when a honey flow comes along you will have strong hives and get lots of honey, which is the only time you you should be putting on foundation, on your strongest hives , preferably with drawn comb on either side. if you are just getting started in bees and have few drawn out combs, feed them lots so they do good job of foundation , it takes five pounds of honey to make one pound of wax. i also didn't waste time trying to track age of queens, in the spring mainly i would simply lift the lids if they weren't as strong as the bes ones they would be split in to two or three. while splitting if i saw by brood pattern she was young i would leave her. all boxes 8 frame full depth, makes hive management fast and simple. no neuc boxes either...i'm 72 now ,i was lucky enough to learn all this from the great beekeeper i wen't to work for when i was 15, i know he was really good because i worked for a couple more...''no compare''
Thanks for the input.
I was told by a smart fella that if there is so much pressure and consistency to get bees to not swarm that it could be detrimental to bees in an evolutionary sense, the bees swarming trait that they are wired with for millions of years is the same mystery that has kept them alive , I would much rather trust the honey bees instinct over humans keeping bees in their yard speculating and guessing and trying to oust them from swarming , this is just my opinion along with some other natural folks , so I’m just going to keep an eye on them and try to be as natural as possible, if you only let 2 colonies swarm that’s an awesome ratio , it gives you more room to do splits and the bees still feel like they are doing the right thing by swarming 😝 I know it’s hard to lose bee’s though, I used to get so upset when I was younger, I was like I gave you everything!! And you swarmed to the neighbors who use generic frames and hive bodies!!! 🤣🤣
Hi Michael...wow that is a lot of hives to run on your own. You must have some knowledge and experience. I completely agree with your swarm control method, but what do you do with all your older Queens that are over 1 year. It must be difficult to get rid of them especially if they are still performing well. Would you have purchased commercial queen's are breed your own.? Did you ever have problems with varroa?
@@MrDavederave007 queens a year old or younger don't swarm, older ones don't either if you split the brood in the spring making sure she has LOTS of room, also don't leave them with too much honey during swarming season, i did not mark my queens so i had no idea of their age, i decided age was irrelavent, if they had fewer bees than the other hives they were replaced unless they had a new queen, obvious by excellent well fed brood pattern also any burr comb in lid or bottom board is worker comb, moving hives around 8 months of the year and taking all their honey, means a queen is only good for 2 years if you expect to make money. i bought queen cells from a breeder, a dollar fifty each. i live in australia, varroa arrived here about a year ago, i am hoping to be dead before it arrives in my state. i was fortunate to get a job at 15 yrs old with one of the best commercial beekeepers in australia, he would say look after your bees and they will look after you.
@@michaeljoncour4903 @michael joncour Thanks for reply Michael. Well I'm glad to hear you are still keeping bees. I've been keeping bees for about 10 years and also learnt a lot (but not everything) from volunteering to hobbyist beekeeper for several years. He had about 20 hives but they either swarmed every year or produced little hobey. Riddled with varroa and we could rarely get a hold on it. You might wish to be dead if your hives are infested with varroa 🙂 They're a real pain in the but to deal with as they just keep coming. I lost all my hives 2 years ago.. I think from multiple oversights..namely splitting too late and ordering queen's too late.. plus no doubt some varroa issues and wasps hit them really hard unfortunately as they weren't strong enough.
Well I'm trying to relearn everything now.
If you split them in the spring, aren't you going to have less of a honey crop? I assume you mean split if the brood is reaching a certain amount of frames like 6? Then obviously set her back by splitting but the hive may not have the strength to take advantage of nectar flow and produce lots of honey. I've seen methods such as Demaree method or Horseley board or artificial swarm method but they can be very time consuming and hands on. Those methods allow one to build the workforce up really big but offset swarming. Having a newly mated queen in the hive makes a lot of sense. You can never stem swarming with an older than one season queen if the colony wants to swarm..they will.
Is there any money in bees Michael? I have had such mixed answers from so many beekeepers it would seem it just depends who's at the helm. Is the money in the honey or is it in splits or queen's? If not for the money then for the love 🙂
Queen seen :
At 06.41 Timeline : See
Top Right Hand Corner of Frame Footage ! Almost bottom of the Frame (Top) re Viewing Angle !
Hope this helps. 😎
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Happy Beekeeping 2023.
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
One small remark: I wouldn't destroy those queen cells until and unless I was sure I had the queen in that bottom box. If something had happened to the queen, you could have fixed it by placing a frame with two or maybe three queen cells in that bottom box. And if when sure about the queen being in that bottom box, I would have put one frame with two or three queen cells in a nuc, just as back up.
Good idea to check first!
If he's seen eggs then destroying the queen cells is not the end of the world.
@@peterhenderson116 It isn't, but better to avoid problems when possible.
BTW, did you look at the age of this video and the comments?
This was a lot of information in one video. I've been watching quite a few channels and I think I'm starting to understand the motivations behind some of the methods and different circumstances bee keepers find themselves.
Glad it was helpful! That is the key different circumstances require using the same techniques in different ways. Its understanding what affect each has on the bees which allows the beekeeper to adapt to the circumstances.....keep watching!
I like this demaree method , I use for 2 reasons , 1 as explained in this video to keep a strong hive going and 2 to make another colony on the same hive by using the board on top of the honey supers instead of the excluder , they raise their own queen and I get another hive if I want it , very simple , I’m a hobby bee keeper not interested in moving loads of bees around , up to 20 hives is plenty enough for one person to keep active.
Love this method, it has produced huge honey crops this spring. More importantly helping me keep most of my queens. I did have a 2 out of 15 demaree colonies sneak a swarm past me
I’m a little hit or miss with my subscriptions, but yes, I loved this and would love watching more on the method whenever I get enough mental bandwidth to learn things. Thanks for all your work and help. 🌞🌻👍🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
A mentor of mine said he found a queen in his honey super the other day. He thought it either got through a crack in the queen excluder, or flew in the top entrance that some of the bees prefer - but no, there were two queens living in the same hive (and unfortunately one filled his honey super with brood!). The extra excluder is probably to prevent another queen from either flying in or being raised in the top.
Thank you! I have been hoping you would explain this method - I’ve watched some other Demaree videos and gleaned some things, but you have explained it the best. Now, for ME to pull it off…lol! ❤️🐝🐝 in Northern IL
Glad it was helpful!
Your viewers are right. The second excluder is insurance in case they make a queen cell. Also, some beekeepers will add a new queen on top for a double queen hive
Makes sense!
I was taught swarm cells would be on the bottom of the frames, supersedure cells in the center of the frames. I was cringing when you where destroying those cells before you found the queen
You need to think of these concepts in context. An isolated queen cell in the middle of the frame us usually a supercedure cell, bottom of the frame swarm cell. That is correct however when they appear together they are ALL swarm cells. It is true that for the untrained eye it is not a good idea to destroy swarm cells untill you have located the queen but if there are eggs there is a good chance she is still there. In all the hives I did this to the queen was successfully confined to the bottom box.
Yes, the second excluder is just in case a missed cell in the top emerges. After about eight days you should be safe to pull the excluder, if you destroyed every emergency queen cell.
Makes sense thanks for the input!
It is still possible for a virgin queen to pass through an excluder.
Best Demaree video in you tube, muy buen canal, very educative...a new subs from Spain. Incredible!!!
Thank you!
Sounds like you were under fire from some angry girls 😜 you can always tell the difference in the sound of an accidental bump and an aggressive battering ram bee hitting you trying to get you to leave their house alone 😂 the warning shots get more aggressive the more they don’t want you in their house , that’s why I try to get my work done and get out lol thank you for taking the time to teach everyone this magnificent past time !
Could not agree more! My Saskatraz bees are more gentle but my Italians less so....requeened these hives later in the season!
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer this is my first time buying bees , so I hope I don’t get 10 boxes of hot bees lol , we used to maintain 4-500 colonies and I never bought a bee, we always trapped our bees so i don’t imagine it’s as good in suburban Maryland for trapping bees like it used to be , I think I’m gonna keep ordering hygienic queens and requeening until the gene pool is better
Really enjoyed this watch, thanks very much. Very informative. I'm absolutely going to consider this method in the future. Makes complete sense. Bravo!
I'm glad, it is certainly something I will do more frequently especially when I see a nice hive with queen cells.
Absolutely fascinating and informative thanks
Glad you enjoyed it
Good Job Peter
Now I now how to do it. Seems like a lot of work but is probably worth it especially if it keeps them from swarming. Thanks Peter.
A useful learning experience at the very least.
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer Please keep us informed how they do. Very interesting for a hobbyist.
Great explanation and video!!✌🏻
Glad you liked it!
keep up the hard work enjoy the content
A walkaway split seems easier I think, same result but now two hives and I would put some of those queen cells in the new box and let the bees pick the best queen
Easier true but I am not sure you would end up with same production plus emergency queen cells tend to not produce the best queens (not always) so not a big fan of them.
Last think u wanna do is start walking capped queen cells and u didn't find the queen. The way the bees are acting I'd say the queen already left. Was this a how not to do video?
@@mikeoxlong3224 The queen was found, so no problem there.
Ultra bee dry is $3.75 here in NS. I use it at 60% of the weight in my recipe. So at $2.25 before I add inverted syrup and other ingredients. I went with global 15% this spring because it was $2.22 shipped to my doorstep per pallet. Last year Global was $4.50 because of the high cost of freight. Patties went on yesterday. It is forecasted 5⁰C for today. Bees are looking strong.
I'm not at the scale I can justify pallet loads. My patties just went on here this week.
I'm sorry mate, I'm not sure what happened. That comment wasn't meant for your video. I also got patties on over the weekend. Happy beekeeping. I hope your bees look great.
Now I understand why commercial outfits do not use it. Timewise.
Keep us updated. Will be interested to see if it does produce more honey. Regardless of the pressure of 80 other hives.
Yes but I can see a lot to learn from this process, so I will apply it to more colonies and report as I go.
Thank you for sharing!🎉
You are so welcome!
Definitely different .. be great colony to make supper of comb honey .. colony's like that did hundred pounds of honey here in Michigan last week .. black locust flow was incredible
Having ours now...too many hives here to take advantage!!
Hwy Peter, the Demaree method is too much work. Try the double screen board. The double screen board method you don't have to find the queen.
If you have not heard of the double screen board then search on CZcams for Bob Binnie, he is the expert of double screen boards.
You caught them in time, with so many capped queen cells that colony was going to swarm at any time.
Great video but too much work looking for the queen.
I will have to re watch Bob video I don't recal how that was relevant to this manipulation.
The method makes sense it would stop swarming you add another empty deep for the queen to lay if the reason for swarming is over crowding. Would think one could place the Queen excluder then the two brood boxes then honey supers. But by sandwiching the honey supers between the brood it will allow the honey supers fill faster.
There are multiple approaches usung variations of this method.
Excellent video. What happens to the drones that emerge in the original brood boxes? Aren't they trapped above the queen excluder?
If there is no upper entrance....yes.
Interesting how many people do this method differently from everyone else.
MANY permutations of the same principal.
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer yep
My first attempt with the Demaree Method is going well. I have a deep brood box queen excluder then 2 med super and finally the two original brood boxes on top.
My question is, can i now move the top two brood boxes down and the two med supers up on top?… the two top brood boxes are extremely heavy with nectar and difficult to lift up that high after i inspect the bottom brood chamber to ensure that it isn’t filling with brood and resources. Many thx again Peter.
Dave from Wheeling WV
It’ll be very interesting to see how much more honey you’ll get by this method!!
I hope so too!
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer i just turned a huge double deep into a Demaree split this afternoon, so I guess we’ll both get to see the benefits of this method! I’ll need to vent the top a bit I think just to let the drones out though. I don’t really want to drill a hole up top. The flow should start here in less than two weeks!
6:35 invariably the queen will be running away from the light so will be in the last place you look lol. Often on the sides of the box or bottom board.
Yup not my best video at finding the queen!!
Hello. Thank you for this video. What is the item you have on top of the honey super? Also, it appears you don't use an inner cover so do the bees have a second entrance?
That is my foil backed bubble wrap inner cover...no upper entrance.
Thank you
You're welcome
I'm really interested in this method, do you have a video on how to put the hive back together in the fall when you have removed your honey supers so you don't have 3 deep boxes to go into the winter. Great video, Thanks.
Not yet!
What about the drone brood in top boxes?
A small Remarque!!
Have you fed sugar syrop your bees in the fall? How would guarantee that you don't have sugar syrup mixed with your honey?
- Have you treated with any chemical for varroa? this will also contaminate your honey!
This will only work if you move back the two brood chambers down once all of the brood have emerged....
Each Spring I make nucs from all of my overwintered hives...all of last years honey goes out in them.
Ha I am going to do some of these tomarrow at what temp do you feel it is ok to do them in 50-60s here doing the day Thanks
Its not temperature but state of the colony that is important.
Is there a top entrance for the top brood boxes ? Great video!!
Yes usually via the inner cover.....gives drones a way out and improves ventilation.
Im a newbie and I just got my nuc a few days ago. Can I do this method this year? Beekeeper said I had a big colony
Yes if there is still a good honeyflow on when they have built and occupied the first two deeps and you are putting on a honey super that when its best to start for me.
I am coming out of winter with 2 very strong colonies in double deep brood chambers. Lots of brood in both.No queen cells present some capped drone brood.
I think it is to early here in NW Oregon to make splits. Would the Demaree Method work in this case?
I think you would still get queen cells but maybe less frequently. That is closer to what I do with changing from a double brood chamber down to a single.
Always thought those virgin worms were small enough to fit thru excluders.
what about all the Drones being captured above the Queen excludes
The inner cover is not a complete seel so bees can get out from the top.
Could you also do this by putting the queen in the bottom on just drawn comb and foundation with no capped brood?
yes
At what point do you remove the queen excluder and allow the queen more room ? I would assume after the nectar flow and Honey has been pulled is this correct?
MANY options, that one would work fine.
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer Thank you Sir.
Why do you need to put the extra supers between the two different brood nests?
Could you not just put the brood boxes straight on top the queen excluder and then the supers on top if she needs?
Would that save time going back through tryin to find all the emergency cells they have created?
I am still learning some of the MANY permutations of the Demaree method , so YES that is an option but the plan for this variation is to postpone the need to go back into it and give lots of room for honey. I will need to go back into the two old brood chambers (at the top of the hive) as that is where the emergency queen cells will be built.
Ahh yes, as I’ve done more study on the DeMaree method, I’ve more fully understood it’s use, and can understand that historically it was used as a swarm preventative measure.
Makes a lot more sense to me, will be cool to see how you think it goes. 😊
Could you possibly have used Queen Temp in the top Super to detour them from building queen cells?
Never tried it.
What would happen if you put a queen xcluder above and below the single brood chamber? Would swarms be stuck?
Theoretically yes.
Teşekkürler
Why do you need to check the top 2 boxes again for queen cells? If there are any queens and they emerge, they cannot get past the upper queen excluder for starters, let alone the lower one. Also, will be plenty of dead drones in the upper 2 boxes.
If the hive upstairs is bee proof that may be right....but I would not want to risk an avoidable swarm
I take from your video that I would need empty comb and foundation for the bottom box? So if I have no empty comb the Demeree method is not possible?
You can use foundation....great way to get more comb drawn.
Get Shoe Goop, Walmart, to fix the soles of those boots.
Thanks next time Those boots are beyond redemption I think!!!
What do you use for your smoker?
Pine needles and wood pellets
Is there more than one entrance for the bees to gain access to the hive?
Usually yes, but not always.
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer Today I set up one of my colonies using the Demaree method. Thank you for the thorough demonstration and explanation, very easy to follow. Do you think having an entrance at the top will pose an issue? I currently use an inner cover which allows access in and out. I guess I'm concerned that if forager bees use this entrance, further lessening contact with queen pheromone, could that situation stimulate worker bees to start laying?
Why did you leave the drone cells above the lower queen excluder?
Drones were not my focus however if your concern was for how would they get out of the hive there is a small upper entrance.
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer you need to make up your mind, because that question was asked 8 months ago by Jim Do the bees have a second entrance and you said “ NO” now your saying they DO have one.
What is it YES or NO…..?
What bee suit do you have on?
A thipple layered ventilated suit
Peter this seems to be a little different Demaree than using a double screen board for a Demaree??
To my knowlege (which may not be saying much) double screen boards are not used in Demaree manipulations.
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer that is correct from what i have seen
Greeteings from EU beekeeper. I am also filming my bees and I have method of shaking bees to stop swarming
Always interested in what works for folks.
I have another question for Peter and Commenters. Do the bees that emerge from the two top brood boxes soon to be honey supers find there way to the bottom brood box? That would make sense increasing the population in the brood nest??? Thanks 👍
Yes they do to some extent. The young house bees go to where they are needed...around the brood, so to start with most are up in the old brood chamber, as the lower brood chamber grows more move to that area.
Huge hives eat huge amounts of honey...I run huge hives,I know lol I have had Italians eat 200 lbs over winter..so imagine on flow of nectar..singles do better ..keep elevating brood.
Wouldn’t just the fact that you added all that comb stop the swarm
No, once thay have decided to swarm just adding space is not enough to change their minds.
i forgot to add no queen excluders used, health of brood and vigour of queen seen withoud wasting time going into brood chamber which is both uncomfortable and time consuming, extraction done wih mobile plant and my wifes help, once you start central extracting ,on go the queen excluders and its a whole new ball game which i never did,so can't have opion on......
Thanks
bee sure that there are no Drone cells in the upper boxes as they will be trapped with the second excluder and die , possibly attracting hive beetle.
Or have an upper entrance.
My understanding with this method is not to shake bees into the bottom super
The bees are free to move up and down....shaking them down is only to make sure that the queen is down there....shaking not required if you find her and move her.
Good video Thanks for doing it
You bet
My concern is what happens when the single brood chamber becomes full of brood and the queen has to struggle to find room to lay?
That is one reason we wait till past the peek egg laying period.... as it gets a bit past that a ten frame deep is enough to keep her busy.
So the queen below under?
Yes the queen isplaced in the bottom deep below a queen excluder.
8:30 why did you put the box on its side?
The boxes can safely be put down either upright if you have something like an upsidedown cover on which to place it, or on its end (not side) if there is limited room. Either way the frames stay in place.
They seem very flighty, like they have no Queen
With that amount of disruption any colony will fly a lot. They did have a queen.
Good for making queens.
Those drones will be stuck there.
Yes unless I add an upper entrance.
just watched this video. seems you like crushing bees
I would think when queen cell are in the middle of frame they are trying to replace their queen, isnt it hasty to get rid of what looks like supercedger cells
I agree with you. I use this method in belgium with a lot of success. Maybe it wasn't the good colony for showing a demary method... Better before swarming cells and without other queens cells. And 30 minuts for 1 hive is too long... Who have this time? Did'nt find the queen in few min? Use QUICKLY a plan B...
It is a very common misconception that if a queencell is in the middle of a frame it is a supercedure cell. If there were only one or two then yes (that is where supercedure cells are found) but where there are multiple cells and there is a queen present these are ALL swarm cells....they do not do both at the same time.
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer there were a lot, I agree... I wouldn't be sure that these action will be enough to prevent swarming (inclination of swarming) in these situation. In this case, I would prefer a double screen board method. Please, for information, give us some news of these hive. Sorry for my english. Thank you for your videos.
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer thanks for the info ,I have been struggling with that concept to either leave it because they have a reason for wanting to replace her ,or is it really just a swarm cell ,it has gotten me in trouble on a few occasions.
@@martenapperloo1055 If she was a failing queen she couldn't produce that much brood if you remember he found about 5 frames of newly hatched larva meaning she'd laid up that many frames within the last 7 days.
I am from nepal
We keeps Apies cerena bees
Wow that colony looks quite hot - jumping off frames, running all around, banging off the camera.
They were Italians...not as calm as my Saskatraz....so later that summer I added a saskatraz queen cell to supercede the queen!
20 minutes in - you could at least have circled the queen to help us 'Newbies' experience the find!
That assumes I know how to circle things on my videos!!! My tech skills are laughable!
Удивляюсь я американцам. Опять впереди всех. В таких крагах чего же не совершать такие телодвижения! Это что - большое удовольствие на грани с мазохизмом перетряхивать 2 корпуса п/ семьи с расплодом, вошедшую в роевое состояние? А если таких семей уже 20, 30, 40 и т. д.? Кто и когда всё это перетрясёт?Приём Демари здесь выполнять поздно, это уже не профилактика роения, а попытки выведения из роевой горячки. Поиск матки не рационален в системе МКУлья. Почему не используется разделительная решетка на 4 дня? Затем в одном корпусе легче найти матку. А по мне так и искать не надо, а разделить семью по 1 корпусу. Матка будет известно в каком корпусе. В общем - мастер-класс для меня не убедителен, на вооружение не принимаю.
hardly surprisingyou have swarming issues, that first hive i would have split the brood boxes with a box of drawn out combs , throw that half box in the rubbish bin and add a REAL SUPER..
The one issue that really bothers me is you are removing all queen cells you found. The ones you removed were not capped so it was no issue but, a beginner trying to adopt this method could not have noticed this fact. They could easily removed capped queen cells. Removing capped queen cells is an invitation to finding your hive queenless and if the beginner had waited too long they would have had laying workers to deal with. I have talked to people who I mentor about this issue but I still, every year get calls from people who removed capped cells and now need a queen. A hive that has been queenless for a week is a difficult process to correct if laying workers have started. If you redo this video you might want to address the type of queen cells you are removing in it.
The method has good potential but it is important to be back in the hive in the 7 to 10 day time period.
In my view removing capped queen cells is OK as long as there is evidence of the queen being in place based upon the presence of eggs (so there is the ability to replace even if she is gone) and of equal importance nowing that the population is such that you are confident that they have not already swarmed. Granted the latter requires a trained eye sometimes so your point is very valid for beginners.
Them little stingers will bust ur nerves it not for everyone bee keeping is God's keepers
Almost total collapse and frame scrambling. This is the kind of manipulation that de queens colonies, even if queen is still in there. Really bad. Concentrating to one brood chamber a great way to cause overcrowding and frequent population adjustments (look like swarms, not swarms). AND beekeeper does't know the reason for what he's doing? Dang that sucks. Beekeeper's yard is a junk yard. But thanks for showing the public what NOT to do to bees. The bee sound is testament from the bees how miserable beekeeper has just made them.
its a battle flag...
30 min spot for 5 min worth of info. Terriable
Yup I was slow getting this job done...but my CZcams videos are as much a look into my beekeeping day as they are edited down to an efficient beekeeping class. My classes are found elsewhere.
I stopped watching
Think this video could have been done in 5 minutes I really do not get anything from this except sleepy cause I cannot hear your voice all I hear is bees buzzing. I am a commercial beekeeper nobody has time to watch this.
You have no idea what are you doing. This method of preventing them swarming is BS.
Seems to be working to me while continuing colony growth .
Seems like a very logical way to keep bees frpm.swarming, and maximizing honey production. This is intended for smaller operations, such as hobby beeks, as Peter said. Love the video Peter, keep up the good work !!! Richard in Alabama 5th year beek.
Io, other than gettin' up on the wrong side of the bed, why didn't your Mom teach you better manners???