Awesome video. Thank you David for teaching us very important information. I believe I've lost both of my queens and I've looked everywhere to purchase 2 but no one has any. I'm so sad about it as it's my first year with very high hopes for honey. Again, thank you for your time. God Bless
I am a new beek and I have a hive where I introduced a new queen, the hive was robbed, and now I can't find the queen. Waiting to see what they will do. This video was very helpful and I feel less lost. Thank you.
Just this past weekend when doing our inspection we noticed at least 15 emergency queen cells in hive #1. (This is our second year beekeeping). Sure enough, could not find a queen, and although there was some (not a lot) of capped brood, we saw NO eggs or larvae. All the emergency cells were capped. Hubby destroyed a few before I could stop him, and they had large, live larvae. We left at least 8. It would seem they are about ready to 'hatch' in a few days or so...We gave the hive one frame taken from hive #2 of some eggs and larvae, no bees, to stimulate some pheromone. We are not buying a queen. It seems the bees are making an new queen---At least we desperately hope so. We are letting the bees do their own thing. We'll be checking the hive in a few more days and see if emergency cups are hatched out and if the bees have cleaned up what they don't want. All of this is a new experience for us and admittedly we are a little freaked. The bees seem organized and we see no evidence that there was a swarm. We don't know what happened to the queen, but swarm doesn't appear to be the reason. Really hoping these bees will have a new queen they made shortly and that she will get out on a mating flight and get busy soon! Thank you for your always-helpful videos! Mary and Adam in NH
Hi David, We were just at our 1st EAS Conference in Ithaca NY & were pleasantly surprised to see you there! Being 1st year beekeepers, we’ve watched several of your videos, but you really impressed in person too! Just wanted to say we appreciate your easy to follow videos & say you are a great teacher of everything BEES! Keep doing what you do….you’re helping so many of us!
Another great video David. I lost one of my queens 2 weeks after I started one of my packages, I purchased another queen and she just wasn't doing much. My local bee store Rocky Mtn Bee Supply, talked with me and suggested I move a frame of capped brood from my much more successful hive so they'd have new nurse bees. That's all it took. The new brood hatched, the new queen suddenly kicked it into high gear and now she's laying like a champ! My hive is on track to be large enough and healthy enough to make it through a Colorado winter. I also followed your lead and marked my unmarked queen in my other hive. I was a little nervous working without gloves for the first time, but it went great! A tip for other new beekeepers and queen marking pens. Before I went to the hive I shook up my queen pen and tested it. I'm glad I did, I live at 6400 feet above sea level and a large amount of paint shot out of my pen. Had I not done that I'm positive that would have killed my queen. My birthday is coming up, on my list are two of your courses. They make great gifts!
Great job. Bunch of us Master beekeepers were talking about drowning queens when we first started marking queens and so that's good advice. Hope you enjoy the classes.
Great video David. I’m betting 5 days she will be out and have eggs galore. Got to get that hive queenrite to prevent laying workers, and raise those bees of winter physiology.
Hi David, Your favorite subscriber here. I would like to see a video. If possible of the emerging of a bee. It is a WONDERFUL thing to witness!!!!! First time I noticed this I was like OMG what is wrong here. How do I treat it? What is gonna do to my hive, OH NO!!!! Then It fully emerged and was greeted by her sisters and off to work. My first witnessed baby!!!
Bees Swarmed in the last 3 weeks, found an emerged Queen cell 14 days ago, Still no Larvae.., Fingers crossed for next check @ 20 days after discovering Emerged cell...
Why were they so mellow and gentle if they were queenless? I’ve lost queens twice,and on both occasions, the bees became very aggressive until I got them queen right again. Thanks for these great videos David!
I've never found queenless colonies to be loud or mean. I hear that being touted like is always the case, and it may be the case sometimes, but maybe that hive would be mean with a mated queen. Bees are bad about reading the same books we read about them.
I installed a mated queen in a queenless hive about a month ago. She laid beautifully for about 2 weeks, and then they started making supercedure cells like crazy. I knocked them down for 2 weeks. Meanwhile the laying slowed to a trickle, being mainly drone brood, and then no eggs at all for 2 weeks. I guess they knew something was up. I just installed a new mated queen 4 days ago. Fingers crossed.
Perfect video. I am trying to decide if I have a queen or not. Lots of bees today but I couldn’t see eggs. I think I saw a queen cup but not sure. I’ll go back in next week and maybe it will be more obvious. What happens if I purchase a new queen and there is still a queen in the hive? Enjoying your videos!!!
What did you do with the bees you took the queen from - now they are queenless too? Why not have paper merged the queenright hive with the queenless hive especially since there was no brood in the queenless hive to keep the balance of bees (age and task differences)?
It needs to be Icing Sugar (is that Frosting Sugar Stateside ? (With NO anti-caking agent in it, like Cornflour, Bees can't digest that !) Yes, his cage Plug, is a kind of DIY Fondant, soft enough for Bees to eat through, and let out that new Queen.... Hopefully ! 🤞 Here in the UK, we can get baking ingredients with no additives, or GMO's etc. Shame, that the US add so much Cr#p into their food stuffs, its frightening what big Agro do to food stuffs ! Not good for Bees, or Beeks ! Just saying... 🙄
David, Have you ever used any plants like purslane in your smoker to help ward off varroa mites? It's supposed to be a good source of oxalic acid. If you have, did you dry it first? I think I may try it.
That great thing about beekeeping is that we are all citizen scientist and we can try many things. Run your own experiment. Set up one hive that has mites and treat with OA according to the label. Set up another hive with the same mite infestation and burn purslane then take another test after a week to see.
How Timely! Got back from EAS all ready to use what we learned! On inspecting a recent cutout that we got the queen, we caged her in the hive in the middle of brood overnight while they settled . Released her the next day and she scurried in and down to the brood. 2 weeks later, no brood, no eggs no Queen 😞 no cells or cups *heavysigh*. Its getting late here in WNY, I think I can still get a local queen. Wish I knew what happened . I can almost imagine you as tall as you are now lol.
I was thinking about putting Peppermint oil on a cotton ball and placing it in my hives. they say Peppermint candy will work , I was just wondering if oil would be ok for beetles.
I know this isn't on the subject but with your hives do you have a top vent or do you go no vents. Which do you think is better I live in Minnesota oh and if the bees were sprayed by pesticides but the queen is okay as far as I know I see her how long does it take for them to recover or will they probably die over the winter
Hello David, I am a new beekeeper my question is are supplementary cells on the side of the frames developed because the queen has been lost for some reason or another. And the bees need to make a new queen? Compared to the queen cells on the bottom of the frame which I believe are swarm cells developed in swarming season. Can you get queen cells on the side of the frames that are swarm cells?
Hi Marshall, we typically say that queen cells that are replacing their failing queen (supercedure cells) are in the middle to upper portion of a brood frame while swarm cells are on the middle to lower. As you can see there can be those that can be in a position where it is difficult to know. But supercedure cells are usually very low in number, maybe one or two while swarm cells maybe be a dozen.
Wow, are you trying to stump the master beekeeper 😄 So, all queens are made from, fertilized eggs and larvae. The larva has to be under 3 days old. Also they can make queens from unfertilized eggs/larvae. It is kinda possible but highly rare among Apis mellifera. It's called Thelytokous parthenogenesis. It is seen more in Apis mellifera capensis, the cape bees. Never depend on it in worker honey bees.
Awesome video. Thank you David for teaching us very important information. I believe I've lost both of my queens and I've looked everywhere to purchase 2 but no one has any. I'm so sad about it as it's my first year with very high hopes for honey. Again, thank you for your time. God Bless
I am a new beek and I have a hive where I introduced a new queen, the hive was robbed, and now I can't find the queen. Waiting to see what they will do. This video was very helpful and I feel less lost. Thank you.
Just this past weekend when doing our inspection we noticed at least 15 emergency queen cells in hive #1. (This is our second year beekeeping). Sure enough, could not find a queen, and although there was some (not a lot) of capped brood, we saw NO eggs or larvae. All the emergency cells were capped. Hubby destroyed a few before I could stop him, and they had large, live larvae. We left at least 8. It would seem they are about ready to 'hatch' in a few days or so...We gave the hive one frame taken from hive #2 of some eggs and larvae, no bees, to stimulate some pheromone. We are not buying a queen. It seems the bees are making an new queen---At least we desperately hope so. We are letting the bees do their own thing. We'll be checking the hive in a few more days and see if emergency cups are hatched out and if the bees have cleaned up what they don't want. All of this is a new experience for us and admittedly we are a little freaked. The bees seem organized and we see no evidence that there was a swarm. We don't know what happened to the queen, but swarm doesn't appear to be the reason. Really hoping these bees will have a new queen they made shortly and that she will get out on a mating flight and get busy soon! Thank you for your always-helpful videos! Mary and Adam in NH
Watching from Preston Lancashire England,cant get enough from this teacher.
Much appreciated. Martin.
Thank you so much Martin
Loved the video when you made the cool clear screen, BRILLIANT!!
Hi David, We were just at our 1st EAS Conference in Ithaca NY & were pleasantly surprised to see you there! Being 1st year beekeepers, we’ve watched several of your videos, but you really impressed in person too! Just wanted to say we appreciate your easy to follow videos & say you are a great teacher of everything BEES! Keep doing what you do….you’re helping so many of us!
Another EASer!!
Enjoy your videos David. Thanks for the content.
Great video again, thank you for the information.
I have his courses and I do recommend them! They are excellent.
Another great video David. I lost one of my queens 2 weeks after I started one of my packages, I purchased another queen and she just wasn't doing much. My local bee store Rocky Mtn Bee Supply, talked with me and suggested I move a frame of capped brood from my much more successful hive so they'd have new nurse bees. That's all it took. The new brood hatched, the new queen suddenly kicked it into high gear and now she's laying like a champ! My hive is on track to be large enough and healthy enough to make it through a Colorado winter.
I also followed your lead and marked my unmarked queen in my other hive. I was a little nervous working without gloves for the first time, but it went great! A tip for other new beekeepers and queen marking pens. Before I went to the hive I shook up my queen pen and tested it. I'm glad I did, I live at 6400 feet above sea level and a large amount of paint shot out of my pen. Had I not done that I'm positive that would have killed my queen.
My birthday is coming up, on my list are two of your courses. They make great gifts!
Great job. Bunch of us Master beekeepers were talking about drowning queens when we first started marking queens and so that's good advice. Hope you enjoy the classes.
And that’s an east wing hammer I use one every day good hams
Great video, great information! Keep the videos coming!
I Like your style!!
I got exact problem. But no queen cells. Going to get a queen
I use a easy up over my two hives to keep the sun off during the summer. They still beard but I’m assuming less sun makes it a little better for them
Great video David. I’m betting 5 days she will be out and have eggs galore. Got to get that hive queenrite to prevent laying workers, and raise those bees of winter physiology.
Thank you very much for the informative video, as always. The inside handle killed me😀😀😀. Regards from Botswana
Heard you may be going to the Hive Life conference. That’s great. Wish I could make it. I’ll have to meet you the next time!
Hi David, Your favorite subscriber here. I would like to see a video. If possible of the emerging of a bee. It is a WONDERFUL thing to witness!!!!! First time I noticed this I was like OMG what is wrong here. How do I treat it? What is gonna do to my hive, OH NO!!!! Then It fully emerged and was greeted by her sisters and off to work. My first witnessed baby!!!
Bees Swarmed in the last 3 weeks, found an emerged Queen cell 14 days ago, Still no Larvae.., Fingers crossed for next check @ 20 days after discovering Emerged cell...
Whole video and I am stuck on the Estwing hammer. I also have my first one I bought 34 years ago. Still my go to as well.
He’s gonna find the clean he has great videos
What about the cornstarch in the powdered sugar?
She will be there
Hope u find the queen
Why were they so mellow and gentle if they were queenless? I’ve lost queens twice,and on both occasions, the bees became very aggressive until I got them queen right again. Thanks for these great videos David!
I've never found queenless colonies to be loud or mean. I hear that being touted like is always the case, and it may be the case sometimes, but maybe that hive would be mean with a mated queen. Bees are bad about reading the same books we read about them.
I installed a mated queen in a queenless hive about a month ago. She laid beautifully for about 2 weeks, and then they started making supercedure cells like crazy. I knocked them down for 2 weeks. Meanwhile the laying slowed to a trickle, being mainly drone brood, and then no eggs at all for 2 weeks. I guess they knew something was up. I just installed a new mated queen 4 days ago. Fingers crossed.
20 years ago that happened to me too. I decided never to question supercedure cells.
Perfect video. I am trying to decide if I have a queen or not. Lots of bees today but I couldn’t see eggs. I think I saw a queen cup but not sure. I’ll go back in next week and maybe it will be more obvious. What happens if I purchase a new queen and there is still a queen in the hive? Enjoying your videos!!!
There will be a fight 😄 Usually bees will kill the newest queen.
What did you do with the bees you took the queen from - now they are queenless too? Why not have paper merged the queenright hive with the queenless hive especially since there was no brood in the queenless hive to keep the balance of bees (age and task differences)?
That's funny, I have a box just like that, with the handle on the inside.
fondant icing
It needs to be Icing Sugar (is that Frosting Sugar Stateside ? (With NO anti-caking agent in it, like Cornflour, Bees can't digest that !)
Yes, his cage Plug, is a kind of DIY Fondant, soft enough for Bees to eat through, and let out that new Queen.... Hopefully ! 🤞
Here in the UK, we can get baking ingredients with no additives, or GMO's etc. Shame, that the US add so much Cr#p into their food stuffs, its frightening what big Agro do to food stuffs !
Not good for Bees, or Beeks ! Just saying... 🙄
David, Have you ever used any plants like purslane in your smoker to help ward off varroa mites? It's supposed to be a good source of oxalic acid. If you have, did you dry it first? I think I may try it.
That great thing about beekeeping is that we are all citizen scientist and we can try many things. Run your own experiment. Set up one hive that has mites and treat with OA according to the label. Set up another hive with the same mite infestation and burn purslane then take another test after a week to see.
How Timely! Got back from EAS all ready to use what we learned! On inspecting a recent cutout that we got the queen, we caged her in the hive in the middle of brood overnight while they settled . Released her the next day and she scurried in and down to the brood. 2 weeks later, no brood, no eggs no Queen 😞 no cells or cups *heavysigh*. Its getting late here in WNY, I think I can still get a local queen. Wish I knew what happened . I can almost imagine you as tall as you are now lol.
Cool, and fellow EASer!!
I was thinking about putting Peppermint oil on a cotton ball and placing it in my hives. they say Peppermint candy will work , I was just wondering if oil would be ok for beetles.
I know this isn't on the subject but with your hives do you have a top vent or do you go no vents. Which do you think is better I live in Minnesota oh and if the bees were sprayed by pesticides but the queen is okay as far as I know I see her how long does it take for them to recover or will they probably die over the winter
A pesticide hit could go either way. It may clear up or it could be sublethal and take them out in the winter.
I love that your hat you made is still working out great. I’m going to make one here soon when I have more time. Thank you for the inspiration!
What happens to the NUC you removed the queen from? Do they have a queen cell ready to go or do you move those bees to another hive?
I raise queens in mating nucs. I placed a queen cell in there a few hours later.
Will one make it through the whole winter
I’m thinking a queen cell, oops too late :)
Hello David, I am a new beekeeper my question is are supplementary cells on the side of the frames developed because the queen has been lost for some reason or another. And the bees need to make a new queen? Compared to the queen cells on the bottom of the frame which I believe are swarm cells developed in swarming season. Can you get queen cells on the side of the frames that are swarm cells?
Hi Marshall, we typically say that queen cells that are replacing their failing queen (supercedure cells) are in the middle to upper portion of a brood frame while swarm cells are on the middle to lower. As you can see there can be those that can be in a position where it is difficult to know. But supercedure cells are usually very low in number, maybe one or two while swarm cells maybe be a dozen.
Can the bees create a queen out of a worker egg or larva?
Wow, are you trying to stump the master beekeeper 😄 So, all queens are made from, fertilized eggs and larvae. The larva has to be under 3 days old. Also they can make queens from unfertilized eggs/larvae. It is kinda possible but highly rare among Apis mellifera. It's called Thelytokous parthenogenesis. It is seen more in Apis mellifera capensis, the cape bees. Never depend on it in worker honey bees.
David I have wax moths how do I get rid of them thanks
Keeping strong hive is key but reduce your boxes down to one if you can and crowd your bees so they can remove the wax moths.
Hi David!
Without viewing I think you will find the queen (yellow/green).
No mature queen
Dude the local college has two hives and are doing nothing with their queen less hive. Just let it die and try again next year. Piss me off to me end
At least give it a frame of eggs from another hive. Give them some sort of fighting chance.