What I love about bees is how every time I check on them it is like a puzzle or riddle that I need to figure out. A game of 3D chess where they know the rules and I have yet to figure out the game completely 😜

@FrederickDunn

13 күн бұрын

The real charge comes when they do what we expect them to :) and then they toss in a surprise or two to keep us guessing :)

Love the slow mo

I love 6 frame poly nucs

Bee soap opera! The best ever!

@FrederickDunn

14 күн бұрын

I'm so glad you liked it :)

Great video Fred! It should be called “As the hive turns” or “one hive to bee” what a soap opera.

@FrederickDunn

14 күн бұрын

These are The Days Of Our Hives... (';') I own that domain already :)

@SIBEEMAN

13 күн бұрын

lol!!

Wonderful filming, they are amazing to watch especially slowed down.🇬🇧

@FrederickDunn

14 күн бұрын

Thank you :)

Very interesting idea of a not known two queen swarm. Was the virgin maybe from supersedure? When hatched did she tolerate her larger production mother and not fight to the death of her that you mention and show at the end of your video clearly alive? If so, maybe she, the virgin, was just at the beginning of going on her first mating flights. If the hive was so congested, starved for extra space and ventilation, maybe she pulled those bees out thinking it was time for them to swarm. It will be fascinating to learn your outcome. As an old timer I remember the saying, a swarm in May is worth a load of hay. A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon. A swarm in July isn't worth a fly. Because that was a time before late summer early fall feeding of sugar syrup would help get a late in the year swarm to begin from a start to get through winter. It hinged on whether they would or would not build enough stores up in time for their own supply of honey needed to make it thru to early spring the next year. Just my thoughts. Thanks. Gary 🐝 P.S. Wonder if a double screened division board would have worked between the bottom and upper boxes, putting your caged queen in the top with a back door entrance and see if the green marked virgin would go out and mate. The larger not marked egg laying queen in the bottom to resume her duties?

Be sure to inform the supervisor

@FrederickDunn

13 күн бұрын

He's on his way over here right now to make sure we have enough supers on the hives... (';')( ';')... I hope I pass inspection!

Earlier this spring I had a swarm that had 3 queens in it. It's hard to predict them bugs!!! Thanks Fred!

@iditarod4081

13 күн бұрын

Wow stupid bees? Or maybe it's a redundancy thing. Or maybe just established Queens aren't as threatened by virgin's as we thought.

@FrederickDunn

13 күн бұрын

It's a fun game to figure out where they are in a swarm cluster. There are some tells... Thanks, Rodney! :)

Another great video

@FrederickDunn

14 күн бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it :)

It has been a very weird year for queens for me also in Central PA. Given I’m in my 4th year I assumed it was just something with my hives so glad to hear I’m not alone in this and it’s isn’t necessarily my fault 😁 It started right from winter for me. 4 of my hives opened in spring were packed with bees but not a single sign of any brood, eggs, or larvae.

@FrederickDunn

12 күн бұрын

So glad to provide some hope, and additional information :)

Wondering if they'd fight it out,nice video Mr dunn

@FrederickDunn

14 күн бұрын

At this point, I "think" the workers will reject one and keep the other. The Queens won't necessarily engage each other...

Ha, Ha, Ha. The Agatha Christie plot twist. Miss direction. The culprit is not identified until the last scene.

@FrederickDunn

14 күн бұрын

:)

WOW Fred, how did you even spot the "real" queen while she was flying in ......

@FrederickDunn

9 күн бұрын

She flew from the box that was just 4 feet away, for me it was a miracle grab shot. You can't plan it, largely pure luck.

That was fun.

Is this a new camera?! These video segments are spectacular!

@FrederickDunn

14 күн бұрын

Thank you so much, and no.... nothing new :)

👍

That was another great video. Thank you for that. Is there a reason that you are not going into the hive to find and removing the marked virgin? That would be my next move and I would create a nuc for her and see what happens. Your thought…

@FrederickDunn

14 күн бұрын

My goal is not to take the hive apart... you "could" definitely do that, but they are unsettled and you risk an abscond with too much manipulation at this point. I don't need another queen.

@willobrien353

13 күн бұрын

@@FrederickDunn got it. Thanks for the response.

Great video Fred thanks. Do you wash out your Queen marker after each Queen? My daughter and I both had the same experience of the bees balling the Queen after marking.

@FrederickDunn

13 күн бұрын

I haven't cleaned my Queen Marking holder for quite a while, and watching this video convinced me that I need to do that. :) Yes, they bail to get away from the marking paint. This marker is alcohol based.

🐝🐝🐝🐝🍯

What is the likelihood of the workers or the old queen hunting down the virgin queen and stinging her to death? Or is it more likely as you said that she'd just fly off?

@FrederickDunn

14 күн бұрын

As that colony settles, it's likely that they may just cook the virgin queen and we may find her on the landing board one morning.

Thanks for another great video, Fredrick! I boosted several colonies this spring with rescued swarms. The outcome was great. I dispatched the under-performing queens from the original hives before combining with newspaper sprayed with sugar water. If icannot find the original queen, but she is present, will it result in a deadly battle between the original colony and the swarm?

@FrederickDunn

2 күн бұрын

I haven't observed any deadly battles during these mergings. What I think happens is that the workers select their preferred queen and dispose of the least popular one. If they truly battled it out, I'd find lots of landing board skirmishes as well as many dead bees in front of the hive. I've also stopped using newsprint when combining as they seem to merge so easily without it that I don't think it makes a significant difference :)

@brianhoffman500

2 күн бұрын

@FrederickDunn Thank you!

It’s sucks when that happens

@FrederickDunn

14 күн бұрын

It's fun to see...

Hi Fredrick, do you queen exclude in your hives? I'm not really in it for the honey so I usually let the queen do her thing without exclusion. It does make it a little more difficult when inspecting hives though.

@FrederickDunn

13 күн бұрын

I don't use queen excluders. I have the bees build out their brood box first, then at least one medium super... that honey super serves as a "honey-bridge" and above that I have supers for my own use. If you're keeping just a single entrance with no additional venting above, then it's easy to go without an excluder. It's a predictable pattern.

@danpszeniczny9664

13 күн бұрын

@@FrederickDunn I went without an excluder on one of my hives and the queen went from top to bottom laying eggs. The new hive I used a brood box with a medium frame on top for about three weeks. I checked it and found the new hive full of honey and brood. I added two boxes above an excluder. I can hear the workers in the top two now building comb and storing. Lots of activity with this new setup for me. Not a lot of activity but bearding on the old swarmed off hive. It is nearly full as I can feel the weight of that hive being quite full. I am curious to see how the summer and fall nectar season influence each hive.

So wouldn't some time in the next week be the best time to treat that hive with oxalic acid?

@FrederickDunn

14 күн бұрын

Not in this case since it's already occupied, but we will count mites for sure.

Hello. I noticed you have an Apimaye hive in your rotation of past videos. Does the Flowhive Super fit on those hives? Or is that not a great fit? Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

@FrederickDunn

12 күн бұрын

I responded in another video, watch today's Q&A for some ideas regarding how to make that work :)

@liefhands3389

12 күн бұрын

@@FrederickDunn awesome! Thank you for the response.

When you say it’s too late for a swarm to build up are you guys close to fall already in your area ?

@FrederickDunn

14 күн бұрын

No, but in the past you'd need to provide additional resources to a colony that starts mid-July and on. If all is perfect, they make it, but no surplus for the beekeeper.

What do u think of the lyson hive?

@FrederickDunn

14 күн бұрын

They are very well insulated, we'll see how durable it is as the seasons pass... cheaper than Apimaye, but not as durable.

@craigo4dds

13 күн бұрын

@@FrederickDunn did you paint it? I put 3 layers of the most sun resistant paint on mine. But the paint does not protect against dings 🤷🏻‍♂️

b

It’s a bit hard to hear.Could you adjust the volume?

@FrederickDunn

14 күн бұрын

I think you're the only one having that particular issue. The sound levels look good here...

@northernlights8126

13 күн бұрын

@@FrederickDunn , thanks for your reply.I’ll try again.