April Beekeeping Tips

April beekeeping including tips on splitting, swarm control and supering.

[@serget5205]

Thanks again Bob for a great video! With shaking the bees from the 2nd deep and undersupering with an undrawn box, you're not concerned about them being inclined to making a 2nd queen out of the brood above the excluder with the brood being broken up like that, Bob?

[@bobbinnie9872]

I know there are beekeepers that do this on purpose to re-queen. The greater the distance of separation the more likely that it will happen. You'll notice that the double deep colonies that got top supered got two but the ones that were under supered with the deep above only got one which makes it less likely. The short answer to your question is I am not concerned it. If it were to happen we will handle it.

[@serget5205]

@@bobbinnie9872, Nice! Thanks Bob! I did something similar last year because I was a little desperate and in a time pinch as I had to go out of town when flow was starting and some hives getting ready to swarm. I put a new deep between the 2 bottom ones with one drawn frame in middle, which seemed to effectively accomplish multiple things, swarm reduction, lots of wax drawing, requeening and honey production! Bob, what do you think is the % probability with your undersupering method for them making a second queen?

[@tadeuszhadrian-ks4ke]

​@@bobbinnie9872 to

[@RyanPardoe]

Solid veil repair job, John. 😂 Glad to see the bees are doing well, Bob!

[@brianschrombeck7313]

I learn something new every time I watch you. Thankyou. Keep up the great teaching!

[@tomkingsley4398]

"Tips & Tricks" for sure. Thanks for the valuable information. Fun to watch your outfit work and interact.

[@mikemcnally4046]

Thanks Bob! Another great video with tips and techniques I have not seen before. You just gave me a few new tools for the toolbox. Much appreciated.

[@stevesoutdoorworld4340]

Always super fun to watch you and your fun crew work!😁

[@ot7093]

Wonderful Sunday for another bee video!

[@lenturtle7954]

I couldnt keep watching this without doing something I bought a 3 story wintered last years swarm . It needs to stay 3 high as its full of bees . I sat and watched them haul in pollen for about 2 hrs it was a beautifull 18°C day today . Thanks for enabling me On 7 may 2023

[@scratchbuilder5952]

Thanks for making these videos…great teacher

[@framcesmoore]

Ha Bob great video thanks for all the tips and tricks have a blessed week.

[@cordovanbee]

Very nice work on the camera and plenty of management tips!! Thanks Bob and the Team!

[@calvinkalmon6746]

Such useful info guys and gals, thank you so much!

[@gerardjohnson2106]

Another great clinic in the bee yard. Thanks for sharing.

[@fuzzynuggetsbees]

Thank you Bob! Another very helpful video.. happy honey season.

[@jonrobertson4498]

Thank you Bob, As always, phenomena videol!! So helpful for those of us who are just starting out.

[@jorgeapicultor]

Bob.miro todos tus videos siempre aprendo algo a pesar que llevo 20 años de Apicultor, aquí estamos en Otoño preparando para la invernada ,un abrazo desde Argentina !

[@bub1683]

Thank you for all nice videos. Good paintjob on all your hives.

[@stacihill2528]

Loved the tips and tricks. thank you

[@user-sd2bi7fp8o]

Thanks for sharing. Always interesting to see bees and keepers at work.

[@sonofthunder.]

heres to a great season, thank you ,love the tricks

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Beautiful time of year Bob! I’ll have to try the extra ventilation on those girthy colonies.

[@billc3405]

As always great information from experience. Thank you

[@beemanduran]

Reminds me of Papa and all the tricks he knew👍thanks for sharing some of yours🐝

[@577bluegrass]

Enjoyed , Thank you! Looks like you are off to a great start .

[@spider2914]

Looking good Bob! Those are going to be some great looking nics. I have 4 queens coming from Seth the first week of May. Seth is such a hard working young man. Great to see all the help you provide him. Also what a great over all crew, they work so good together. Going to see how these queens like Illinois weather.

[@bryanbetournay5557]

Thanks for your time. Great video. You have an awesome crew Bob. Enjoy. Have a great 2023 season

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thank you.

[@dontannery1805]

put medium boxes with foundation in the middle of my hives about a week ago. With the same thoughts glad to see I'm doing something right I always look forward to your videos thanks a lot Bob.

[@tuhuertoyjardin]

Great video. Lots of new tricks that are so good to learn. You have asuch a wonderful team. Love the interaction between you guys. Thank you so much! And I noticed you had a new bee suit with no vented sleeves. It made me feel safer even I am not the one wearing it 😄

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks. The overalls I used to purchase are no longer available. The closed sleeves definitely have their advantages but I know I'll miss the old style when it gets hot. 👍

[@gregcundiff]

Great video with a lot of great information! Thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge.

[@researcherAmateur]

My end up having that box/ nuck over the double screen almost all year. We use round entrances and corks on most of our boxes for all those different configurations. I just wish one more spring month.. so l can be relaxed like you and slow down. Looks good so far, no real drought..let's hope this is a good year. Love these real work videos

[@TexasBeekeeper]

Glad to hear my warped lids may help with swarm prevention. =) Great video as always Bob. Thanks for sharing

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks. Warped lids for swarm control. I like it.

[@nikolamatic3865]

Great video. Thank you Bob for the excellent material you present to us. Greetings from Serbia.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thank you and hello to Serbia.

[@watsonrk1]

Tulip popular are bloomed here, buds are falling off those trees now. Virginia Beach VA. Great info on your videos I enjoy every Sunday!

[@markblack4532]

I wish I could spend time with this group. How much I could learn. It would be awesome. Love bees!

[@oksanabotsman6893]

I am always excited to see your videos very informative very smooth explaining I love watching you have a wonderful great season stay healthy be happy peace

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thank you.

[@John-qx5vf]

Outstanding tutorial...you cannot only watch this once..

[@timlewis9873]

Enjoy your vids. Bob, your always in control and you treat your help good.Have a good summer.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks.

[@Popszczelony_Marcin]

Bob, greetings from Poland 🙂 I think you don't even know how many people draw inspiration from what you show on YT.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Greetings to Poland.👍

[@mikederp9612]

New beekeeper! Learning a lot. Thank you. I hope to get 4 as a hobby

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

Bob is the GOAT I’m trialing your double screen board this year,

[@dadu63]

Yeah we experienced alot of different things this year. We split earlier and honey flow starting earlier. No swarms yet either thanks to your methods Bob! Another good Sunday morning video from my favorite group.

[@bobbinnie9872]

👍

[@jtlearn1]

Excellent Bob!

[@adamsolorzano7821]

I love 💕 to watch your videos bob they are truly real I'm from California

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks, I was raised in Southern California. (a long time ago)

[@carolinacarnio5381]

I'm getting ready for winter here in Australia and watching you guys happy and excited for Spring makes me happy!!! thank you Bob, I learn a lot from your videos!

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thank you. I you folks down under have a good winter season.

[@gavinfry7176]

Weired winter here in central Victoria, got cold earlier then normal, but I'm.still getting brood even.thou it's almost may now

[@carolinacarnio5381]

@@gavinfry7176 the bees here in the Northern Rivers NSW are still in full swing: I have 6 frames of brood in each box which is good because we're having waves of Paper Bark

[@1080760]

Mann lake rite cell looks just like those yellow foundations too. Great video👍

[@scrotiemcboogerballs1981]

Great video thanks for sharing

[@3Beehivesto300]

I love seeing your boxes full of bees 🐝. I see a lot of videos with guys doing inspections and there is only a cup of bees on the frames.

[@calinsferdean8008]

I enjoy your videos 😂

[@lexnite22]

Those tricks i'm definitely going to apply when my Spring season comes (southern hemis)

[@BrownAndDaughters]

Man, that is some red honey! Maybe they found a load of Big Red 😂

[@masoudmon3411]

Great tips

[@markbooth8458]

Hello Bob. Here in Central VA the blackberry, locust, tulip poplar is starting. The cracked lid. I also believe it really does help with the swarming.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Hi Mark. I hope you have a great year.

[@KambizNazir]

So, Bob, I live in Washington State near Canadian Border. And we still have days 30-40 F. The trees have just started getting green buds but no flowers on them. It's amazing that you are already in honey flow season. I wish we could have Georgia weather. Love the videos, about the only thing keeping me going while I wait for the season to start NW.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks. It will be there before you know it.

[@richardhyatt-beekeeping]

Getting ten of your queens next week. Was going to stop by today with questions because I figured you would be at Blue Ridge Honey Company because of the rain. But, had to chase down some windshield wipers instead! I'm back up to 35 hives again this year so, I'm pretty excited. Love your video. Gave me some more options. And, yes, I did get a big swarm with an unmarked queen last week. All my queens are marked so, I expect I might have got one of your swarms! Or, maybe some other nieghbor's swarm.

[@bobbinnie9872]

It could have been one from my yard. We aren't very far apart.👍

[@peterlightbody8443]

Interesting video, always learn something from you , I heard you say when putting a queen excluder on that "drones" will not pass through in all the books I have read never been mentioned , one for the book Peter 🇦🇺

[@KajunHomestead]

Great picture of you guys at the end.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks. A good crew that I'm lucky to have.

[@beebum1909]

Love the picture at the end.

[@bobbinnie9872]

👍

[@harrisjoubertwithsleepycre1924]

glad you are getting good weather back there. spring is supposed to show up here in Oregon on tuesday. it was 42 and raining 2 days ago calling for 80 on Friday. the bees are having a hard time even CA didnt help them this year. 3 weeks behind making nucs.

[@bobbinnie9872]

When I lived in Oregon my best years were when we had a late wet spring after a cold and snowy winter. Good luck!!

[@tonyjenkins272]

Went from snow last week… supposed hit 84 degrees this coming week. Crazy spring in Oregon 😊

[@Biopaseka]

Супер идея. Восхищаюсь методами Боба.

[@MarilynWatts-pt6re]

Love that red looking honey , hope we can taste it, great video Bob.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Hi Marilyn. I hope so too!

[@dp.2766]

I started seeing Ripe blackberries around April 10th here in East Texas.

[@time2fly2124]

that red honey kind of looks like the japaneese knotweed we get here in NY sometimes, but it only blooms in late august/september

[@richardkuhn4358]

Thank You

[@stephenrevill4226]

"It's not a normal year". I'm hearing that from everyone. It's sure been fun so far.

[@Jason-xu6pi]

I know you have colonies in nc at least part of the year. Tulip poplar is blooming as far up as Wilkesboro, NC that I've seen. So maybe? I'm in the mountains of NC and I'm seeing tons of light honey right now in my honey production colonies. I've got to get busy on my nucs... good luck this year with the bees.

[@lomavistabeeco]

In central Cal, when I see red honey like that, it’s usually when my bees zero in on hummingbird feeders. Usually they do that in a dearth though. They will cap it, but never eat it.

[@danlieter5673]

Great video Bob, Looks like ya got a modified snolgrove method going on, bleeding those returning foragers into the bottom box.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks and yes, any thing we can do to boost helps.

[@edcoffin3514]

Seth, keep an eye on Bob. That weird honey might be a hallucinogen honey from a invasive species from Columbia

[@angelalott9370]

We have plum in bloom

[@johncombs3270]

Popular is blooming here in eastern Kentucky I have nectar coming in right now

[@robertdemers5125]

Good Morning Bob !

[@bobbinnie9872]

Good morning sir.

[@oscarvilla6841]

😁 nice video thank you

[@bobbinnie9872]

👍

[@toprakanaciftligi8037]

👏👏👏👏

[@scottreese5492]

Greatly appreciate the bee saving info, thanks to God's faithfulness, yall and kaymon, I've turned 4 hives into 12 in past 6wks. One question, how do the hives with box slid over for ventilation not get flooded in heavy rains?

[@bobbinnie9872]

They obviously do get a bit of rain in them but I've never noticed it to be an issue.

[@richardhyatt-beekeeping]

We found a few Blackberry open in the Coweeta Lab yesterday, May 1.. Not a lot but, some.

[@bobbinnie9872]

IO was there today but it seemed to be too cool for anything to be coming in. Maybe tomorrow.

[@beskidzywieckipasieka9652]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻😃

[@atlas4225]

Red honey may be silver maple, as per a previous video of yours with a 79 year old beekeeper who used exclusively medium boxes. I love your content, and I'm using your approach of 3x each year till I'm swimming in bees. I have learned a lot and aim to stay the course.

[@jaredmatthewsmith7121]

That would be surprising…didn’t know silver maple produced a viable amount of nectar to garner the bees’ attention. Very interesting

[@atlas4225]

@@jaredmatthewsmith7121 my apologies... I believe that may have been a video by Bob Binnie. I sample content from as many sources as possible. I enjoy your channel and look forward to your next upload. Have you ever considered the idea number of colonies per apiary? I know mites are a significant issue but this seems to be exacerbated by colony count. Comparable to a communicable disease situation with people and living in an urban area as compared to suburban or rural areas. I acknowledge the burden of logistics apply to the beekeeper. Ty, hope all is well

[@toddknecht2106]

Thank you for these informative videos, such good stuff,its awesome to see an experienced bee keeper as yourself not know something! Lol did you ever figure out what nectar was coming in?

[@bobbinnie9872]

No, not yet and we may never know. There's plenty we don't know.

[@toddknecht2106]

@@bobbinnie9872 thanks for the reply, great video!

[@abram8808]

it seems like the end of summer stuff we get bhere when they bring in grapes and figs. it tastes like grape molassas.

[@davidlewis4179]

I'm in Central New York. It's too early for a honey flow here. Dandelions are just starting to pop. I've had nectar coming in for several weeks now. Maples popped about 10 days ago. So I'm not sure of where the nectar is coming from.

[@thethrill6921]

Hi Bob, thanks for the video! I’m curious about propping the lids open. What are your observations with how rain affects this? I’m also wondering if you think it’s strictly extra ventilation that curbs the swarming impulse or if it is that the cracks you leave are big enough to serve as a second entrance. I know some people put entrances in some of their honey supers to cut down on the congestion in the brood nest. Thanks!

[@thethrill6921]

I scrolled down and found an answer to my first question about rain.

[@robinkennedy9974]

Great post from BBU…as always. Hey Bob, any suggestions how to get bees to move nectar/honey out of a second broodbox into the supers? Cheers…keep them videos coming. Much enjoyed.

[@bobbinnie9872]

You might try scratching the cappings (i.e. make a mess).

[@mikewebb5247]

Very nice post

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thank you.

[@badassbees3680]

Seth singing lil John 😂🤣😂

[@Robbie-Rob_Bees_Apiary]

great video do you have instructions on making observation hive?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Sorry but no. We just kept the 3/8 inch bee space in mind as we built it.

[@steliandone4078]

Looking at this I wander around the idea of how you manage to have those strong hives this early in the year. I’m located in N Tx. Is Georgia ahead of Tx in terms of weather? I know that the vegetation is abounded there. With regards to the manipulation of bees and techniques of yours I can not comprehend. I applied simple techniques/methods that work but I am not fully satisfied with the results. God bless you Bob and your family including your hard working team.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thank you. I don't know if in the southern Appalachians we are ahead of north Texas or not. I wouldn't think there would be too much difference. I would also suggest what works for us may not be the best for everyone.

[@b.p432]

Great video as usual. Do you have any black locust in your area? My bees are bringing some in here in eastern OK. Looks the same.

[@bobbinnie9872]

We do have black locust but it doesn't seem to be putting out any blooms this year.

[@marywickenheiser2628]

Great flexibility tips as each apiary had something different going on…

[@BerthingBees]

Hi Bob, got some questions regarding adding additional entrances. For how long do you leave the extra entrance open? What about rainy weather, with the extra entrances. Thanks

[@bobbinnie9872]

We often leave extra entrances for the summer. Rain seems to not be a problem. At least we don't see any.

[@rodrigogabrecht7945]

💪👍💝🤗

[@bobbinnie9872]

👍

[@goosevamtb]

Bob, should we not be concerned about rain entering through the cracked lids and offset boxes, particularly from thunderstorms?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Although it's obviously not ideal, I've never noticed any big problems and the trade off is worth it.

[@goosevamtb]

@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you!

[@wadeturner2665]

Bob, with the first example you showed, why did you leave the gap between the two supers? Why not rotate the double screen board and shift it and the nuc deep forward to create the entrance gap between the double screen board and the upper super?

[@bobbinnie9872]

That and any other gap that was close would also work.

[@NicolaeNChirila]

Hello, what is the power in joules for the electric fence, bear proof? Thank You Mrs. Bob, God bless You!

[@ZoysiaRUs]

Bob, what are the chances of bees moving sugar syrup (early spring feeding) from the brood chamber into the honey supers?

[@bobbinnie9872]

In our case we see them using up what has already been fed by feeding brood and not moving it around. We have not seen any manipulations we've done result in syrup above the brood box.

[@ZoysiaRUs]

@@bobbinnie9872 great. Thanks!

[@jfelty6262]

Bob - Here in NE TN over thee last couple weeks have been Blueberry, wild American Plum, Crab Apple/Apple, Autumn Olive, Honeysuckle Bush (not Vine) and Black Haw (Hackberry/Sugarberry may be close. - lots of nectar coming in. Locust and Tulip Popular has not started blooming; red bud is on the way out this past week - if that gives you better reference of timing here versus your location.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Sounds like you may be on your way to a good crop.

[@randywashburn377]

I got a question bob when you put brood above a super with just foundation like that won’t them bees draw queen cells out that what I learned

[@bobbinnie9872]

Good question. The greater the distance of separation the more likely that it will happen. You'll notice that the colonies that got top supered got two but the ones that were under supered with the deep above only got one which makes it less likely and if it were to happen we will catch it.

[@rogerdrury6537]

Any chance you'd be willing to share the observation hive plans? Thanks for the video!

[@bobbinnie9872]

We actually have any exact plans. We just made it so 3/8 bee space is respected.

[@on5b416]

I heard you mention bees won't work dogwood? Bees will work dogwood here in Ontario Canada

[@chasehamm4467]

Bob have you ever used mediums instead of deeps for your first super in you singles. I running singles for the first time this year and don't have the deeps to spare so I used 2 mediums instead. do you see any issues here that I am overlooking

[@johncolson5705]

I'm using two mediums for a bottom box

[@bobbinnie9872]

No problem using any size as your first super. You'll see us doing it in videos later this season.