Bee Colony Reinforcement With a Twist, Boosting Hives with Swarms, Queen Introduction Inspires Swarm

This Video has a Twist!
Once your backyard apiary is at maximum capacity, it's time to take a look at your existing colonies and discern which of those may need a boost in work force, or a new queen.
In this video, my good fortune continues as I manage to spot a queen in the swarm box.
I collected her with my One-Handed-Queen-Catcher, mark her with the appropriate color for 2024, and then use her to inspire remaining honey bees to occupy the Lyson Nucleus Hive.
Will it work?
Watch and see how it goes... Expect the unexpected when it comet to honey bee management.
Affiliate link to the One-handed-queen-catcher that I use to park queens while new paint dries on their thorax.
amzn.to/3xIFEFm
NOTE: Periodically soak your queen catcher in fresh water and dry it out so the soft pad remains pliable. This is a CHEAP version of the more expensive queen marking holders. It will need some maintenance.

[@craigo4dds]

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]

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 :)

[@aaronparis4714]

I love 6 frame poly nucs

[@hillkid4mountains]

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?

[@alyb731]

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

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you :)

[@kimberlypaulson4545]

Bee soap opera! The best ever!

[@FrederickDunn]

I'm so glad you liked it :)

[@SIBEEMAN]

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

[@FrederickDunn]

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

[@SIBEEMAN]

lol!!

[@timan2039]

Be sure to inform the supervisor

[@FrederickDunn]

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

[@rodneymiddleton9624]

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

[@iditarod4081]

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]

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

[@Merlin.Twiggles]

Love the slow mo

[@cobberpete1]

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

[@FrederickDunn]

:)

[@kennith.]

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

[@FrederickDunn]

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.

[@sonofthunder.]

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

[@FrederickDunn]

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

[@oneeyehives]

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]

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

[@saintjohncoleman8602]

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

[@FrederickDunn]

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

[@josephdavis556]

Another great video

[@FrederickDunn]

Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@schammond8993]

That was fun.

[@michaelhansen6481]

👍

[@willobrien353]

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]

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]

@@FrederickDunn got it. Thanks for the response.

[@francinekeane9900]

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]

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.

[@Avierra]

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]

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.

[@royaljellyandhoneyinc4270]

🐝🐝🐝🐝🍯

[@brianhoffman500]

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]

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]

@FrederickDunn Thank you!

[@aaronparis4714]

It’s sucks when that happens

[@FrederickDunn]

It's fun to see...

[@danpszeniczny9664]

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]

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]

@@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.

[@liefhands]

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]

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

[@liefhands]

@@FrederickDunn awesome! Thank you for the response.

[@Ittiz]

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

[@FrederickDunn]

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

[@aaronparis4714]

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

[@FrederickDunn]

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.

[@illumi-Nate]

What do u think of the lyson hive?

[@FrederickDunn]

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

[@craigo4dds]

@@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 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

b

[@northernlights8126]

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

[@FrederickDunn]

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

[@northernlights8126]

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