Beekeeping and Queens: Mastering OTS Queen Rearing Techniques with John Schwartz

On-The-Spot Queen Rearing as pioneered by Michigan's own Mel Disselkoen teaches you to make best use of this time of year to get the edge on Varroa destructor (mites) through summer splits. Raise your own queens and bees to increase your apiary and prepare for the coming winter with confidence and bees to spare!
Learn how John has successfully used the OTS queen rearing system in his apiary over the years.
Subscribe to the SBGMI Newsletter here: eepurl.com/hToTyj
Join the SBGMI: www.sbgmi.org/membership
Stay up to date on our premium speaker events: www.sbgmi.org/shop
Members receive annual access to premium content and 2023 Virtual Winter Conference Recordings featuring Dr. John Harbo, Dr. Jamie Ellis, Dr. David Peck, Dr. Robyn Underwood, Michael Bush, Nathalie B. Kim Flottum, Stephen Repasky, Adrian Quiney, and Les Crowder! SBGMI Members have access to content April 1, 2023 through sbgmi.org/michigan-beekeeping...
Need Free Honey Bee Swarm Removal: www.mibeeswarmremoval.com
beekeeping 101,beekeeping for beginners,how to start beekeeping,beekeeping business,beekeeping classes,beekeeping basics,beekeeping tips,combining hives,november tips,treating varroa mites,varroa mite,queen failure,queen breeding,how to inspect a hive, requeening a hive,beekeeping,northern beekeeping,controlling mites,drone honey bee,honey,queen bee,beekeeper,bees,honey bees,james lee's bees,james lees bees, november tips, treating varroa mites, queen breeding, combining hives, drones, game of drones, bob binnie

[@richarddarbyshire7896]

I saw John's presentation a few years ago and immediately bought Mel's book and followed the process. After that I was able to get my bees to make it thru the winter and went from 4 hives to 12 and lost 2 hives over winter. Love the process and thanks for sharing this.

[@sbgmimedia]

Glad it was helpful. Don't forget to stop by the SBGMI.org and join up - we always have awesome content!

[@gordonspond8223]

10 year beekeeper: I never treated my bees for anything. First few years I might have 50% to 60% losses. I only breed the survivors. Now I'm at about 15% - 20% losses. I did become better at beekeeping, but I am convinced the genetics have been getting better over time as well. Haven't bought bees since about 2018.

[@user-yf7ob7ls5r]

Do you have good geographic isolation

[@bernardardis8796]

Gret information and group! Thanks for sharing your information i look forward to growing as much as i can in Michigan as well

[@sbgmimedia]

Hey Bernard! Are you connected to our FB group? facebook.com/groups/sbgmi

[@bernardardis8796]

@@sbgmimedia if not i will go join now

[@kipglass6222]

January of 2021, the EPA gave approval of oxalic vaporization with honey supers on.

[@woodlandharvesthoneycompanyllc]

John ,this year 2024, the solstice is on June 20th. Would there be any advantage to removing the queen and notching frames on say June 5th? She would emerge around the 20th and possibly be mated and laying by the first of July. Or is it better to notch on July 1st?

[@sbgmimedia]

The solstice doesn't really change the biology of the honey bees. You will be fine notching on the 5th. This will give you a young queen for late summer - fall.

[@bhjb4325]

Why can't I make a nuc and create queens in the nuc?

[@sbgmimedia]

You can. But, the quality of the queen produced is going to be impacted by the amount of nurse bees available to feed and raise a new queen cell.

[@Dampflanze]

Would that work even better with a double screened board and the queen right nuk on top?

[@TheBeeFarm]

Yes can work great, especially if/when there are early cold spells.

[@Dampflanze]

@@TheBeeFarm Thanks I see this happening with the polar vortex cut capers or whatever might be the reason

[@kipglass6222]

the comment at the 49:00 mark about oxalic vaporization doing several times so many days apart is old science. Tests have shown, no matter how many times and so many days apart you will just keep your mite levels static, with no significant drop in numbers. Keep up with the recent science and tests.

[@radi.]

Is his presentation available? I would like to take a better look at the notching pics.

[@hqu1912]

go to mel disselkoen site or search for Helpful_Tips_For_Notching-web.pdf