Beekeeping For Beginners - How To Save A Queen-less Beehive - Step by Step

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you for watching! :) Comments, suggestions or questions? Please comment below! Have a blessed day!

[@jimjordan5630]

Anna Kra. Where in South Carolina do y'all live? I'm in Johnston, SC.. Right now I'm a "hive haver" as I have a couple of hives but no bees. Keep hoping for a swarm but due to health reasons right now I'm not sad for not having any. Using this time to learn more from videos like yours. Even with his accent I still understand enough for it to make sense. Thank you so much!

[@AnnaKra]

@@jimjordan5630 we are in Spartanburg County.

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you for watching and commenting! :) I'm glad you understand him. I appreciate your feedback.

[@jimjordan5630]

@@AnnaKra Not too far away! Practically neighbors! Lol

[@AnnaKra]

@@jimjordan5630 Oh nice! Hi neighbor! :-)

[@privatebubba8876]

I had to do that 2 weeks ago. This is one of the reasons it is recommended to have at least 2 hives when starting out. You can share resources if one hive has a problem. That was a great shot of the female varroa mite. I would do a mite check and treat if necessary on that hive before you put honey supers on.

[@AnnaKra]

Yes, this is good advice! I have not treated this hive yet. But if we do treat them we try to use natural stuff, not the chemicals. Yes, starting with 2 or 3 hives is a must!

[@jpthedelawarebeeman7887]

You would think but I got 2 NUCS and both queens are supposed to have been mated and laying but they're not. The seller is of no help. He got his money and wants nothing to do with them now. One Nuc is re-queening and I hope that once its complete I can transfer a frame of eggs to the other nuc if the queen doesn't start laying. Stress seems to be the number one cause but there can be issues in the hive as well. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

[@notafuckinpplperson8233]

Anna Kra haven't watch a bunch of your videos yet, but from the ones i have watched, you guys seem to have a big mite problem. not sure what ur using, but maybe it's time to take treatment a little more seriously? we have nite here where i live, so we treat heavy with oav. not the end all cure all, but if helps drastically if done right. there's other stuff also, but this is our go to.

[@That_Girl_7_11]

I came here because I have an issue with my hive without a Queen but OMG I just love your Daddy!

[@AaBb-ie4bn]

Спасибо за ваши видео. Смотрю в Москве. Павел -супер.Только начинаю, пока 4 улья и все очень полезно

[@AnnaKra]

Your very welcome! :)

[@josephwoodall832]

Hello Anna. That was a nice video. I think maybe you should buy a vsh queen. That might help with varroa.

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you! What is a vsh Queen?

[@josephwoodall832]

@@AnnaKra VSH is varroa sensitive hygiene the bees will actually kill brood and remove them if there are varroa in the cell it's not 100% but it helps I've read quite a bit about this. I think it's a good idea to get these genetics in your colonies and a bad idea to rely too heavily on swarm cells to request colonies if you're in a pinch or starting a nuc fine use a swarm cell but be prepared to requeen when your swarm cell queen isn't up to par.

[@klazyy641]

I never get tired of seeing Pavel handle his hives w/o any protective gear on. It reminds me of my grandfather who did the same thing----I was always in awe of him for that and the fact that when I was with him while he collected the combs, I never got stung. Even when a swarm set up 'house' in the side of our ranch house, they never stung us. Like Pavel, he had some way of telling them we were okay. Ha! Great video as usual!

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you for watching and for your comment! That is awesome that you had a grandfather like that! :-)

[@benjaminwidmyer525]

Anna you a great support to your dad!

[@AnnaKra]

Thanks Mariya!!!

[@bwana4711]

Love this channel. And I love your dad’s wonderful way of describing the bees: ‘family’ and ‘marriage’ being my favourite descriptors. Great video. One day I hope to be as knowledgeable and brave enough to go gloveless when inspecting my colony.

[@bwana4711]

Also, when picking up the Queen - can she sting you?

[@AnnaKra]

Ha ha that’s awesome! Lol thank you for commenting! :)

[@AnnaKra]

She won’t. Only if you squeeze her hard and she’s fighting for her life.

[@BonsaiJCan]

Great video and great information ! Thank you for taking the time showing your detailed work with great info. It was nice to see an update on the new hive. Cheers!

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you Bonsai. :)

[@stevenogborn5892]

Pavel is a great man. I wish I spoke Rus.

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you for watching and commenting! :)

[@benjaminwidmyer525]

Video is fantastic!

[@AnnaKra]

Thanks for watching!!! :)

[@chrismcconnell6163]

I just recently started watching you , and I do enjoy your videos

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you! I'm happy to hear that!

[@natashahines5115]

Great information

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you for watching and commenting! :) I hope your bees are doing well!

[@charmcityhoneybees6145]

Thank you for the video. This is great. I am new to beekeeping. I will get my bees in about two weeks.

[@AnnaKra]

You're welcome! That is very exciting! Thank you for watching! :)

[@peppersanchez6044]

Cool

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you for watching! :)

[@tariqbenrais5945]

Great stuff guys, loving the work.

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you! :) I’m happy to hear this! More videos coming soon.

[@tariqbenrais5945]

Looking forward to see some more, massive thank you all the way from Europe.

[@kent-johnsongardens1496]

Love the channel and the lessons. Cant wait to see your harvest.

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you! I appreciate your comment! I can’t wait either :-)

[@berrrygr]

Hi I am a new beekeeper and I have learned some important information fromyou and your Dad. Thank you

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you for commenting! :-) I’m happy to hear comments like this. You’re welcome!

[@blueyes043]

Thank you !!!

[@tomfairbourn6998]

Fantastic video you both are doing a great job. Keep up the good work

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you! :-) we will!

[@honeybees2945]

Good thank you

[@LikodsaPayag]

nice bees episode ms Anna, new supporter here :D thanks for sharing....

[@AnnaKra]

You’re welcome! Thank you for watching and commenting! :)

[@LikodsaPayag]

@@AnnaKra you're so beautiful ms Anna' thanks for always inspiring us...

[@darkeblue]

I know Pavel is the bomb, but was there any doubt the queen would get rejected? If they rejected here, could he have saved her before it got killed?

[@AnnaKra]

Because that was their original queen to begin with, I seriously doubt they would ever reject her. But if we have put a different queen there from a different hive and they didn’t accept her, yes, we would of immediately taken her back and tried to put a different queen there instead. Hope this makes sense. Thank you for watching and for your comment! :)

[@AnnaKra]

Yes, my dad said that they can still reject her even if that was their original queen. But the chances are very slim.

[@AnnaKra]

Also, if they reject her you can put her in a cage for couple of days they usually accept her 90 percent of the time after that.

[@darkeblue]

@@AnnaKra Thank you Anna and Mr. Pavel!

[@notafuckinpplperson8233]

of course there's time. not like the bees that are trying to kill her would pull out knives or guns or grenades.

[@gustavocampos1969]

Thanks Ana and Pavel for the new video. I'm getting used to Pavel's accent: didn't need the subtitles anymore! :)

[@AnnaKra]

Nice! :) thank you for watching!

[@hotmurka]

Good vedio sis!!😊

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you Marina!!! :)

[@1979-p8y]

👍👍👍👍👍

[@AnnaKra]

Thanks for watching! :)

[@jpthedelawarebeeman7887]

Hi Anna, I'm dealing with something similar except I have queens but they are not laying the last time I checked which was last Saturday. One of my 2 colonies had Supersedure cups and 1 was capped. I hope it hatches this coming weekend. I am doing another inspection this coming Saturday. Neither colonies queen is laying so I have no eggs in either hive at the moment. :( I am hoping for the best :) Worst case I'll be buying queens soon. Both hives are working bringing in pollen and nectar from what I could tell watching them.

[@AnnaKra]

Oh wow! Keep me posted! Your queens are probably sick. I’ll ask my dad to see if there is a way to save them. Thank you for watching and commenting!

[@jpthedelawarebeeman7887]

@@AnnaKra Update - I have eggs in both hives now. The one hive the old queen is dead and superseded. All is good now ! Where is Pavel I hope all is ok with him! I'm sure everyone else here misses him as well.

[@AnnaKra]

@@jpthedelawarebeeman7887 That is good to hear! We will be posting more videos soon! Stay tuned. Within a day or two.

[@ratpackcolorado]

Omg you are so lucky.

[@ratpackcolorado]

Family crying . Ugly and put finger. Family not happy with queen so put queen cell they have big problem. No eggs. Close honey............they acutely absorb the royal jelly. Not eat it. And yes varroa can do that.. I would like to get a queen from his family. How do I get one to make new family. Get him to talk about requeening.

[@AnnaKra]

My dad said, yes the varroa mite could of killed her too, but it really looks like she fell down from feed probably was the primary reason why she died. He only sells queens locally. Depends where you live. Thank you for watching and commenting! :) He also said that the egg is 3 days, after that 6 days worm, the worm eats the jelly for 6 days.

[@gustavocampos1969]

Pavel, what if they turned their backs to the old queen and tried to sting her? What would you do? Pick her up quickly and return her to the old hive? Couldn't they kill her before you could get her back? I've seen many channels where they cage the queen for a day or two before reintroducing her to the new hive... which way would be better?

[@AnnaKra]

Great questions! My dad said, yes, he takes her back immediately and puts her in a cage, 90 percent of the time they accept her after that. Yes, they can still kill her, they can get very aggressive and new beekeepers can be too scared to take her back. The cage way is great for those who are inexperienced and/or scared. Also, if you do decide to put her on a comb, make sure there is not too many bees around so that you can take her back more easily if they are aggressive. Also, in this case the chances of these bees accepting their original queen back was extremely high. Putting a queen on a comb is great for those who have a lot of beehives, you get to know right away if they accepted her, saves a lot of time, because you don’t have to go into the hive again. I hope this helps! Thank you for watching and commenting! :)

[@jeffegg2]

@@AnnaKra It would be informative to watch a queen introduced that is rejected.

[@blueyes043]

I have a question,...granted, I saved 4 of my hives by taking queen cells from my strongest hive,...but I've heard this isnt good due to inbreeding. All 4 of my 5 hives are daughters of the 5th hive. Is this ok ?,...or should have I bought new queens ?

[@AnnaKra]

Depends on how long you had them, my dad said it's ok to do that for 3-4 years to avoid inbreeding. The queens mate with drones from different families near by usually. After 3-4 years of doing that its a good idea to switch out all your queens to new queens from a different location. I hope that makes sense. You can switch out to new queens yearly if you like but that can add up quick and is the reason why most beekeepers usually don't. They do just fine if you switch them out every 3-4 years. Thank you for watching. Great question.

[@mark-wn5ek]

Another great lesson. Anna you and dad make a great team. Very good!

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you! :)

[@mark-wn5ek]

@@AnnaKra ok Anna, time for me to ask Pavel questions! So, I caught a swarm but evidently did not get queen because after in hive for several days, I check, no eggs. Hmmm, cannot find queen. I check and find multiple eggs laid in each cell....worker started laying. No good. So, I buy new marked queen, install her in cage, check back in 3 days, bees have released her....saw her once. Five days later I check again. Queen gone, still multiple eggs in cells. She has been killed? Or flew away....no matter, she is gone and worker still laying. Many drones in hive too. Okay, so friend says to combine queenless hive with another strong hive, just set queenless box on top of strong hive. He says bees will sense fertile queen present and stop trying to lay and bees will clean out worker eggs. Wait a week or so and split hives, should fix problem. Hmmm....ok. So, what keeps queenless hive bees from killing good queen they are combined with? Also, if successful and can split, I assume to leave queen in her hive and put brood comb in other split hive to make new queen from?

[@AnnaKra]

@@mark-wn5ek I'm sorry to hear that. I will ask my dad as soon as I get a chance and get back to you.

[@AnnaKra]

@@mark-wn5ek My dad said, first to double check the hive and make sure she is not there. If she is not there than to do exactly what your friend said to do. This is the best option for the queenless hive because of the situation the hive is in. The strong family won't let the weak family kill her queen, so no worries there. Yes, put frames with brood in the split hive to make a new queen! Your friend gave you excellent advice! I hope this helps.

[@mark-wn5ek]

@@AnnaKra thank you Anna and dad. Your dad and I appear to be about same age but he has 30 years experience I don't! Many twists and turns in this adventure. Pavel also has pretty helper that I don't! Tell him thank you very much. I'll let you know how it works out. Keep making videos, very good teacher.

[@naveedsarwar4254]

Interesting information ? LOVE you.?

[@flymech03]

👌🏿

[@PavelBee]

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[@AnnaKra]

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[@bojanbulic8807]

I like how Pavel explains

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you for watching! I’m glad to hear that! :)

[@Malzen66]

Hi Anna, great video. Does your Dad leave the queen in the queenless hive now or does he return it to the swarm hive after shes laid new eggs?

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you! :) he leaves it there! The swarm hive develops their own Queen from an egg.

[@kevindrury8390]

The bees are really calm. I dont have bees that calm. I did 2 splits and both are queenless and I'm got to newspaper combined the swarms I caught back on them.

[@AnnaKra]

I hope that worked out for you. For the most part, our bees are pretty calm. Thanks for watching and commenting! :)

[@kevindrury8390]

@@AnnaKra I have been beekeeping for 4 year I have 12 hives , 2 don't have queens. I have a lot of dragonflies at my home and I think they get my queens. Thanks enjoy your dad and you

[@AnnaKra]

@@kevindrury8390 Wow that's a lot of hives! I'm sure you could fix that!

[@kevindrury8390]

@@AnnaKra not good at spotting queens but I can see eggs and larvae. Love when you dad says worms. I know translation is different for him.

[@AnnaKra]

@@kevindrury8390 Yes lol. He tries. ha ha.

[@aleksandrit777]

🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

[@suzisrealityvideos9038]

Great vid!

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you Suzi!! :-)

[@suzanniegaming2614]

love your vids!

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you for watching!! :)

[@xdsuzi2]

enjoyed the video!

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you XDsuzi!!! :-)

[@mohawksniper79]

Very good info. I like your vids very much👍👍😎

[@AnnaKra]

I'm glad! :) thank you for watching and commenting!

[@PavelBee]

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[@strugglingbeekeepermarkcot9642]

Just installed my Nucs into my hives today found the queen in one box and couldn’t find the queen in the other box fed them sugar water and going to check them again in 7 days and make sure they have plenty of sugar water.

[@AnnaKra]

Nice! That is very exciting! Thank you for watching! I hope it goes well for you! :)

[@grounded7362]

I realize Pavel has been keeping bees for many years, but I disagree with him about a queenless hive being aggressive. I currently have a queenless hive and they are as gentle and pleasant to inspect as a person could ever desire.

[@AnnaKra]

Well, not in all instances a queenless hive is aggressive. For example, if your hive is going through a quiet change of queens where they have decided to change the queen on their own they are usually pretty calm and it also depends how long they are without a queen. Thanks for commenting.

[@josephwoodall832]

Well Anna my bees are as mean as ever. They took the whole gallon of syrup so I'll give them more. Though I am tempted to let them forage on their own because I feed them and then they sting me. I had a brand new bee suit on to. I thought I was impervious but one of the zippers was broke I got stung on the lip and cheek and one on the ankle. That hive hates me and I'm not so fond of them right now either.

[@AnnaKra]

Lol. The only other two reasons I can think of If you look inside the hive when it's too cold, and if they are queenless they may be more aggressive. Also, sometimes it depends on the breed. smoking them doesn't help?

[@josephwoodall832]

@@AnnaKra they are not queenless there are new eggs it's like 80 degrees today so it's not too cold lol I don't know what to do. I didn't smoke them at all maybe next time I will that might make the difference. I do have a queenless hive so I've got to order one they were kind of aggressive but not like the other one I did fix my zipper so that's good that company is getting a nasty letter!! To send someone a bee suit with a broken zipper is just mean.

[@AnnaKra]

@@josephwoodall832 We smoke them (not too much) before each beehive inspection, which is a must in beekeeping because we are invading their space. The amount of bee stings you're getting is actually within the norm, that is how they try to protect their hive. This is why smoking them is important, every time you get a bee sting, a bee dies, so you're preventing bee deaths by smoking them. If the whole hive comes after you, that's not normal. But the amount your getting stung now is a normal reaction from your hive if you don't smoke them!!! I hope this helps. :)

[@AnnaKra]

@@josephwoodall832 It will make the world of difference!

[@josephwoodall832]

@@AnnaKra it might be normal but I had a full suit on and they found the only little hole in it without the suit I'd have been stung a lot more lol I'm still enjoying it not the stings but the rest of it. I won't give up.

[@vaclav2062]

How does Pavel rear his queens ? Just from open brood frames, or does he use plastic queen cells or nicot kit ? I like his channel, I understand few words in Russian but I can't read names of videos because of russian alphabet :)

[@AnnaKra]

Yes, just from open brood! Thank you for watching and commenting!

[@houstonshelton5034]

Thumbs up from Kentucky. Thanks

[@baddestbees3347]

Here's my personal suggestion, NOT to take anything away from your dad,HE IS VERY SMART, however it is my belief that you should never leave more than two queen cells, you said the last time there were MANY, I know a lot of people think this increases the chance of getting Queenright, but it is my belief it increases the chances of becoming QUEENLESS ..The reason being- in a perfect situation the first queen to emerge would kill the other queens through their Queen cells, leaving only one Queen. However, they are usually a little different age and emerge at different times, this causes there to be more than one Virgin Queen walking around, then they meet up and fight.. well they could BOTH be injured leaving you QUEENLESS. Another reason I don't do it is ,because a lot of Times if the hive is still strong enough, when the Virgin flies out to mate ,the bees will actually go with her as a CastSwarm, they can do this with EVERYCELL that Hatches, Swarming themselves over and over again ,until they are just dwindled to nothing. Personally I only leave 1cell. At the very most, if I don't have the equipment to make another split, I will leave 2 Cells, but NEVER ever more than two. As far as Tearing Queen cells down, so there's not so many, we are not the bees so we don't know the best ones to keep, so the best we can do is make an educated guess ,by learning from experience, from experience we know the little short Cells ARE inter-caste queens and not fed properly and then if they do lay they will never be a good Queen, so we know to tear off the little cells they're no good, now the really, really extra long ones aren't any good either- they usually won't even make, so we don't want to keep the longest ones either, the ones we want are the nice fat ones that aren't too short and aren't too long the ones that look like a mushroom where the wax has been worked (Mottled)we DO want to keep,Al we do not want any smooth Queen cells, for they are usually a dummy cell or practice cell and not viable.. this is just experience I have learned and I am paying it forward there is many ways to do things and all beekeepers have different opinions..I'm not saying this is the only way I'm just saying this is how I do it, and the reasons why I do it this way... good videos keep them coming

[@AnnaKra]

You may be on to something! I'll ask my dad and see what he thinks! Thank you for commenting! :)

[@AnnaKra]

My dad said you are 100% right! He does the same thing usually. In fact, he said based on his experience even better to leave one queen cell (like you do), best one, and even better if you take one frame with queen cell out and make a new queen on the side just in case something happens to the other. In this video tho, the family swarmed out and we didn't have too many bees left behind to start off with, and he highly doubts that they would have swarmed again. Also, new beekeepers can easily miss other queen cells. They may be covered with bees and harder to find if there are a lot of bees. My dad doesn't always have the time to teach me every little thing, he said he just didn't get to it yet. This advice is super! Great video idea! You should make a video about it, I'm sure youtube can use more beekeepers like yourself. Thank you for watching and commenting! We may do a video on this in the near future. Thank you again.

[@baddestbees3347]

Anna Kra wow let him know we think so much alike, I just told my father-in-law that he should take a cell and a few bees instead of wasting it in case his split with Queen cell didn't make it back from her mating flight.. that way he would have a spare or at least have another chance especially when you are dealing with good genetics, I completely understand about the time Thing 2- I am building honey supers right now and I am way behind,but you just have to do what you can do and that's all you can do, and another thing you have to use what you have available remember that. Some people see videos on Cell Builders and stuff like that and they are making them up with ten frames of brood Plus.. and that's great, if you have the resources, but usually beginners have to copycat the same thing but only with five frames or the best they can come up with, ALWAYS use what you got, some day you can do it how you would really like to do it ,it will happen for you, once you have enough bees where you're not breaking down production Hives to get resources, you can do soooo much more it's almost as if the bees are just making bees for you-always use what you have available and make the best of it, for instance if you need a frame of pollen but don't have it,use sub.. put that besides your Queens. you have to do what you have to do, someday you will have the resources to do it how you would prefer, remember that.

[@AnnaKra]

@@baddestbees3347 Nice! Yes very true! Thanks again for your comment! Hope to see some videos from you, one day!

[@baddestbees3347]

Anna Kra contemplating for a couple years lol I confident I ready, I wanted to wait until I was sure I wouldn't ever mislead someone,but I pretty capable nowadays I believe.I plan to if EVER get caught up.All new Queens are EXPLODING, can't barely keep up,u be first to know when I do though, maybe soon..

[@bamaoutdoorsofficial]

Awesome video and great teamwork!! Very informative.

[@AnnaKra]

Thank you! :) I appreciate your feedback.

[@ZaheerKhan-ox2ez]

new queen how many days to start lying

[@andrewstahl3531]

everybody..licky licky licky :D

[@AnnaKra]

Lol I know. Ha ha

[@notafuckinpplperson8233]

licky da front side and back side 🤣🤣

[@triboet]

He killed a worker (at 2:25). Be careful in handling bee hives.

[@AnnaKra]

Yeah, that’s true. It happens sometimes. Yeah, we have to be careful. Thank you for watching!

[@notafuckinpplperson8233]

it happens all the time. comes with the territory. we try our best to not do it, but it's damn near impossible to not kill a few bees inspecting hives. especially when ur hives are booming.

[@kevimc]

Anna you need to wear lighter clothing all that dark the bees do not like; speaking of dark ; beautiful queen are these Russian bees; I am a new subscriber thanks

[@AnnaKra]

Yes, this is true! Thank you for watching and commenting! :) By the way, our bees are Italian, we live in sc.