June 1 at Blue Ridge Honey Co.

[@doctortcbkk2027]

What a great gift it would be to be able work with Bob Binnie for a season!

[@richardnoel3141]

Well, I’ve never seen such an efficient marking of a queen before!! Your staff are awesome!!

[@MrMielten]

Why is it that Molly makes me smile the moment she enters the stage!? Her positivity is contagious!

[@donbearden1953]

Great folks! Everyone always seems happy and content! This organization is like a well oiled machine with all of the pieces falling right into place.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks Don. I'm blessed.

[@davidmerriott7356]

I’ve been watching for awhile now. Three year beekeeper. I noticed that this year caught me with surprises from different from the last years, but I see myself doing things Bob does so I know I’m slowly absorbing all his teaching as I progress. Hopefully the surprises get fewer and I do more things naturally. He works with such purpose and confidence. Such a master at his craft.

[@bobbinnie9872]

I David. After forty years I can report that the surprises never stop. 🙂

[@vcanura]

I love these videos! Thanks for sharing! Regards from Romania, Bob!🐝

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thank you and best regards to Romania.

[@chuckgross6024]

Your team of employees is just awesome. You truly must be the best guy to work for. Good on you. Love the videos you share!

[@timHclem]

Thanks for the video! A request, next time through the mating nuc yard please have Selena show & talk us through a few captures and markings. That one she caught and marked happened so fast I didn’t realize it happened.

[@jasonhughes3568]

Bob, thank you for another video!!! I've been watching ever since your very first video of candle making. I tell people your my online mentor. You have helped me grow as a beekeeper so much. 🙂 Mountain City, TN

[@bobbinnie9872]

Hi Jason. That's a lot of videos to watch. 👍

[@paulgroth5414]

Hi Bob, like many have mentioned, your team is awesome, and so are you ! Everytime I watch your videos I learn a new trick (to me anyway), making the jump from around a hundred colonies(typically what i ran in the past)to well over 400 at the moment...all I can say is thankyou to you for showing these all so helpful beekeeping tactics

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks. Sounds like you're about embark on a great adventure. 👍

[@altaylor293]

Good video as usual. I particularly liked your review of determining a young queen vs an older queen looking at brood and brood patterns. Good tip. I am also impressed by the ease that she has marking queens.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks Al. Let me know when you know what date you are coming.

[@dcsblessedbees]

Thank for another great video Bob, I always enjoy them.👍Dang she is a PRO at queen marking them Queens.😁Bob I love how you demonstrate reading the hive.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thank you.

[@GEEZBEEZ]

Always learning lots from you and your crew. Thanks much for the videos. Take care.

[@allsmilz7234]

Thanks for sharing interesting valuable content Bob 👍🇺🇲

[@bobbinnie9872]

👍

[@AmericansBee]

14:06 Bob, your laugh is awesome. Reminds me of th3 guys at work how well we get along.

[@beesintheweeds]

I could definitely see the benefit of requeening every year for commercial operations. As a backyard, small-time beek, it would be fairly risky. We’ve been having a TERRIBLE time getting queens to return mated this year in Kentucky. I’ve had to donate frames of eggs multiple times as the virgins just aren’t making it back. Odd year. And as you point out that really sets the honey production back. Thankfully 13 of my 15 colonies now have a 2023 queen but it was a chore. Lol. I have a 2022 and a 2021 queen. The 2021 is likely getting pinched soon. Just how things go. Nice video Bob!

[@mikeconley3031]

Such a great group of people, I met a few of them. Great video. Wow what a fast mark on that queen !

[@roydontully3196]

G'day Bob im glad im not the only one who drops boxes with frames in it lol

[@lynnhughes6350]

Hello from southeast Alabama ..the two packages I bought from y’all back on the 22 of April are doing great!!! One of them I put in my own observation hive I built for my BBQ place ..our customers love it .. hope to see y’all again soon …

[@CentralKyBees]

John need to step up his queen finding game before seleena takes the crown!😂 I love your videos bob, never miss one. Always good helpful info!

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks. John and Syleena are becoming a fun game to watch (and tease).

[@WildwoodsBeekeeping]

Good video Bob, looking forward to having you on tomorrow. Good stuff Bob

[@TimS366]

I love these 'slice of life' videos Bob, even though I spent most of yesterday doing the exact same thing it's lovely to get someone else's perspective.

[@deimandeimanadenomar5274]

A den A den A den A den

[@drliptak1]

The boxes that the crew are sitting on…genius! It appears they have all their gear situated to work efficiently. I want one! Guess i’ll have to come up again ❤

[@bobbinnie9872]

If you come I'll make one custom for you.

[@gregcundiff]

@@bobbinnie9872 How about a video of building one along with the cut-dimensions?

[@ehsanpartovi]

Bob thank you for your great videos and all key infos you share with us . I’d love to learn more about how you build and maintain your observation hive. ❤️.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Nothing fancy on the observation hive. We just feed it at times and some years we have to restock it.

[@BuckInfinidy]

Great video. Watched a couple times. Any chance you could spend some time detailing the boxes y’all are sitting on for queen searches : construction, modifications, functionality. Much appreciated.

[@ChrisFiggatt]

It was great to see and hear your though process while splitting and boosting those nucs.

[@anypis123]

Hi Bob, first colony is Caucasian for sure 😊 when the weather goes over 30 degree celcius, it becomes impossible to work with. All hive turns to sticky box. But I love their resilient character. Greetings from Türkiye 👋

[@GALanham-b2l]

Always learning, Thank You and your crew for another job well done!

[@BucketListBees]

Thank you, great Sunday bee fix,, !

[@timfeckley1689]

Some more invaluable information to file away! Thank You

[@keithfaithful3989]

The knowledge you have to do the manipulation of the hives without killing your queens is awesome. I think I had new queen 2years ago I obviously marked to old.

[@smac5283]

Thank you for the video. As always, very informative.

[@randallcarter-carterhillho2277]

Seeing all the yardwork videos this year from you has been very educactional for me. Thank you. Have you noticed it taking longer than usual for queens to mate this year in your area? It seems to be here in n.w. alabama. Colonies here seem not to have as many drones as normal this year. In mid we march had bad cold spell that shut bees down and killed blooms for over 2 weeks. I have carniolan bees.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Every location is different but thankfully here we grafted on schedule with no mating issues.

[@lairdrogerdavidbeale6933]

You guys are doing great work with the Honey bees and by way u look like Kenny Rogers in your picture

[@TennesseeTim38451]

To quote THE Bob Binnie,”OFF WITH HER HEAD!!!!” 🤷🏻😂

[@toddlafon4700]

Molly is a Geml ! Sunshine & Smiles

[@MinnesotaBeekeeper]

Mr. Binnie I'm really starting to understand what you meant by "opportunistic beekeeping'. Thank you sir.

[@TinyTrailFarm]

Looks great. Go red queen!!

[@kevinhoward4245]

Great video!! Good to see you and the gang.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks 👍

[@dontannery1805]

Thanks Bob you make it look easy but we no it is a lot of work

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I missed my 6 am coffee with Bob, had to move nucs. I’m caught up now though 😅

[@bobbinnie9872]

You're all caught up? Don't worry there's always tomorrow.

[@bounabdjaberabdeldjalil9874]

I'm a big fan of your work Mr bob, i learned a lot from your videos, thank you so much from me and my bees as well send you their thanks i guess haha I would love to come work for you Mr bob

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks. We don't need any more employees at this time but you would be welcome to visit.

[@petermcfadden9426]

So much for us to learn here. Greetings from north Wales, UK. No bears here or hive beetles.

[@bobbinnie9872]

I'm sure you have challenges that we know little about but no bears or beetles sounds good.

[@nadernaderi6461]

Good work Bob: would you please explain the difference between killing the old queen and merging the new nuc (and new queen) vs. adding nuc (with new Queen) directly over the established colony (with old Queen) and letting the bee decide to keep one of their choices?

[@jobyevans1]

Yep, you saw my comment last time, I would love to get your cast offs. :}

[@stevesoutdoorworld4340]

Great vid Bob love it!😁

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks.

[@TexasBeekeeper]

Question for you Bob. What do y'all do when you need to trim the weeds/grass around the colonies? Do they ever get irritated with the vibration of the mower/weedeater?

[@bobbinnie9872]

We have an employee that rarely shows up in our videos that spends a lot of time mowing the yards. I'll have to show him in a video. Yes, the machines really stir them up.

[@TexasBeekeeper]

@@bobbinnie9872 That would be great Sir. Thank you!

[@lenturtle7954]

The mower works them up then the weed wakker makes them sting everything moving or thats dark Total coverage needed would make a great video Smoke the whole yard and hang on or they will carry you off 😂

[@TexasBeekeeper]

@lenturtle7954 lol. That's no joke. I've started putting 1/8" hardware cloth in the entrances to close them off and then mowing, etc. Is no problem. Then just pull the hardware cloth out when done and then good to go. Do occasionally take a few stings pulling the hardware cloth out if they're rustled up enough. Note: I also pull the hardware cloth while I'm standing behind the hive. Lowers sting potential I'm sure.

[@lenturtle7954]

My cousin told me bees didnt sting him becaue they like him🤡 ???! So 👹i got him to mow one of our yards .of 32 hives . They were candle lake strain . Years ago a little hot 🔥 Of course i gave him armor. Butt!! He has never asked to mow another yard .😇🤣 Careful what you wish for .

[@IceBug1337]

2:42 wow, this woman has a good eye and steady hands for queens! What's her name? Tell her I'm impressed.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Syleena. 👍

[@markbooth8458]

Hello Bob. This June is a rough one for me. A couple of weeks ago. I possibly tore tendons in my right arm. Going to the doctor tomorrow. Probably gonna have to have surgery on it. ☹️

[@bobbinnie9872]

Ouch!! Hope it goes well.

[@Bluegrass499]

Enjoyed, the video! Show us Annie's some time. Where you do lunch . The location is beautiful.Thank you.

[@bobbinnie9872]

That's a good idea.

[@robertdemers5125]

Good morning Bob, I had to go into work early last week, so I could not comment but it was a good video.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thank you and good morning.

[@cliff4695]

Molly looks like a sweetheart. Hope she has or finds a really good man to take care of her. We seem to have a shortage of good young men nowadays, to many shit heads looking for 1 thing

[@RyanPardoe]

I was wondering if there was any chance I was still catching blame for screwing up back in March. And now I know 😂

[@apveening]

You will be blamed for everything that goes wrong until the next one leaves. After that, that person will be the designated scape goat.

[@bobbinnie9872]

I don't remember what happened. Should I ask John?

[@gregcundiff]

Since the queens are being harvested from the Nucs, I can assume you already have virgins to take their places, how long do these nucs sit queenless before being requeened? The next day? Thanks for the wealth of knowledge and information!

[@bobbinnie9872]

We leave them queenless for at least half a day and then install ripe (ready to hatch) queen cells. Sometimes it is the next day.

[@beekeeperjohn]

Great video many thanks. When introducing the new queen do you use the masking tape trick or just snuff out the old girl and introduce the new one possible due to the double screen board? Many thanks

[@bobbinnie9872]

We use masking tape on established colonies or nucs that have retained their field force. We don't when making splits in such a way that they lose their field force.

[@beekeeperjohn]

@@bobbinnie9872 many thanks 👍

[@BeeOleg1890]

Як завжди прекрасно!💛💙

[@bobbinnie9872]

Дякую.

[@kevinlyons919]

Bob, it looked like you had some new frames and foundation and I was wondering if you add more wax to the new foundation or just use them as you receive them?

[@bobbinnie9872]

We generally just use them as we receive them.

[@Xray.71]

Bob, with your nucs, when would you treat for mites? Prior to the newly mated queen laying her first round of eggs with OA or use apivar strips?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Ether one of those would work but the nucs in this video may not get treated because of the repeated brood break. We'll see in August.

[@Xray.71]

@@bobbinnie9872 ok, my nucs have been on a brood break for a couple weeks now, just checked yesterday and all day 1 eggs… was hoping not to disturb the queen with either. Thanks!

[@caseyolson0369]

Can you do a video taking about how to start a bee business? It's something I am trying to do and don't really know what direction to go next. I've got hives should I focus on growing number of hives? Selling bees in nucs? Raising queens? Just selling honey? What do you think is the best direction? I'd like to grow then sell nucs, thoughts? Thank you.

[@NicoleVoracka]

We sell nucs because they make more money than honey or queens for us. Select for bees that build a lot of brood and you can easily make 3 nucs out of one hive per year and the parent hive will still build enough to overwinter. You can do the math. We sell nucs for $200. If we had to harvest honey to match that revenue, it would take a lot more labor to extract and bottle! And there's a limited amount of queens you can get out of a mating nuc. If the nucs don't sell in spring, we use them to raise queens, and then we overwinter them and sell them at a higher price earlier the next year, which is how we can compete with southern nucs and nucs coming out of the almonds.

[@caseyolson0369]

@Nicole Voracka thanks for the advice. For one in my life, I'm NOT trying to learn the hard way. I was thinking the same thing about selling nucs. How do you do the splits? Walk away and let them raise their own queen or introduce a mated queen?

[@daleford5531]

Hey Bob hope you'll answer my question, I've noticed you and other comm.bee keepers don't use community feeders..but in a dearth isn't better? I would think using them would keep the foragers busy..but using a feeder on each hive the foragers are staying in the hive getting fusy with no work to do.?

[@bobbinnie9872]

I've used them before and came to the opinion they are hard on the bees. Of course there are plenty of others that use them with success and would disagree.

[@daleford5531]

@@bobbinnie9872 how are they hard on the bees? I was hoping for your on-site.

[@dianetaylor6751]

Reminds me I gotta go turn loose a queen from a push cage!

[@bobbinnie9872]

Don't forget like I have.

[@goldenbee9978]

Great video!! Thanks a lot!! Are you melting old combs and reuse the foundations?? Greetings from Germany

[@bobbinnie9872]

Greetings! No, we have very few old combs because of the amount of bees we sell and when we do get one we discard it.

[@Mp5sting]

Good morning Bob, thanks for taking the time to make the videos. Really enjoy watching them Sunday mornings. Just a thought, instead of killing the queens why don't you sell them? I would buy a few. Some of my best hives have 2-3 year old queens and make 5 to 6 supers of honey..

[@bobbinnie9872]

We have people suggest that often and this may sound odd, but it's best if we don't take the time to deal with it.

[@apveening]

Or use them to make more queens if you like their genetics. And never dispatch a queen until you know you have a good replacement for her.

[@wmrogerware]

Great video as always. Do you produce much cut comb honey?

[@bobbinnie9872]

I have 120 cut comb supers and at one time used them all but now I only use them occasionally.

[@beekeeper8474]

You should put the old queens in a jar of alcohol for swarm trap bait.

[@hootervillehoneybees8664]

Watching KZbin seen commercial guy requeen whole bunch 100s .. he simply made stacks of 6 and they killed each other's queen. No need to look for the queen.. he said. his feed system used air pressure and old propane tank works rather well..

[@matteden3604]

After you take the queens, what is the plan for the nucs? Come back in 6 weeks and harvest the new queens they’ve made?

[@bobbinnie9872]

I should have explained better that they receive our queen cells and they are on a 3 to 4 week schedule.

[@matteden3604]

Thanks for clarifying. Would love to hear more about that in a future video if you revisit the topic.

[@kevinr4800]

Hoping to meet Bob @ EAS this August.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Love to meet you, please say hi.

[@RikhuRamai]

Helo. Love from india. I want to keep melifera bee but I reside In hill forest so can the bee survive n prosper? We do keep bees but apis cerana hav low production. Any idea u can enlighten me on the geography and flight survival in this hilly forest?

[@bobbinnie9872]

For this question I would contact my freind Shibu Raj from India. This is his website address. www.tworivershoneybees.com/

[@saeedsalimbamerdah3594]

Do you replace all the queens every year or just the bad ones?

[@bobbinnie9872]

We try get them all but there is usually a few we miss. Absolutely yes on all of the bad ones.

[@beefuzzz8403]

What type of paint pen do you use. I never marked any of my queens but I want to start

[@bobbinnie9872]

www.markingpendepot.com/paint-pens-low-cost.aspx or you can order them from our store 706 782 6722

[@wildbadrehna5780]

what brand of marking pen do you use ? I see you release the queen as soon as you mark it

[@bobbinnie9872]

Marking Pen: www.markingpendepot.com/paint... We sell them in our store if you want to get one. 706 782 6722.

[@wildbadrehna5780]

@@bobbinnie9872 I have since got a red marker and sourwood honey from you . The honey is very good .... thank you.

[@rayjohnson8329]

What brand marking pens are you using? They look different from the ones I got from dadant. Thank you

[@bobbinnie9872]

Vwww.markingpendepot.com/paint... or you can order them from our store at 706 782 6722.

[@jwchitwood]

I mark the raise their own with last year's color. So I'm quick to replace her if she under performs.

[@doctortcbkk2027]

Why do you take the queens from the nucs in the Walmart yard? Just trying to understand. I know to sell but then do the nucs raise new queens?

[@bobbinnie9872]

We do sell the queens and use some ourselves and then restart the nucs with a cell that we produce.

[@Bienenwolf-marcel]

Hello Bob, please tell me, you work without gloves, how do you remove the propolis from your fingers?

[@bobbinnie9872]

We scrape off the large amounts and rub off the rest using soapy water.

[@rmd1960]

How can you work these hives without gloves? Are you getting stung?

[@bobbinnie9872]

We get stung occasionally but we're OK with it as long as it doesn't get too bad.

[@joshreeder6881]

I bought 20 packages of bees from another beekeeper i got them april4th and they just will not get stronger ive treated for mites steady feed should i take brood from some of my stronger hives and boost them im not sure what to do they are still in 5 frame nucs most only have 2 frames of bees

[@bobbinnie9872]

Not being there makes it hard to make a suggestion but assuming you have checked your mite load you might try some Strong Microbials (probiotics) to improve their immune systems and only feed light sucrose syrup, 1.5 part water x 1 part sugar.

[@joshreeder6881]

@@bobbinnie9872 thankyou

[@kevinogden4363]

What happened with the swarm that was on the building? Did they leave or move in?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Lucky for us they actually left.

[@beekeeper8474]

It's been raining here almost non-stop for a month😢 my bees are doing okay but man it's been a rough year.

[@bobbinnie9872]

We're beginning to get a bit drier than normal. If we could just trade a bit.

[@toprakanaciftligi8037]

👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@rodrigogabrecht7945]

👍🤗💪💝

[@doctortcbkk2027]

Bob….if it were a robbing situation, how would you do this work differently?

[@bobbinnie9872]

We would keep everything covered and would not get ahead of ourselves with open equipment left behind.

[@kevinmulherin5932]

Off road diesel is red dye

[@bobbinnie9872]

In many areas it is. In our area it can be green.

[@mitchelwayne5534]

What is you candy recipe?

[@bobbinnie9872]

We use powdered sugar and Karo Syrup, mixed to the consistency you like. For feed in shipping boxes we make it softer than queen cages.

[@robinkennedy9974]

Excellent teaching video Bob…..as always. Was that Seth dropping the box? And you didnt swear!

[@bobbinnie9872]

@@robinkennedy9974 That was actually Brandon who has only been with us since early in the season.