OTS Queen Rearing Notch Method Part 1 of 2 S4E29

[@tomkingsley4398]

Nice camera work!!! Best video footage showing eggs.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Hey Tom. It took me awhile to figure out that camera to get it in that close and in focus. The trick was to stay about three feet back and zoom in. I'm hoping to get in there tomorrow if the weather is nice and check them out.

[@theresaamos9334]

Thank you!!!! Short concise and so helpful!

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Thanks Theresa. Glad it was helpful

[@donbearden1953]

Darren, I’ve never tried the OTS but after watching your video and the close up camera work I would feel confident about trying it. Thanks so much and keep up the good work!

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Hey Don, yeah, there's nothing to it. Quick way to get some queen cells going. THanks for watching.

[@bengibbon9229]

Brilliant close up shots, thanks for sharing.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Thanks Ben. Took awhile to figure out how to get those shots and in focus too. lol It's a really good camera, but sometimes the autofocus drives me nuts and I haven't figured a way to manual focus it. Thanks for watching.

[@mandog2142]

I learn something new every time I watch your channel. Thanks!

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Hi WanderingStar. I’m glad it was helpful. Have a great weekend. 🐝🐝

[@fishmut]

Liked and subscribed , very good video , easy to follow , good close up viewing and steady camera work , happy bee keeping cheers. 👍

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Thanks Ytanythinggoes. Welcome to the channel.

[@PapaBee165]

Great video. I’ve never seen this method before.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Thanks papa bee 🐝. Check out part two and also another follow later, you can see which eggs in the notch they used.

[@CBsGreenhouseandGarden]

Bees are looking good buddy. Always great tips and information on bee keeping going on over there. Have a great safe weekend!

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Thanks, you too Mr. CB and Rene!

[@framcesmoore]

Great video I am going to try this I spend 1000 on queens every year thanks for this video

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Thanks Frances, and good luck.

[@jayweddle7993]

Nice video Darren Mel is smiling !!!

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

I looked up Mel and watched a video where he spoke at a meeting.

[@nikigores8774]

You made it look so easy and simple, a great trick to have up my sleeve knowing someday it'd be just what I'd need to rescue a hive from drone layers. Thanks so much!

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Hi Niki. It works pretty good. I do it a couple times each year. It helps me determine if a hive is actually queenless or not and they start on them pretty quick, like in a couple days, after you notch it. Laying workers are the worst. I caught this one just in time. You have to keep that brood pheromone in there. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@russellkoopman3004]

Thanks Darren. That can save many a beek from spending 40-50 dollars for a queen they might kill anyhow. You have a chance to make 3 or 4 nice queen cells there and you could I suppose harvest a cell or two for replacing an old queen somewhere else. I have read Mel's book several times and have wondered why more youtube beeks always talk grafting. Most hobbyist only need a couple of new queens a year and this is such a simple cheap way of providing local stock for anyone. Your camera work is 2nd to none.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Thanks Russell. I'd like to try grafting. You can make so many more queens that way. I suppose that's why they do it. I bought the jzbz equipment, but never have tried it. Maybe next year. Take care.

[@russellkoopman3004]

@@JeromeBeeFarm There are a lot of 1 to 5 hive beekeepers out there that would be happy learning to notch. Setting up cell builders and finishers, buying and incubator, a lot of work. You can do multiple notches on 5 or 6 frames on a strong queenless hive and raise 10 or more queens at a time. That's a lot of queens for most people.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Yeah, I could do that if I had more natural wax comb in my brood boxes. I have a few, but mostly I have plastic foundation.

[@raterus]

So THATs what notching is, I looked at lots of help about OTS Queen Rearing, they'd go into detail about when to notch, but never actually explained the process. This video definitely helps!

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Hi Raterus. Yeah, it's funny what people think is so obvious doesn't get explained. If you watch part 2, you can see where they pulled down the cells, which eggs/larvae they used from each notch. Good luck.

[@beewitch5569]

I learned something new today! I've never seen that done before.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Hi Bee Witch. Yeah, it works pretty good. I shot a follow up video today so you can see the results. Thanks for watching.

[@DStewart2022]

Thanks for the video. I've never notched a frame like that. I have however just grabbed a frame of eggs/young larvae and stuck it in a queenless hive and let them make the decision which egg/larvae to use. Interesting alternative.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Hi David. Yeah, that works too. I learned this from a guy in Oklahoma, Ken Davis. Some folks claim it's faster, but who knows. lol One thing is you can control where queen cells come down. I'll try to shoot a follow up this weekend. If it was queenless, they should have those notches drawn down with queens. We'll see. Thanks for watching.

[@markkarstad2899]

What a great technique!

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Thanks Mark. It works pretty good. I'll shoot a follow up video this weekend if it will stop raining. lol Thanks for watching.

[@markkarstad2899]

@@JeromeBeeFarm I lost one of my hives this winter - starve-out. I am aggressively building up my second and will make a split as soon as I see a few drones. Your technique looks like it would speed up the cell building process.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Tough break. Good luck.

[@stufarnham]

Water bugs and frogs in the farm pond. Not much of that in this dry country. Timely video, Darren, I am going to try OTS this weekend, conditions permitting. I want to try several methods for queen rearing to see what works best for me.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

HI Stu. It work's pretty good for me. Good luck. Let me know how it turns out. Take care.

[@jhulin9018]

I heard about OTS for the first time at the Texas Beekeepers Summer Clinic this weekend and have been investigating it and came across your video. Your video is very helpful and practical and something I can easily implement.. I noticed that the OTS originator, Mel Disselkoen, recommends using

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

I’ve always read the younger the eggs the better. I don’t know if this is the same video, but I did a comparison of eggs/young larvae where I cut a notch and followed up a week later and you can se which ones they picked to pull down. They also pulled down some I didn’t touch. Check out the OTS playlist I have and you can see it on the following video. Good luck.

[@primitivedaisy]

Hmm, interesting. I’ve done the “drop a frame of eggs in”, which has worked, but I’ll have to give this a go. I also want to try queen cell transplants as I always have extras when I let them build their own. Thx!

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

I've had mixed results pulling off the queen cells with the plastic foundation. I discovered that I need to cut into the bottom of the frame and take a little bit of the wood off with the cell, otherwise there will be an open hole in the side of the cell ruining it. You don't have that problem with natural comb, they build them higher up above the frame bottom and you can cut the whole thing out. Have a great weekend P. Daisy.

[@jonclemons1421]

Ive tried the transplant of a queen cell but never heard of the OTS method. Thanks. Ill have to try that next opportunity!

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Hi Jon. I do transplants too when I have queen cells available. This method is about 20 days longer to get a queen, and she still has to mate. Thanks for stopping in and commenting.

[@nkapiariesjeffbeezos796]

Would it be better to that frame into a more populated hive? Thanks for showing the detail

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

The objective was to correct a queenless hive. That is why it went into hive #6 to correct it by making a new emergency queen before it turns laying worker. I hope that answers your question.

[@cluelessbeekeeping1322]

Can you do this with a queen-right hive? When would you remove the frame to use the queens in splits??? Do you wait for them to seal the queen cells?

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

I've never tried it on a queen-right hive. If they are queen right, they don't have any need to draw down emergency queen cells, so I think they would just clean it up and build the comb back. With this method, I leave the frame where it's at. If you're going to split the hive, you need to have more than one frame with queen cells.

[@cluelessbeekeeping1322]

@@JeromeBeeFarm If you simply added eggs to a hive which is missing a queen, there is no need to use the notch method. Why? They'll select their own queen from the eggs (they can tell by smell somehow the 'good ones'). If I wanted extra queens, then I'd want to use (at least, that's what I'm trying to do) this notch method.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

I believe notching speeds up the queen cell drawing process and it also produces more queen cells on a frame than if the bees select one. You will find they will draw the notches down about 2 queens per notch and they will also choose some of their own. It's difficult, but you can remove a queen cell and use them in multiple/splits vs just using the frame. (Queen cell transplanting)

[@josephfryc5994]

Fantastic love it, but do you leave all three cells if there are three or do you cut two out and leave one Thank you.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Yes, I leave them all to increase the odds of mated queen success. If there were a lot more I’d take out the smaller ones.

[@woodlandharvesthoneycompanyllc]

I see you notch cells with eggs instead of larve. To me that seems much easier and makes more sense than trying to select the proper size larve. But... some people say the bees won't make queen cells from the eggs it has to be 24 hour old larve. Which is correct and have you had any problems with notching cells with eggs as opposed to small larve.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

There’s a follow up video on this play list (OTS queen rearing) that shows exactly which cell they chose to pull down.

[@spudgn]

I plan to raise bees in retirement on the island of Mindanao. Three Apis species there. A. Mellifera and A. Cerana are the domesticated honey bees. I will probably raise stingless bees as well.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

When you get them going, send me some of those stingless queens. Have a nice week!

[@madmax68684351]

Hi Jerome Thanks for your video. Did you buy the book ? Is it worth the money ?

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Hey Madmax. I didn’t buy the book, but I heard it’s good. I learned from Ken Davis, Little Creek Bee Ranch, Inola Oklahoma

[@426superbee4]

I would love me some bull frogs legs rite NOW ! YUM Idk what kind of flowers them are? They just started popping up here last year THERE VERY PRETTY 0:43 these are red and yellow like my bee hives < Any way i mowed around them to let them make seeds, and this year there was even more of em So i did the same thing this year! he hee Got to be some sort of weed? There growing in poor hard soil

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

We call them Indian Paintbrush (the orange ones) I don't mow them until they are about dried up and they spread out and come up thicker every year.

[@426superbee4]

That the same way i do my Crismon clove! but these idk what they are? they look like this! 0:43 makes a stem with short leave and a round head but red and yellow yes i even seen the orange and yellow the hot pink too i seen some blue ones, Purple too . looks like the same plants! so they have many colors the blue and purple was growing in the shade while the red, pink and orange is out in full sun> Shit i done cut em down i can't show them : (

[@AmericansBee]

Thats not following OTS method as taught by the "inventer" Mel Disselkoen. That half box of bees are not strong enough to make the best fed queen cells. What you show here is just the basic concept of "notching". OTS is specific to spring splits to prevent swarming and another post summer solstice to break the mite loads before winter bees are produced. Hope you guys have watched his videos where he describes the entire method. Enjoyed the video either way. Thank you.

[@noahriding5780]

I wanted to ask... let's say you do a few batches of this type of queen rearing with the frame going back to the original position it was in with regards to box order, and then compared batches of the queen rearing ots frame going to a different position within the box... (same method, but they have to refind the frame again before starting, and assuming same number of worked on egg/larvae). Would the success rate differ on how many queens are successful between them? Thanks.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

I don't know, that's a good question. I generally put them in with the brood.

[@noahriding5780]

@@JeromeBeeFarm I agree that you should put them in the brood nest. Your right. I'm just not sure on if similar or original position with that will cause a delay in working on them enough to cause trouble. Thank you for an honest answer. And thanks for your videos also.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

I don’t think it really matters. I would just be sure it’s in the middle near or in the middle of two other brood frames. Don’t put it on the outside edges or between honey frames.

[@FloryJohann]

It is basically like a walkaway split. The problem is that the bees make 8 to 15 queen cells, which with so many queen cells could cause many after swarms with virgin queens and someone may find themselves with an dwindling hive where in the end there will be be only a few bees left. I usually go back and only allow 2 queen cells and remove the other ones to be used for splits or to be killed or giving away. To many queen cells = trouble. I use wax foundation only for this, this way I can cut queen cells out and put them into other hives or make splits with them. A hive will accept a queen cell way better than a emerged virgin queen or a mated queen. I also can pick nice queen cells this way. And the good thing is that the bees will not make a queen if there is a queen already present.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

This particular hive was a challenge all year, and finally gave it up after multiple tries, and even combined a laying queen with them. It was not meant to be. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@FloryJohann]

@@JeromeBeeFarm Thanks for the video. I make my splits and queen replacement the way you do it and I started out 2 years ago when I had problems with my bought bees and queens where I lost all my bees over winter for a few years prior those poor queens that came with my bought bees. I increased the amount of hives with this style of queen rearing and I am making nucs every year that is my insurance to have queens ready. I am making 2 nucs as we speak, but I am making nucs stuffed with bees, open brood and at least 2 frames with capped brood and I am taking all the nurse bees that are on those frames and I also take 1 frame of food. I have almost a 96% acceptance and success. You can take brood and young nurse bees from different colonies and combine them, this is what I do when I do splits or when a hive need more bees. Remember to feed them good, the bees need a lot of recources to raise queens. Good luck and thank you.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

I haven’t bought a queen in three or four years. I thought I might have to this year.

[@romoshka1]

Mel talks about 24-30 hour old larva but I’ve always wondered why eggs would not be ok.

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

I always thought it was the youngest eggs. We'll find out possibly - on the bottom right I think it had a larvae in about that range to the right of those eggs. We'll see which ones they drew down.

[@JBEESHoneyJoelBrutcher]

Yes, that young larvae, the same age you'd graft from. I tend to notch between the eggs and the brood that's easy to see, you'll get a few right aged in there.

[@amathonn]

Why didn't you just shake the bees off before you started?

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

I don’t like to shake frames full of eggs.

[@JBEESHoneyJoelBrutcher]

Love all the info. I'm not an expert (in fact I'm pretty new to beekeeping) but not exactly the way Mel describes or does it, but the bess will probably make it work. Many times I've notched and they didn't make a queen cell, but else where on the same frame they made their own. I was showing a friend in this video, my camera work isn't near as good as yours. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZOZiJxrZshpjas My problem right now is these cold snaps and rain are making it hard for queens to get mated, very frustrating. Have a great weekend!

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

Hi JBEE. Yeah, I've done it quite a few times and it works really well. I shot a follow up today, so stay tuned next week. Take care.