Pulling Honey - (Building a Bee Business #58)

[@jasonsmithjcshoneybees5959]

You should consider putting a sign in the yard by the road to identify who you are. You’d be surprised how it can lead to a few more sales and provide access to more properties.

[@peteGbee]

crazy how much you guys have to feed down there.. I don't know if I could handle that, also seems like a fine line of cost and profit

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I feed nucs to get them to draw comb. I don’t have to feed mature hives much.

[@peteGbee]

@DuckRiverHoney yea I get it but i have nuc yards, mating nucs getting transfered to 5 frames , I never have to feed infact I have to take frames out before they got bound. so I get your drawing comb but still saying i don't need to do that much up here in New england. they draw plenty on the flows we have early spring and summer then early fall. so still just drastic difference in locations is wild.

[@robotron7]

Nathan, as far as building comb by feeding now, I've found that heavily waxed foundation (I dip mine in a tub of wax) baited by a frame or two of brood in a new top box works nearly as good for spring expansion as drawn comb. They reform the deposited wax into working cells without much effort. On the flip side, the colonies that drew out a bunch of foundation on sugar after summer flow seemed a whole lot weaker overwintering.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I agree that heavy wax on the foundation speeds things up a lot.

[@CSMBH]

Where do you buy your honey jars?? Mann Lake and other beekeeping stores are so expensive!

[@carpenterandhisbees]

Good idea painting the escapes a different color then the hives. They really stand out.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Yep! 🎯

[@EagleNestApiaries]

Looking good! Nice to see the beetle situation improving.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks! 👍

[@michaelfike7542]

Always keep a few bottles of honey in your truck. I have people stop by all the time here at home and watch me here at home. I still use the dixie towels for hive beetles especially if you have 1 with a lot of beetles it's a pretty quick fix for it. Only draw back is expense they are highly priced but work. Great looking bee yards. Hope you had a great harvest

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks! I had better luck with swiffers than Dixie sheets. I do love Dixie sheets as disposable wash rags in the honey house though.

[@jamestownsendjrtbees3226]

Every good honey house has a dust buster for the bees. Looking good Nathan. Good luck this fall.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Yep!

[@dcsblessedbees]

Standing in a river on a hot day with a fishing pole, nothing wrong with that picture.👍 Some of my fondest memory were in similar landscapes. 🤣oh, Parker will have fun getting that out of his teeth.😂Thanks for sharing Nathan, you and your family are a Blessing. Blessed Days...

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks!

[@barkersbees]

Thanks for showing some of the hands on work!! Love that stuff

[@DuckRiverHoney]

👍

[@viahoneybees]

Great video, Nathan. I agree with your percentages. They are very realistic based upon my experience. These are things we try to teach people in our club. Good luck to a successful fall!

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks!

[@sharonc.2207]

My bees are by a road, that I thought was in the middle of nowhere when I bought the place... turns out every neighbor in the land must drive by for some reason, and every time I'm out there, they come out if nowhere, stop and want to have long conversations with me. It is so bad then I am fully suited with my instavap and oxalic mask and they stop and I have to explain to them why I look like I'm from the planet Vulcan and we have to reach "88 miles per hour"... lol.... anyway, one of these years I need to move the yard in further beyond the brush and the creek to hide us all. But I have sold honey unexpectedly at the road too. I try to keep a good relationship up with my customers and fake like I'm an extrovert. It is exhausting ha... but many have a genuine curiosity!

[@DuckRiverHoney]

😆

[@grantsimpson9211]

In your Boxes of new comb are the bees backfilling the frames with sugar syrup. Enjoy your videos. Thanks hope you get a good honey crop.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Yes they’re storing syrup. They’ll winter on that.

[@johnzeigler5130]

Do you overwinter with the mediums that you are drawing? What do you do with the frames that they haven’t consumed by spring? Do you end up with a lot of frames with brood in them in the spring? I would like to get more medium frames drawn, but worry that I will end up with supers still full of sugar syrup by spring and queens laying in my supers.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I run mostly medium boxes. Going to winter with three mediums, the bottom box will be empty in February.

[@fabianweber619]

Hey Nathan curious about your yard distance North to South and if you notice timing differences. Where I'm at in Colorado I never see beatles. Really 2 or 3 in over a decade. Totally different climate. Hope all is well!

[@peterlightbody8443]

Hi Nathan , you keep any record of how much syrup you feed all your hives , litres ??? Peter 🇦🇺

[@DuckRiverHoney]

No, I do keep track of my yearly sugar bill through my accounting program.

[@jarethgroves8194]

How does the Hillco extractor compare to your Maxant?

[@jimwoods8957]

In a previous video you mentioned that you had a SHB problem. I am wondering if you have any issues with them using the escape boards. It just seems like they would have a free roam in the honey supers. Assuming to remove the supers after 24 -48 hours, I just wondering what damage they can do.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I have few to no problems with supers over an escape for 3 or 4 days.

[@3Beehivesto300]

I went to nailed in 8 frame spacers in my supers this year. I highly recommend it.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I’m in growth mode, boxes in flux, equipment upgrades planned. Probably won’t install permanent spacers for several years.

[@timwilliams849]

I’ve waded the duck so many times from one end to the other lol

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Fun days!

[@martinbrochristensen348]

I love your working talking bees - Denmark watching you😎

[@DuckRiverHoney]

👍

[@graemediesel2936]

What concentration of syrup are you feeding to get them to draw comb? I wonder if it would be worth the effort to move your frame feeder to the other side of the box to encourage them to work on that side?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Roughly 1.3:1. 150 lbs sugar to make 55 gal of syrup.

[@timwilliams849]

Yup you need to apprentice me next spring lol

[@DuckRiverHoney]

😉

[@puddin6945]

I have a question since you’re feeding heavy and pulling honey supers wouldn’t some of that honey be sugar syrup honey?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I don’t feed colonies that I’m getting honey from, until AFTER the honey is off or inaccessible. It’s not hard to keep them separate.

[@dcrosco1458]

nice set up

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks!

[@robertstwalley3662]

Do you ever run 9 frames of drawn comb in your honey supers. I ran 7 frames in my 8 frame supers this year and it made uncapping so much easier, wished I would have done it sooner.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Yeah I have and would like to more. Drawing lots of foundations though.

[@robertstwalley3662]

@@DuckRiverHoney I did manage to draw out around 500 frames this year. First year trying wire reinforced wax sheets, a little time consuming at the beginning but they drew them out very nice. They did not skip over the vertical wires like they sometimes do with the horizontal wires even if you try to embed them. Hope you have a great season. Up here in N.E. Iowa we have great honey weather, gunna be a record honey year for us here.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Are you on a clover flow now?

[@honeyandthecoop803]

Great Video Nathan, can you share your treatment on those SHB at the 20:00 mark? It looks like it worked pretty well.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

🤐

[@R_Brickner]

Top secret stuff. DB

[@researcherAmateur]

Dry snakes dust. That's why he keeps so many around... powdered.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

🎯

[@DuckRiverHoney]

@R_Brickner 🤫

[@andylossing7628]

Where do you get your feeders

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Motherlode or Mann Lake

[@tjjastrem127]

I probably would have hived the swarm at worse they are good at drawing comb for your goal of more comb, at best you add one more colony for next year

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Tough to get them built up to overwinter this time of year. Plus I don’t want to promote a genetic tendency toward that behavior.

[@1bojaq]

Can you go into winter with two deeps and a medium or should I reduce them to two boxes?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Sure, you can overwinter in a lot of different configurations.

[@HARRYBEES-c9u]

IF ya want 100 hives ya need 110-120