Queen Cells: An Easy and Inexpensive way to Grow

Queen cells can be an easy an inexpensive way to grow and improve your beekeeping operation, large or small. If you want to produce your own that is great, but if they can also be quite affordable to purchase. In this video prepare the hives and introduce queen cells using methods that I have found to be productive and successful in the past. Now it is up to the bees to do the rest.
#brucesbees #beekeeping #splittingbees
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[@mkirkland616]

Good looking hives! Packed!

[@brucesbees]

Yep. We really did a number on them though. Hope the cells take. Fun times. I love it!🐝🐝😎

[@johnhudson412]

After seeing those bees after you.. I’ve changed my mind. I can’t come over there to help you guys!! 😂😂 just kidding…

[@brucesbees]

Haha! I have about two or throw like that not. Much better than it used to be. Believe it or not Big Red is one of those queens that produces rugged, yet mean as heck, bees.

[@johnhudson412]

Is Big Red still going strong?

[@brucesbees]

Last time I found her yes she was doing well. Strong colony but MEAN! I dropped a queen cell in that one the other day. Will see if Big Red survived or if the new queen will take over or Big Red has prevailed.

[@caven930]

Great stuff, I will be planning to do this same thing in the future. We found a commercial beekeeper in the area selling cells for $6!

[@brucesbees]

Good deal. It worked for me a couple of years ago. Hopefully it will work again. We will know soon!

[@madmikesgarage4861]

Hi Bruce met you at the Ohio KZbinrs convergence last September. Thanks for the great content!

[@brucesbees]

Hey thats awesome. What a great time that was! Thanks for the support!

[@joer5627]

Whoo! You have some mean ones! Requeening is the right thing to do.

[@brucesbees]

Well it was cloudy with rain moving in. But yes I have about 3 or 4 colonies that are off the chain and a few more that are a boy defensive. My main objective is productivity. And the attitude overall is getting better.

[@iolandapereira2998]

Hello, I'm new to the channel, I came via PauloLandim who uploaded it with you

[@brucesbees]

Great. Welcome!!!

[@nzs316]

I so enjoy watching your uploads.

[@brucesbees]

Thank you!

[@robertselfridge3690]

Awesome as always, I presently have 3 langs and 3 lang longs, slowly changing all to long hives so much easier on my old body 😁🇺🇸

[@brucesbees]

I imagine so!

[@EfrataHoneyBees]

Nice. Thanks for sharing!

[@brucesbees]

Thanks for checking in!

[@redfish440]

Thanks Bruce!

[@brucesbees]

Hey thanks so much for checking in!

[@scottreese5492]

Hey Bruce, off topic but since I know shb is big problem for you thought I'd mention again what I believe has been best changes I've made. Just went thru 17 hives and found 3 hive beetles, 1 on a frame and two on bottom board, none on top. And 5 hives are week but still no shb. Here's best ideas I think have helped:got rid of landing boards reduce entrance to only large enough needed for size of colony Soft peppermint mashed around top of frames And #1 easy to do (cause all other methods are time consuming) : put a dropper ½full of peppermint essential oil in blender , blend 5 mins to emulsify then add to gallon of water. Put in a good spray bottle (i use ZEP brand bottle ordered off Amazon or eBay ) then spray on and around hives. They say shb hate it and it seems to be helping. God bless, hope to return help since your videos help me

[@brucesbees]

Thanks for the tip! Hopefully can get a better handle on it than last year. Hope you cubrir to have good success.

[@brianbennett4374]

Looking good 👍 hope they ALL take 😊

[@brucesbees]

Me too! Unfortunately there are usually some that don’t. But we will see.

[@WildwoodsBeekeeping]

First!! Looking forward to watching the video!!! Have a great day Bruce :)

[@brucesbees]

You too Grayson and thanks for the support!

[@jimallen1176]

Nice looking cells.

[@brucesbees]

Yes they were! Hopefully the take was good.

[@MountainTopBeekeeping]

Good work Bruce, I just love to see multiplying bees , Hope I will multiply bees soon

[@brucesbees]

I’m sure you will. Won’t be long now. I hope these cells emerged and get mated. They should be ready to peek in on soon.

[@DeanGoedel]

Great way to summarize that process👍 I was at Greg's place Friday to get a jacket and buckets and got some of your honey... GREAT stuff!

[@brucesbees]

Glad you like it! It’s definitely different than what you have up north.

[@BrianJMader54476]

Was good seeing you at Beek Meet in Wausau, WI.👍

[@brucesbees]

It was a great conference. Lots of good people there. Beekeepers are the best!

[@stevenaamos]

Gonna have to get one of those Guardian Jackets! Hope that you get a great take!

[@brucesbees]

Yep I really like the pull over. Quality product. Good folks. Great customer service.

[@sonofthunder.]

Made 2 myself today,and relocated, rain comin

[@MikeBarryBees]

Since I started using cells to split a few years ago, not only was it an inexpensive way to grow, but more so for our nectar flow timeline, it has up to doubled my honey production. Great video!

[@brucesbees]

Yep. Game changer. Tried to graft today for the first time in many years. I am not sure I did a very good job. Maybe will get a couple out of 30.

[@researcherAmateur]

Still some comb runners but less and less every year. It's easy for you guys when you have all that honey that you can afford to let the short flows go😅. Right now l would do all kinds of strange stuff to catch those. If l was in Berry's situation the brood box would have 6-7 frames.. not more, so bees would have to put nectar above and the queen would lay those wood to wood.. we call it queen dominating the nest.. with an empty frame feeder a partition and an empty comb on the outside of the partition. They use the frame to move nectar up. This way you end up with a small number of bees working the brood and everybody else working on honey.. and those bees live longer without having to care for brood. But I rarely see beekeepers over there use a single brood box.. usually double.. can't imagine having only 6-7 brood frames. People think they would swarm immediately this way.. but when you do the math.. how many cells are in 7 frames and how many eggs a queen usually lays... a, it's getting too long. I just wanted to mention one strange way we use to catch short flows. This way, with alot of honey extraction times l can get all kinds of different honeys. Buyers like it.

[@brucesbees]

@researcherAmateur thanks for the comment. So many easy to do things. I have some of all kinds of configurations. Single deseos require more frequent management. Larger configurations give you more leeway. With the number of hives I have I have to give them some a space and hopefully prevent swarming. Even doing that I still have some that seem every year. Isn’t it wonderful that we can all do things differently and still have a positive result?

[@researcherAmateur]

@@brucesbees yes I agree. Mine are carnies.. for them is normal to winter with 6-8 frames of bees. I usually reverse boxes just before the cold weather starts in winter. Brood box on top where is warmer.. and they bring food up if they need and stay in the top. Then I do the spring reversing like everyone else. You guys could try this way too.. it's warm enough over there. This year I reversed after new year.. we were still pulling honey in December. My area got so warm this last years l can't remember when I seen frost last time. Now l'm growing them in two deeps, same as you do. Then when the flow starts l make nucks and do that single box 7 frames method. But we almost never stack boxes more than 2 on the excluder. And we do alot of honey extraction. Kinda like Bob Binney does. But I keep only around 100. Three yards of 30 and some nucks.. my spring is usually worse than my fall flow. I wish you guys a good spring flow and healthy bees.. have a great year

[@brucesbees]

Thanks for the insight. I struggle to keep things uniform because they all seem to produce differently but maybe one day I can figure out a “one size fits all” approach.

[@Sss16514]

إنني متشوق لمشاهدة الفيديو

[@brucesbees]

Thank you!

[@Sss16514]

@@brucesbees ❤️

[@schammond8993]

Good Morning Bruce, This is a late post as I've just started watching your videos. Question about your equipment. Is that a Lang horizontal hive? I have a back issue and and seeking opinions and knowledge on an option for me. Good videos, I love that you show your successes as well as your failures. Good content, thanks

[@brucesbees]

Yes it is. From Horizontalbees.com. It would be a good option for you. Thanks for watching.

[@schammond8993]

Wow! Thank you for that quick response and referral.

[@t5rider07]

Another great video Bruce! Curious about what moisture issues you had w/ the long hive…and how you fixed it. We built one this winter and am always looking to learn from other’s experiences…especially before we drop a nuc in there. Thanks again!

[@brucesbees]

There was some water standing in the bottom. I tilted it forward. Somehow I think the back legs had settled. There were some mold issues in the parts of the hive away from the bees. I drilled a hole in the bottom where the water was standing. I need to reach out to Rickey and see what he thinks/recommends. I think there are some ventilation issues. And it has been an extremely wet year so far.

[@t5rider07]

Thanks for sharing that Bruce! And thanks again for taking the time to produce these vlogs AND the Stream Team!

[@brucesbees]

Thanks for the support.

[@edwardclark5211]

Dream Big brother 🙏

[@scottreese5492]

Wow!!!! Thats alot of bees in 1 hive. Not sure why they didn't already swarm

[@brucesbees]

I hear ya. Maybe we caught them in time. I think we did!

[@barkersbees]

Sweet I’m excited to see some results! How’s the nose and lip haha?

[@brucesbees]

It’s fine haha. Honestly didn’t hurt more than a few seconds. But it’s never fun to get stung in the face. It seems like the most painful head stings to me are certain parts of the ear. Ouch!

[@barkersbees]

@@brucesbees haha yeah! Or lower back. I hate that spot! But anywhere on the face definitely wakes you up haha.

[@doctortcbkk2027]

Video editing has gotten awesome! Who you paying? 😂😂

[@brucesbees]

The KZbin thing is a one man operation haha. I shoot almost all the footage and so far have done all the editing trying to get better little by little. 🐝😎

[@geckoproductions4128]

what editing software are you using?@@brucesbees

[@amfarmsllc5624]

Bruce, who do you get to ship queen cells?

[@brucesbees]

I actually drove down to a town close by and picked these up. But I know Miksa ships them out of Florida.

[@jesussaves6348]

Where in Alabama are you located? I am in North Alabama. I have been doing a lot of research on bees and I really want to get into beekeeping. I will be going to our beekeeping association meeting in April. Hopefully learn as much as I can and make some friends. Thank you for your videos and sharing your knowledge and experiences

[@brucesbees]

Southeast Alabama. Dothan. Good luck on your beekeeping journey!🐝😎

[@jesussaves6348]

@brucesbees Right on man. Thank you!

[@TomBean-qf6zv]

Don't know which is more painful, getting popped in the mouth, nose, eye or ear...and usually when you ain't expecting it, still hurts. Hope your splits turn out well.

[@brucesbees]

No doubt. I am pretty much used to it by now though. Most of the time it is a pretty temporary pain but every one in awhile one gets me in a super sensitive spot like a nerve or something and it really hurts for awhile.

[@scottreese5492]

I see you still using hive beetle landing entrance....if you ever try cutting them off i think you'll be pleasantly surprised how well they do and less hive beetles.

[@brucesbees]

Thanks for the tip but probably won’t be cutting all the entrances off my hives.

[@scottreese5492]

I understand, its alot of work and impossible to do on active hives , I Decided to make all new bottom boards like bob Binnie uses with ¾ on one side then ⅜ on other, just re cently changed all of them and used ⅜ side like bob does, only difference is I didn't make a landing board for shb to land and walk in , I wish I could post a video of how well the bees work, they fly straight in and out, no wasting time washboarding the landing board. I'm sure main reason for the success in combating the shb problem that has caused me to quit beekeeping in past , is God's faithfulness in answering prayers. I was at my wits end with shb problem and asked God if He will help me I'll be sure and give Him praise and stay on top of taking care of His bees. Jesus is more than faithful, to Him be the glory!

[@bradgoliphant]

Hey Bruce. Wouldn’t that three deep hive have been a great hive just to add another super to to produce lots of honey?

[@brucesbees]

Possible. But I want to reduce size a little. Makes it easier to manage. I also need to restore my numbers. I had a lot of loss up in Ozark over the past dee months. I think things will works out ok.

[@kathysmith118]

How did u fix the moisture issue in the long hive? I'm having the same problem

[@brucesbees]

We drilled holes where the water was standing. Otherwise not sure what to do. Haven’t had a chance to reach out to Rickey yet and see if he has a solution.

[@trichard5106]

What kind of bees are the cells, and where did you get them? Thanks!

[@brucesbees]

I got them from Sleeping Bear Apiaries in Chipley, Florida. I think they are mixture of a lot of different strains of bees.

[@timbervalleyhomestead]

I’m curious, do you use high risk gloves?

[@brucesbees]

Here is an explanation. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZCoq6mKZs56jbMsi=r3x8e7o1Uvb2NaQT

[@Bees_buzz7b]

How long does it take To catch a swarm with swarm Commander🐝🐝🐝

[@brucesbees]

It just depends. I have caught some literally the same day and some never catch a swarm. But many times bees will start checking trap out almost immediately.

[@Bees_buzz7b]

@@brucesbees you mean like right now

[@Bees_buzz7b]

@@brucesbees because I have a swarm trapped but it’s on the ground

[@Bees_buzz7b]

@@brucesbees in my backyard

[@brucesbees]

Oh you don’t need Swarm Commander for that. If they are on the ground you should be able to get them into the box. Just set a box next to them and watch them march in.

[@hookerhoneybees9089]

Can u also keep those splits without queen cells? I have to split my hive but do not have any queen cells. I'm hoping maybe when I go into the hive maybe there are some in there.

[@brucesbees]

As long as there are eggs or newly hatched larvae in both colonies they will have a chance to make a queen.