Queenless Hive - Shakeout

[@rochrich1223]

The single egg was laying on its side. Laying workers are usually too short to lay their eggs down so they are usually standing on end. Nudge the odds to being queen right up a notch.

[@gerardjohnson2106]

Good to see the Duck River flood missed your place. Fly in caribou hunt sounds fun. Hives are looking ready for winter.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

The flood was mostly north and west of us. It hit the Piney really hard, as well as Waverly. The Caribou hunt was epic, definitely a lifetime memory. Thanks!

[@ECP]

I did this with two hives this weekend amazing how quick they went to the neighboring hive

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Yep, it doesn’t take long at all. Thanks!

[@hockinghillshoneyfarm9273]

Glad you are on high ground God Bless

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Dave!

[@davidupton5252]

When I do a combine with the newspaper method, I then put some obstacles in the way of the entrance which force them to do new location of where there hive is. Works well on split's if you want to keep a number of foragers in the new hive within your apery lose very few bees gets them started quickly.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I've had mixed success with reorienting in the same yard. I think a robbing screen could work well.

[@georgeluke1883]

I just had to do the same thing with a queenless hive. I let all the bees go too, although I didn't go as far away as I probably should have. However, they must have begged their way into the neighboring hive as well, perhaps even a couple of them. Thanks for the video! I wasn't sure if I had done the right thing. This really helps.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

It's sort of hard to wrap your head around, especially for me coming from animal ag. Cows live 12-18 years typically. Hives turn over much much faster. It makes sense for me to think of the equipment and comb as a rental house and the colony as renters. The renters turn over, but I try to keep them from wrecking my rental house when they do.

[@BlanchardsBees]

I've actually been debating doing another walk away split on a hive here in SW Iowa just because it's a slamming hive.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I don't like emergency queens as a rule, but if you're going to make one, let a super strong hive do it. They've got the resources to make a good queen, even if they weren't planning on it.

[@susanrowland8915]

I also did one this week in central Va. as the hive was very strong and I could see eggs in the 3rd box of the tower. I was struck by how quiet the split became when moved to its new location. The 2 hives have settled in and now I look for a new queen in the one that I expect is queen less when the time is right. Thanks for the video. Your channel is my favorite for practical discussions and demonstrations on beekeeping.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Susan thanks for the kind words, and good luck with your bees!

[@sharonross4535]

Hello from Ohio. You don’t use a queen excluder just wondering why?

[@sonofthunder.]

appreciate you nate,i did a combine other day worked good, ive never done a shake out,that egg looked centered in the cell at the bottom, hoping its a new queen just warming up

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Yeah, we’ll see. The way they were acting gives me hope. Definitely had a cluster, good sign.

[@BeesNTrees47]

thank you for showing that drift after the shakeout that was interesting to see. Have you ever seen the queen show signs of injury or the colony try to supersede after a major influx of drifting? I may do the same thing this week with 1 small hive.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I’d worry about a weak hive having a ton of drifters, but usually I don’t worry too much. Small opening helps them defend, and by the time bees beg their way in they’ve shared mandibular pheromone, so they’ve merged with the hive. Any laying workers or troublesome bees should have a hard time getting in.

[@BeesNTrees47]

@@DuckRiverHoney thank you!

[@Soldinohio]

Hey Nathan... Where do you get your in hive feeders? I'm looking for a good one that won't drown the bees

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I get the pro feeders from Mann Lake. I've tried some other vendors as well...just make sure to get the caps and ladders for the frame feeders. They really do limit drowning. Strong hives will have less drowning, weak hives will have more.

[@jhulin9018]

Remind me why you shake bees out in the grass away from hives versus directly into other colonies since shaking in the grass only saves foragers. I understand you don't want the queen shaken into another colony (you could just "pinch" her) and I understand foragers can find their way/fly to other colonies but wouldn't you loose all the nurse bees since they cant fly off to enter other colonies thus they simply die in the grass with the queen?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

The hive has been queenless long enough that there aren’t any nurse bees. Also the theory is that any laying workers may be heavy enough that they can’t fly back. Same with a rogue or drone laying queen.

[@kathyhathaway8823]

That looked like they had swarmed

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I don’t think that hive swarmed. I think they tried to supersede and failed. They were a huge hive in spring and made a lot of honey, but they dwindled.

[@danielwhiteman9120]

Always enjoy your videos thanks. How was the caribou hunt ??? I went to labrador in December for a rifle hunt. Missed the migration but shot a cow. Amazing how different the terrain is.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Caribou hunt was incredible. Four of us got good bulls within 24 hours of each other. Lots of packing, mine was 1.5 miles from camp and I handled it solo. Awesome experience that I’d love to repeat.

[@danielwhiteman9120]

Nice 👍 I loved the hunt but like venison more to eat though. Mountable bull??

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Yeah it was a good bull. Not huge framed, but double shovel, good bezes, good tips and back scratchers. Full velvet too.

[@danielwhiteman9120]

Congrats man . A hunt not a lot get to experience

[@danielwhiteman9120]

Oh btw the warmest day was 10 degrees on our 4 day hunt yikes , we actually hunted on frozen lakes snow was deep only able to walk on caribou trails to get from lake to lake.

[@viklund2725]

what is the name of the sugar feeder you have in the box? two holes and is it made entirely of wood? Grateful for answers to beginners in central Sweden, out on the coast

[@DuckRiverHoney]

That is a double frame feeder with cap and ladder to prevent drowning. I don’t know about European suppliers, but Mann Lake has them on their site as the “Pro Feeder” I believe. Sweden is a beautiful country, I’d love to visit some day.

[@viklund2725]

@@DuckRiverHoney Thank you for the quick answer, like your videos and have started beekeeping with a beehive in the autumn of 2020, but aim for many more in the future.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

@@viklund2725 thanks!

[@waynebecker314]

Do you have a lot of drones this time of year

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Not a lot, but enough to get a queen mated well. I really don't love making splits this time of year due to concerns over queen strength and mating success...but sometimes it works out so I need to (or want to).

[@waynebecker314]

@@DuckRiverHoney I'm kind of a new bee keeper and I have what I think is a lot of drones going in and out of my hive

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Check it to make sure you’ve got regular brood and workers in there too.

[@waynebecker314]

@@DuckRiverHoney I do

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Sounds fine then, they haven’t kicked the drones out yet.

[@mikedarkow7788]

did you get one?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Caribou? Yes I did!

[@vigab9601]

Was the caribou hunt successful? Stop keeping fellow hunters in suspense.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Yes it was! I’ve got a bunch of photos and video I’ll patch together when I get time. I wasn’t planning on posting it here, but if you guys want to see it then I will.