Spring Hive Work (Checkerboarding & Equalizing)

[@GEEZBEEZ]

Thanks for the tips. Enjoyed the video. Take care Nathan.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks!

[@claudenutt1182]

I continue to enjoy your presentations. I like to have an empty buck handy when I am going through my hives so I can put burr comb in it rather than scattered on the ground and attract unwanted animals.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Claude

[@olddansbees2072]

@@DuckRiverHoney save burr comb melt out in old crock pot recoat frames that bees have striped wax off.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I’ve got balls of it and do just that.

[@MikeBarryBees]

Whew!! Lifting those boxes like a boss!! I’m a swap some like that. Once established for a bit, those foragers seem to take the new queen. But I’m the same way, I worry a bit about it. But it normally works out, so you might get to keep her highness Ms. Inferior. Mish mash of techniques is my management strategy!!!!😬😬

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Her Highness of Inferiority is going to get pinched and her kingdom busted up into nucs. She doesn’t know that yet though.

[@MikeBarryBees]

@@DuckRiverHoney beekeepers rule of eminent domain. Hello, I’m from the government and I’m here to help…..😁

[@nancynolton6079]

Waiting, waiting, waiting for that same nice day up here to get into the hives and see what's what! Doesn't look like any time soon! So I'm cleaning out flower beds, re-edging and putting down mulch!

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Nancy I prefer bee work to busy work. 🤣

[@WildwoodsBeekeeping]

Good job Nathan, been enjoying your videos, take care!

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks!

[@jeffreyhoskins8955]

Good job I like the way you think I’m not into bee’s yet hopefully this coming spring I’ve got everything thing in order Thanks for the info I’m taking notes an learning a lot from you guys near my zone southeastern ky

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Jeffrey!

[@johnemmenecker4859]

Remember! If you run out of drawn frames and need to open space up in the brood chamber, you can decap those feed frames and insert them just like open comb. The bees don’t know why the capping were destroyed and will promptly remove the honey and move it up. Just be careful robbing could obviously spark in an instant. She will lay behind this activity and it’s essentially a feed boost to hive, it will allow them to draw and feed brood profusely

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks John

[@daverowden-RowdyBeeFarms]

I need more comb. Need to get that going on my end. Doubling my hive count got me behind on availability to drawn comb. Thanks for the video

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Drawing comb is a never ending battle Dave. Luck!

[@haroldmarsh716]

Awesome MiX of info>>> I think it is time to look at my BEES

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Harold!

[@olddansbees2072]

Had 2 swarms today 3/16/23 . Here in Providence NC NC-VA boarder

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Everything seems early this year.

[@andersoncreekhomestead6378]

I like youre thought I think we've all been there. Put honestly weak is weak. We've all spent alot of time and resources on a hive at some point just like this but I'd find queen smash and combine. You've now diminished one and helped one which means you now have to weak hives. But when you're low on numbers and can't afford to loose what you've got it happens. This is where we all were at about year 3-4ish is you're really trying to hit the bee game hard.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks. Relieving swarming pressure from the big ones is a goal, so nothing is wasted. That hive will get split up in a couple weeks.

[@EagleNestApiaries]

Great video! Thanks for sharing. I’m looking forward to seeing how your grafting goes.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Chris!

[@olddansbees2072]

A note on entrance reducers run the opening down lets bees in and out faster and easer to clean out dead bees etc.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I like them up better. Makes it a lot easier to use my Provap EZ

[@russk3931]

Green grass. You don't know how pretty that looks compared to my snowbanks. I like what you did to help your hives but I noticed you are using old honey frames. It is such a help to have drawn comb. Wouldn't slipping in some undrawn frames help slow the bees down a bit more? Maybe you don't have a good enough nectar flow there yet and who wants to buy sugar anymore with it's price increases. Have a good weekend, glad the kids aren't sick anymore.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Russ. I’ve been adding drawn brood combs.

[@andrewklahold2880]

I just learned some valuable, you layed your lid back on the hive box before you took off the box, one it kept the bees more at Bay, and while your working with the box under it you had the other one covered and it keep insects out of it while it is removed

[@DuckRiverHoney]

It helps keep them calmer

[@andrewklahold2880]

@@DuckRiverHoney I have to practice methods I see value in bee keeping is a practice, just like welding and millwright work

[@noahG82]

As always great video! I need another 6 weeks and mine should be bursting at the seams. I am still trying to figure out when im going to do...

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Noah, good luck this year.

[@3Beehivesto300]

If you want to grow your operation consider spring queen cells. Make 2x the number of the cells over the amount of hives you want to end up with. The key is to not equalize and give to the week. Any excess in the spring time Good strait to making 3 frame splits with cells. If it’s a week hive tear it down to nothing. If it’s a strong hive leave it with enough. Do not prop up the week. If the cells turn out then boost them, not the old week hive.

[@3Beehivesto300]

I also let my big hives build up in the spring into 3 deeps before I rob. I work off the 2.5 efficiency factor.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks!

[@CMPearrow]

You could have what happened to me . Manipulate a hive then hatch out a queen then it rain a ton and the quality of drone breeding be crappy and get a bad breed queen .

[@DuckRiverHoney]

That’s bad luck

[@Aaronl307]

Enjoying your videos. I see in your older videos you used what looks like the Ultrabreeze suit and now use just the jacket. Would you share your thoughts on suit vs jacket?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Jacket is easier for most work. Suit is better for really riled up bees or for very hot weather (shorts and workout shirt underneath). I wear the jacket 95% of the time now.

[@mriley528]

I do a similar mix and match of techniques. I don’t think people talk enough about how well swapping positions really helps. Especially if a colony slips through the cracks, you can minimize the forager loss. My state inspector stopped by on 3/1 and is seeing spring conditions 3 weeks ahead. It will be interesting to see if the flow comes early and is impacted by the typical April showers

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Hoping for good weather!

[@Steele_Wings]

Didn't get a chance to equalize colonies in Charlotte NC. Majority of my colonies had queen cells and swarm cells. Caught a colony staging on the outside of the box ready to go. Swarm season is 3 weeks early and now we have freezing weather.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Yikes!

[@dennislintz1]

I live in Fort Mill, SC just south of you. I had a couple hives like that last week and I made some 5 frame Nucs from them. Had Tons of brood and drones. I stacked the nucs on top of each other with a double screen between them. Hoping that works to keep them alive(Sharing heat). The past 2 yrs. have been the same warm up and then freeze again, but I didn't want to lose swarms since I am out of town this week.

[@GrillingNetwork]

If you are looking for advice on the Wi-Fi Situation, feel free to DM me. I am a Computer Engineer and can give you some advice….. With that out of the way, great video, I am also seeing the bees in my backyard growing a lot earlier than normal. I watched one of your Checker Boarding videos and just implemented it today… thanks for sharing your journey….

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks, I appreciate it! I got a repeater which is working “well enough”.

[@marywickenheiser2628]

Great explanation of why you did equalizing. If switched spot queen gets killed, will you use a grafted queen or combine it with a nuc?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Depending on timing I’d probably combine them with a big hive that needs space then take them off as a split when I have cells ready.

[@lagrangebees]

I trick I have heard someone mention: Carry a block of wax and just grate it across those foundations the bees stripped clean.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I have tried that but with mixed results.

[@louiseibbotson588]

Looking good Nathan wish we could get into our hives , snow and frost here in UK .

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks! The last little bit of winter seems to last forever.

[@MrBusbahnhof]

no snow but to cold here in austria. cant wait to get to our bees too

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Very cool, you may be the only Austrian viewer I know about. What are your floral sources and weather like?

[@MrBusbahnhof]

@@DuckRiverHoney Well, i hope my english is good enough ;) in spring, we have dandelion, then the fruit blossom (mostly apple and cherry) and in june we hope for honeydew from the spruce trees. thats in our region, Styria. For rapeseed Honey or sunflower we have to move our bees some 200km. yes, thats quite close but most austrian beekeepers are not really equipped for moving bees. weather is, hm, continental i would say. nice winters and nice summers. spring and autumn are very nice too. the start in spring is quite slow, but thats good with our carniolan bees here. and until the main flow which should be the honeydew they are really good developed. moving bees here is done mostly with a van and a trailer. for me, i do move them only with my van. a friend of mine got a truck with a crane, thats cool :D

[@DuckRiverHoney]

That is awesome, thanks for sharing. It sounds like a beautiful area for beekeeping.

[@keithspillman]

Nice day in the bee yard!!! When do you plan on adding your honey supers? I'm feeding my hives thin syrup now and drawing out some foundation. We have a cold spell coming here in the eastern foothills of NC, but if I can see a warm up on the other side, I might pull my "funny honey" and add honey supers in the next 10-15 days. Thanks as always for an informative video!!

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Keith!

[@jamestownsendjrtbees3226]

Good luck growing this season. It sure looks like a lot of work and time going through all those medium frames and boxes, where and when do you push your queen down with excluders?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

It may vary this year. June during first harvest is what I’d prefer to do.

[@researcherAmateur]

The shotgun pattern after reversing could be from old bee bread cells. It's early for queen pinching.. it's always better to let them grow this time of year, help a little bit.. than use them and make 3 nucks out of them when you have queen cells ready. If you pinch her now you lose a hive.. if you give her until you have cells or queens you get a couple hives out of her. Is it honey or fall feed ? I'm watching alot of videos with hives full of fall feed in them...

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I’ll probably dissolve that hive completely into nucs because I don’t like her genetics. So I don’t mind too much whether she’s in the box when I do that or not.

[@researcherAmateur]

@@DuckRiverHoney i forgot to mention.. there's a really easy comon sense method i still use. If you're in a flow and the hive next to that one is a honey production hive.. just put that weak one on the cover of the strong one a day before. (Pull it a little bit to the weak one spot) Let the old workers go work in honey production. Than you have a hive with only young bees to dissolve, and a much better queen acceptance in those nucks

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Good deal, thanks

[@RobertDPenn]

👍

[@DuckRiverHoney]

👍

[@mattlance4272]

Why not take a whole box of bees and brood from the strong colony and replace the empty box on the weak one with it. Solves both issues immediately. Use newspaper if your worried about killing queens. Yes you'll have to find the queens in both.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

That’s the reason, finding the queen in the big hive. Time

[@billymiller1954]

Another very informative video Nathan. I noticed in the first box that you were using plastic frames. I have debated this, and would like to know your opinion of them. Have a great weekend.!!

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Those are Mann Lake plastic frames and I don’t like them. I hear the Acorn and Pierco plastic frames are much better. I’d like to trial some of those.

[@billymiller1954]

@@DuckRiverHoney One more question, Nathan, if I may. I have not seen this in your video, but have you ever used formic pro strips? I have only seen you use OC and I didn’t know if I missed it or not. I was just curious of your opinion since I have quite a few. Thank you !

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I’ve got some in my freezer now but have t used them.

[@RyanMcDonnough]

What are those gloves that you're using?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Humble Bee. Good stuff.