Spring Nectar Plants & More

Spring nectar producing plants, apiary restocking, queen mating percentages and nuc inspections.

[@naturessweetbees3033]

This is the first time I’ve ever seen a video where anyone lays the frame of bees against their leg until they’re finished working the box. Hats off to you, Selena.

[@markbooth8458]

It’s a commercial beekeeper thing lol

[@carolinacarnio5381]

I love watching the bits of your videos where you talk about flora and nectar, because for me, a real beekeeper is a Nature lover and never stops being amazed by the honey flavour!

[@TennesseeTim73]

Selena looks like a practiced ballerina dancing through the boxes!!! Every move a purpose. Love watching someone work a box that knows what they are looking for!!!

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Ha! You name your yards the same way Kasey and I do “this is the river yard because there is a river right here” 🤣 great video Bob!

[@bobbinnie9872]

Oh yes. We have some interesting names that would seem crazy to others.

[@jasonhughes3568]

Dear Bob, I can’t thank you enough for sharing on KZbin. I thank our Creator for you and your crew. You are such an inspiration and encouragement to me in my beekeeping. 😊🍯

[@lenturtle7954]

Yesterday i gave a small hive a peek and never smoked it . One cute little fuzzy bee popped out and smoked me in the eye i must have squeezed the bellows on the stinger as i pulled it out it hurt a bit and today my eye is puffy . 😂 The weather has improved greatly nice yesterday and its clear sunny and beautiful today . Our box elder is blooming . Im going to see if i can taste the honey when our choke cherries 🍒 are blooming to taste that cough syrup . Years ago we opened one yard up and they smelled like lilac i regret not tasting that honey . And thanks for your sunday videos !!!i look forward to them .

[@tarheelbeekeeper3971]

Thanks again for my Sunday morning bee lesson, always getting educated watching your videos

[@richardnoel3141]

wow that nectar from the Tulip Poplar is amazing! i had no idea the flowers gave so much! Great Video. thanks for sharing your local trees and shrubs! brill video!

[@bobbinnie9872]

Waiting for that mailing address!!

[@researcherAmateur]

The type of late Heather where l live does it. You can break the part with the flowers and suck the nectar, or put in the tea to sweeten it. It's different taller than the one up north.. and the flow can last into November.

[@russellaymond312]

Glad to know about wild cherry trees. I have 2 large trees and bees seems to not use it ,they are under the trees. Thank you for another great video.

[@junipercreekfarm]

Thanks Bob for pointing out the non-desirable flavor of the honey made from Wild Cherry. I was about to begin marking small trees that I could transplant to my place this next winter. I'll mark the Wild Cherry off my list. Please include more information of this sort. I am a second year beekeeper needing all the positive and negative information I can get. Thanks for your information packed videos.

[@jessefjr]

Hey could you do a video with more details on using a 2 queen system?

[@bobbinnie9872]

I'll try to add more about that.

[@timmorris7022]

My woods are full of tulip poplar .The honey has a dark red color to it.Its all i had last year as did i think a lot of beeks east and south of Lexington. The frame rest on the leg was awesome Sylena! Thanks always Bob for sharing.

[@jtlearn1]

I have 20 of your bottom boards i picked up at the Expo, Bob. They'll probably outlast me!!

[@stevenaamos]

Enjoy the video as always! Hope that you have a good week with all the storms coming.

[@timlewis9873]

Nice vid. as always Bob, have a great day.

[@markbooth8458]

Hello Bob. The tulip poplar is in full bloom here also. Hopefully the weather will continue to cooperate.

[@beehivewithaview9760]

Up in the Pacific Northwest we have Bitter or Oregon Cherry. Which also has a off tasting honey.

[@brucesouthernsassapiaries8316]

Great to see a great flow....

[@dcsblessedbees]

That was a great facial reaction from Selena.😂

[@bobbinnie9872]

I had told her about the taste but she was still shocked. I couldn't help myself.

[@localdestinhoney]

My guess is the date and the mating weather. I had similar results in different locations where I carried new splits. In reference to the yard that didn't take as well. I was wondering the same thing about my splits thinking it was location after watching this the mating weather makes more sense on the dates. Like you said it's all part of it. Thanks Bob.

[@jtlearn1]

The Lord is so good to us.

[@drliptak1]

Royalties can be applied to my balance at the shop. Ha ha! Great seeing you.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Will do.😊

[@Beeloft]

Hello Dr. Tim. My daughter and I met you at the Expo. We still need to figure out if we are related some how. Don’t see too many Liptak’s out there. Again it was nice to meet you. David

[@drliptak1]

@@Beeloft nice to meet you too! I am following you on Instagram.

[@vegasbees]

Nice job kids 👍 love from your friends in Las Vegas

[@peteGbee]

Japanese knot weed up here in New England during our fall flow mixed with asters is by far my favorite dark honey, almost a dark maroon color.

[@Biopaseka]

Кау всегда очень интересное видео. Благодарю. Very interesting video. Thank you.

[@christalakebees]

That’s was a really nice video. Thanks for sharing.

[@brianbennett4374]

Can you do a video on your fencing and all the info on that it be nice to watch them set up the fencing and new yard Thanks. 😊 Great video thanks King Bob 🤴

[@robertdemers5125]

Good Morning Bob !

[@bobbinnie9872]

Good morning sir!

[@paulgroth5414]

Wow Bob, some great workers you have!

[@bobbinnie9872]

I agree and feel lucky. Thanks.

[@hevchip741]

That would be so yum

[@stevesoutdoorworld4340]

Hey Bob we have a nasty honey in Florida it's called Punk Tree honey! What's crazy is the packer would give me 2 cents less per lb than he did for my top grade water white Orange Honey! They just blend Punk with other table grade honey or sell it to baking factory. I think it's best for a small time Bee Man to just retail his own Honey and forget these rip off packers.😁

[@bobbinnie9872]

I'm always amazed when packers are more concerned about color than flavor. I guess the consumer drives the demand.

[@bransonworleyjr.3824]

I have this scattered all around my yard but thankfully they don’t really go after it.

[@dadu63]

Thank you again Bob for the Sunday morning video. On a side note I didn't know April had 31 days. Lol.

[@bobbinnie9872]

That's only possible in our apiary.😇

[@carloscrenz9433]

Muy bueno genial💪🐝🐝🐝🐝👏👏👏👏🇦🇷🌼

[@jbissonette45]

In Oregon we have 2 types of black berry we have the invasive himalayan trailing black berry and then we have our native black berry. It looks like what you guys have is the himalayan trailing.

[@jr5218]

Bob, wondering if you did a spring mite treatment. I must have missed the video. Thanks for all you do and we love to watch. jr

[@bobbinnie9872]

No, not yet.

[@pawelcc38]

👍👍👍

[@lynnhughes6350]

Hi Bob!! Just to clarify …you had a queen in the bottom brood box …then a queen excluder …then a honey super (deep) ..then you added another queen excluder ..then a queen right top brood box ..and lid of course that was left cracked open slightly for a top entrance …so all the forager bees will mix together with no problems ?? Thanks Bob !!

[@bobbinnie9872]

Sounds crazy but yes. In most cases it works fine.

[@user-od8qj3be8m]

As expected another great video. We were blessed and a friend sold us three nukes. Queens are all laying in a great pattern. Lots of sealed brood and larva. Now to figuring out how to make rain???

[@user-ts9cy7nk3v]

Hi sir Bob NO QUEEN COME BACK HOME ALL 7 GONE NOW thanks but that the way it is now in Jamaica when we have spring time

[@bobbinnie9872]

Sorry to hear that.

[@bilaylor2552]

Thanks again for all your great work on passing it forward. What was the timing of this check from queen cell introduction? Asking because of the 7:20 hive with no sealed brood, but they raised a new queen. Trying to work out minimum time after queen cell intro for the queen to emerge, be replaced, and brood to appear from the new queen.

[@bobbinnie9872]

I think it was around 26 days. We usually like to check around 24 which gives a queen they raised themselves enough time to have eggs.

[@MagnoliaSpringsFarm19]

Wild cherry is blooming now for us. 🤪

[@bobbinnie9872]

😳

[@framcesmoore]

Ha Bob always enjoy your videos, U know I always have questions the flow starts in April the main is in May and is over in June about the 2nd week if u have capped brood in your hives will they be forgers before the flow is over. Thanks I hope you have a very blessed week

[@bobbinnie9872]

Hi Frances. I believe most will be foragers before it is over.

[@framcesmoore]

@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks Bob

[@woodlandharvesthoneycompanyllc]

Thank you Bob for sharing your knowledge. We have tons of Bush Honeysuckle ( some people call it Asian or Japanese Honeysuckle). It is all over the place and blooming heavily. Do you know if the bees harvest the nectar from it? The bees in my apiary arr working something very hard and heavy and not much else is blooming. Black locust hasn't started, dandelions are seeded out, white clover is just beginning and wild Cherry started a few days ago. My neighbor has a field that was planted in Tulip Poplar about 20 years ago for CRP. They are just leafed out but not blooming yet. I am hoping they will start this year. I have been waiting anxiously for the last several years. I don't know what they are after but it is a frenzy for sure. I just saw the first white wax a couple of days ago.

[@bobbinnie9872]

The honeysuckle in our area doesn't do us much good but I have heard others report doing well on it. If I don't know what's coming in I just call it fence post honey.

[@woodlandharvesthoneycompanyllc]

@@bobbinnie9872 Well, fence post honey is really coming in right now . Thanks Bob.

[@jtlearn1]

Were loaded with Black Cherry on N/W-NJ. I never tasted it.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Perhaps it's different up there.

[@jtlearn1]

@@bobbinnie9872 I'll let you know for sure. We're about 3 weeks behind you Bob

[@beebob1279]

Our flows have started but not strong up here in Pa. But something wiped out my colonies over the week. Queens are there but the population crashed. No dead bees in the entrance but just gone. I'm figuring a spray of some sort got them. Now I'm not sure what to do with them. We had to move them because the landowner didn't want them on the property anymore. So, after moving them this happened. I may have to look for a new location with whatever is left to survive. Suggestions Bob?

[@bobbinnie9872]

It doesn't sound good. Let's hope it just a one time event and what's left can bounce back. Not being there, I honestly don't have any good suggestions. Good luck.

[@reck9953]

Great video Bob. It’s a wonder my boxes aren’t full of cough syrup tasting honey I have 25 acres and I have a lot of cherry! But I also have lots of other stuff. I know this question is off topic but I have a neighbor that wants me to buy his honey. He wants me to pull it bring the supers to my honey house and extract it and then buy it. What would be a good $ per lb? Thanks Bob

[@bobbinnie9872]

When we used to do that for a friend we charged a shop rate. For us and our equipment it was $50.00 an hour per person and I considered that a good deal for him. A smaller or larger shop would need to be a different price.

[@house3d648]

Just a guess.. It is better to place two Queen cell in each Nuc to increase the success rate, especially given the volatile natural conditions

[@bobbinnie9872]

It does increase your odds a bit.

[@scottreese5492]

I've got heavy bearding right now on strong hives, i need them building comb not washboarding entrance and fellowshiping by the thousands outside the hive. I copied yalls bottom board design and was thinking yall run ⅜ gap all year long, would you recommend flipping to ¾side for summer? Or just cracking lid? Its only low 80's here in taft,tn. Aint near hot yet. Blackberry and tulip poplar are wide open and carolina buckthorn just around the corner. I wouldn't think anymore swarming right niw but im gonna check one more time today. Thanks so much for all yalls help. In two+ years of Y'all and Kaymons teachings ive gone from 5 to 24 , and no package bees. PRAISE JESUS, "GOD IS FAITHFUL "!

[@bobbinnie9872]

Although the 3/4 would surely provide more air circulation we stick with the 3/8 and add substantial upper entrances by cracking the lid or in some cases pushing an upper supper back a bit to create a crack.

[@scottreese5492]

@@bobbinnie9872 10/4 thanks, I forgot that trick, I copied yalls design and built all new bottom boards and been running on ⅜ gap but strong hives bee bearding heavy lately, ill try that crack at top trick, thanks for response, and Jesus bless you and keep Him first:)

[@NevadaBeeMan-nq3po]

Good morning Bob!! Are these queens the caucasian/Carniola queens? I sure want to find a way to get a few of them from you to try

[@bobbinnie9872]

They are. Of course they are open mated so the offspring are mixed which suits me fine.

[@TeddyC-32963]

Hi Bob! 2 Question…The bee yards you show on your videos, are they private permissions you seek out or people you know? And why do choose these spots? Thank you

[@bobbinnie9872]

They're all on private property. I look for a good wind break from the north, good access, and plenty of sun.

[@tristonosborne5537]

Hi Bob how are you managing swarming on a large scale? Ive seen most of your tips and tricks videos about managing swarming but the majority of my hives (150) are constantly building swarm cells even after I’ve nocked them back hard before our flow started. I have mostly Italian queens but I’m going to try some Caucasians to see if that helps. I’m open to suggestions. Thank You.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Caucasians do swarm less than Italians but they are by no means a cure. I recommend watching our video "A Problem With Single Story Colonies". kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6TbfmeeqdZnftk Understanding this technique will help. Extra substantial upper ventilation also helps. I'll be talking about this in a future video.

[@trenttucker7784]

Hi Bob, off topic but what do you do you paint the top of your hive lids with? Thanks.

[@bobbinnie9872]

We don't paint the top surface of our lids because the HDO plywood we use doesn't need it. We do paint the end grain to seal it.

[@williammiller5449]

I noticed the frame of cherry honey Selena tasted was uncapped. Did you harvest it uncapped?

[@bobbinnie9872]

This was just taken a few days ago and harvest is weeks away. It will be mostly capped by then.

[@nancynolton6079]

What brand of cough syrup does that honey/nectar taste like? We are about to have the same nectar/honey flow here (locust and poplar still budded up but not for long!). Already the two supers on some hives in my apiary are filled with nectar and they are starting to cap the top edges - added another box last week! I'm hoping fellow beekeepers in my area are prepared to handle the flow that seems about to come our way! Maybe I'll take some of mine in drawn comb instead!

[@bobbinnie9872]

It tastes like Robitussin. I'm not sure if it tastes like that in other regions.

[@jimferrentino]

Hi Bob... if you were planting trees near a bee yard would plant Tulip Poplar or Little Leaf Linden trees ? Thank you

[@bobbinnie9872]

For most areas I would add Linden trees. They make nice additions to yard too. In our case we already have tons of poplars but could use more Linden trees (basswood).

[@jimferrentino]

Thank you

[@aarondlancaster]

I wonder what the cicadas are going to do to the bees from a sound perspective? Any experience with it?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Interesting question. I don't recall any issues from the past.

[@user-cq7ro6lf3m]

the electric fence, is it because of the bears? Greetings Bruno Switzerland🇨🇭

[@bobbinnie9872]

Greetings. Yes, we have lots of bears in our region.

[@dearlgraham3059]

Dose the wild cherry have any probiotic value ??

[@bobbinnie9872]

Not that I know of.

[@3Beehivesto300]

Is there ever a issue with too much flow?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Not if you keep up with it.

[@3Beehivesto300]

@@bobbinnie9872 I think it would take a video to show how to do that in detail 🤯

[@jacobhelton8914]

What material do you use for your hive covers?

[@bobbinnie9872]

HDO (high density overlay) with Douglas Fir wood.

[@scottreese5492]

Do yall leave 3/8" gap entrance all year? Or change to 3/4" for summer?

[@bobbinnie9872]

We stick with 3/8. At certain times we will crack the lid for an upper entrance.

[@MerrittHoney]

Hey Bob, where did you find those corner insulators?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Hi Ron. If you are referring to the bear fence we get them from our local Ace hardware store.

[@MerrittHoney]

@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks Bob. Yes, I was. I’ve never seen any quite like those. I’ve got quite a few wooden corners I’d like to replace with t posts, but worried t posts wouldn’t handle the strain.

[@bobbinnie9872]

@@MerrittHoney T posts are great if your wire isn't too tight.

[@ZoysiaRUs]

Why not sell it to the cough syrup company?

[@bobbinnie9872]

I t could fit in perfectly.👍

[@sebastian.d.s]

Off topic. Do you know how big can a honey frame without wiring can be to withstand centrifugal extraction?

[@bobbinnie9872]

When I started out in 1981 there wasn't any Plasticell or Ritecell, etc. We all used wax foundation with cross wires in medium boxes. Without those two cross wires it didn't go well. Blowouts were almost a given. I would think the problem would be the same with shallows.

[@sebastian.d.s]

@@bobbinnie9872 I was thinking about a warre type frame or maybe a shallower warre frame could be sturdy enough.

[@bobbinnie9872]

@@sebastian.d.s It could be. I don't have any experience with Warre style equipment so I couldn't say for sure.

[@Dougarrowhead]

I cut open two queen cells that were ready to emerge. They were side by side. One was a dark queen and the other was light colored. Is it possible to have 2 different types in same hive? Last year a swarm came from somewhere else and took over my biggest hive and that queen was nearly solid black. This spring i had 2 queens in a different hive that were a light one and a dark one. Each had their own cluster of bees. Im wondering if i have russian bees. Some of the dark queens have very agressive colonies.

[@bobbinnie9872]

You can have different color bees in a hive at the same time. The drones are the same because they are from an unfertilized egg and represent only the queen but the workers and next generation queens are from fertilized eggs which represent the queen and a drone and a queen often mates with many different drones which can give you numerous different traits and colors.

[@Dougarrowhead]

@@bobbinnie9872 all of the dark queens have been shorter they arent the same shape as the italians. They run and hide more too. I am aware of how they mate and how drones are produced. The size and shape of the dark queens and the italian queens are different their temperament is totally different. I think i have 2 different types of queens. I never experienced usurpation until last year and thats when i got my first black queen. My wife watched a giant swarm come across the field and take over my biggest colony last year. The 2 queens i mentioned being in the same box. One queen was marked and found in a different hive. She and her colony moved into a hive with a different queen. Both queens were occupying different supers in the same hive. One of those queens was very dark and stubby and the other was long and yellowish. This all probably sounds confusing.

[@bobbinnie9872]

​@@Dougarrowhead You're right that Italian queens tend to be larger than the darker bees. The Caucasian queens we raise are noticeably smaller but at least they don't run and hide any more than the others. Although not always the case usurpation is known to be an africanized trait. I'm surprised they haven't done away with the other queen yet.

[@Dougarrowhead]

@@bobbinnie9872 they did kill the other queen. Neighbor has bees half a mile away that is where the usurpating colony came from that took over my biggest colony. He died and im not sure if anyone is taking care of the brees now. The bees are so mean i thought about throwing the hives in a fire. Some days you cant drive a tractor within 100 yards of the hives. I used to work my bees without any protection but i cant now. I was reading when this happened that it was a trait of africanised bees and had been documented in NC. Im in NC. Thanks for responding Bob! Im trying to figure out what kind they are because i dont like them they are too agressive. After working my bees i cant get anywhere near them for a day or two. I have to walk around my yard with the water hose to spray them so i can get away.

[@bobbinnie9872]

​@@Dougarrowhead If you are going to requeen them it could get brutal. A trick I've used in the past is to pick the hive up in the daytime and move it far enough away so the field bees go into neighboring colonies. For a short time you will only have young bees in the colony that are much easier to get along with and you'll also have fewer bees present. It should be much easier to find the queen. Either that or a cup of gasoline under the lid. I've been there, good luck.

[@Dougarrowhead]

Have you ever been stung by a queen?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Surprisingly no. I've never even had one try.

[@Whitesmokehoney]

First