Tips on Using a Double Screen Board for Splits - Jacksonville FL Zone 9b

#Honeybee #Beekeeping #QueenRearing #Bees #Florida #zone9garden #zone9b #zone9 #Apiary #Beekeeper #Grafting #Swarm #SwarmTrap #OxalicAcid #Varroa #SmallHiveBeetle #SHB #Langstroth
My name is Chuck Cook and I am a beekeeper In Jacksonville, FL. Hardiness zone 9b. Please engage in the discussion by leaving a comment.

[@heathermurray6134]

Thanks Chuck very helpful video I have been using the double screen board with good success so far this year, thanks for your help 🙂

[@chuckshoneybees]

Glad to help

[@patmeyer8287]

Chuck great video with clear explanations. Just wanted to mention if you make new hive stands that only hold two hives side by side, or four hives in a square like the palletized commercial beekeepers, you can stand to the side of the hive during inspections and not block the flightpath of the bees or have your feet near the front entrance.

[@chuckshoneybees]

I do have space issues and working from behind would be more optimal, thank you for the recommendations.

[@mduckett8194]

Wow! I have so much more to learn. 🤔

[@chuckshoneybees]

Don't we all!

[@KiwiWildman]

Hi Chuck, great video. I am going to give this a go, it looks like a great system. Cheers Chris

[@chuckshoneybees]

Go for it!

[@johnboec3]

Great video. I have never used that method but think I will try soon. Thanks for your time. Keep them coming..

[@chuckshoneybees]

Thanks for watching!

[@davidkoch733]

Very Good illustration.

[@chuckshoneybees]

Thank you.

[@adamsoutdoors]

That is basically my plan for this season for splits. I have 15 hives and want to use 3 to 5 of them for honey production and planning to split the rest to grow. Planning on 30 singles going into next winter. Great video!

[@chuckshoneybees]

Sounds great! Thanks for sharing.

[@jimhughes6794]

Chuck, when you had the nuc above the screen board, how do you keep rain water from standing on top of the screen board? Also, what were those brown strips you put in the last hive? Really enjoy your videos. Thanks for your efforts.

[@chuckshoneybees]

Lots of different solutions to that depending on the type of screen board wood you use. If it was solid plywood, this wouldn't be an issue. Depending on how long you were going to leave the Nuc on there you could cover with additional material. It is a valid point, you don't want to create a significant leak that will chill the brood below. I like the way you think!

[@richardkuhn4358]

Another well explained job

[@chuckshoneybees]

Thank you.

[@LisaBaker-cb7bg]

Very interesting Chuck

[@chuckshoneybees]

Thank you kindly

[@jlctv.6567]

love ❤ur video very clear explaination

[@chuckshoneybees]

Glad it was helpful!

[@MongoosePreservationSociety]

Great stuff

[@chuckshoneybees]

Thanks for the support!

[@olddansbees2072]

Thanks like your ways. Very good vid thanks alot. Old Dan Bees

[@chuckshoneybees]

Glad you enjoyed it Old Dan! I appreciate the support.

[@tamarareneecreations158]

Great video! Going to try this. 😊

[@chuckshoneybees]

Glad it helps.

[@heavymechanic2]

It works! I'm in zone 6B and overwintered four colonies, 2 above and below a double screen. All four colonies were small going into winter and are still alive. All four were a small split with a grafted queen cell. This method produces extra nucs or queens to recover from a winter loss.

[@chuckshoneybees]

@@heavymechanic2 That is great to hear!

[@tonyfox5422]

I like the nuc idea. Will use that. Thanks.

[@chuckshoneybees]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tonyfox5422]

Not just helpful, ingenius my friend. From here on will be known as Chucks top. We have done a bob binnie for years.

[@ChuckCook]

Wow! I like that name:)

[@glennsnaturalhoney4571]

Great video. Q cell and cant.find the queen, already swarmed? If I was purchasing a double screen I would op for a Snelgrove board. Gives you a couple of other options down the road. About 8 weeks of us in Fort Wayne. Bit with this crazy weather who knows. 60s this week. Glenn

[@chuckshoneybees]

I think there were way too many bees for them to have swarmed. But it is an accurate thought. I will have to keep an eye on this hive and look for eggs in the next few days.

[@BackBeeBrokenBeekeeping]

I really like the last option, great video. At 13:34, what is the square device you have near the left entrance of that hive? And that first hive you went into looked a little spicy!

[@chuckshoneybees]

First hive was very upset that I was breaking up that brood nest for sure. The square devices is a broodminder bee radar and vibration sensor.

[@olddave4833]

question, if you have the Nuc on top and it rains for a week, where does all the water go even if the hive is perfectly level? could maybe have a removeable notch on each side so the water can get out,

[@chuckshoneybees]

Second question on this topic and it is a valid concern based on what the Lid was made of, if it will hold water, ensure it doesn't leak. The one I demonstrated in this video might indeed leak, solid plywood would be better, or cover the edges with something else.

[@timhall5126]

Hi chuck , getting ready to start that process. Should I remove my 4 “ entry board and open all the way 10 frame box bees are super busy this week, thanks

[@chuckshoneybees]

I leave my entrances reduced year round. Up to you I guess, I have seen people do it both ways.

[@danbeeson9564]

If all the brood in the bottom with the queen is young doesn’t that mean she has nowhere to lay? Or does adding the super give her space for that? My concern would be that she runs out of room and they make more queen cells

[@chuckshoneybees]

usually as long as the bottom box is not honey bound a laying queen can't really lay up more than one deep. If properly managed it makes the bees put honey only in supers. Its a technique but harder to manage and risks the swarming impulse.

[@meganrader647]

How long would you leave the nuc on top if you let them rear their own queen? When do they get separated from the hive below?

[@chuckshoneybees]

You can leave them there as long as you like, but for ease of manipulation of the hive below, you can pull it off after it is strong enough to not need the heat from the larger hive below.

[@joeelam1]

I thought that you shook all the bees off the upper box. So it doesn’t have nurse bees? Joe from Georgia

[@joeelam1]

I watched it again, some frames did have bees, oops.

[@AmericansBee]

Im making 60 double screen boards for nuc production.

[@chuckshoneybees]

Wow, what design are you using and what materials (wood dimension)?

[@AmericansBee]

@chuckshoneybees old used 3/4in HDO i got from a concrete guy. I'd recommend new, though. 20in x 16.25in. Squares. 3/4 inch wide strips around the top edge with 1 in entrance fixed to left front side.

[@chuckshoneybees]

@@AmericansBee Nice.. perfect.

[@yvonnewagner5322]

MISSING INFO: You should have nurse bees in the top box of the split or there will be no one to feed royal jelly to make new queen. In the video you shook all the nurse bees off in an attempt to shake down your unseen queen. Beginners will fail using this method of removing all bees from the top split as you showed. It must also be emphasized that there must be less than three day old eggs in the queenless box so the bees can make a new queen.

[@chuckshoneybees]

This is a good clarification, and also why some use the queen excluder for a day to let the bees balance before splitting with the double screen board. Making a queen takes nurse bees for sure, putting a queen cell in the top helps shorten this cycle and gives the queen genetics you might be trying to create. Thanks for the comment.

[@catherinesutthoff1889]

If I put old brood in the queenless box what will the bees make a queen from? They need newly hatched larva. No?

[@ChuckCook]

@@catherinesutthoff1889 You need both. Hatching brood to start the new hive population, and larvae to make a new queen if you are using the emergency method without a cell.

[@mr4f49]

Do you sell queen

[@chuckshoneybees]

Locally yes.