The FrankenNuc - Laying Worker Drama - PART 4

[@timothyodonnell8591]

I'm fascinated by beekeeping. Yours is the best beekeeping vlog I've seen. You're the most "real" host. I love that you don't have an ego (on camera, at least), and you're not afraid to show your downs as well as your ups. Plus, the production values are good (good camera, good editing, background music, etc). Keep up the great work!

[@vinofarm]

You are very kind. It's very refreshing to just stand in front of a camera and try things and be honest about the results. It would be WAY harder to fake this stuff!

[@robere2011]

I was yelling at the tv (Noooo! )when you put the sugar syrup in that trap. Use soda and rotten meat. I hear beer will work too. Since your flow is on maybe not too many bees would go in it. Check out Jason Chrisman's new video on laying workers and how to solve it. Best bee video I've seen. Very simple solution. Good luck to you and thank you for allowing people to learn along with you.

[@BeamKennedy]

Ive heard raw meat also attracts yellow jackets, maybe stick some chicken or something in with the syrup. The regular bees wont go near the meat, but the wasps will.

[@Wosiewose]

Would canned cat food work? Just wondering...

[@T289c]

Yes any meat (Protein) Just syrup will kill Honeybees. That type of trap with just syrup is designed to catch All Bees. You want some meat in there.

[@bethechange4173]

I was wondering how a trap like hat would keep the bees out! On a side note - I have loved following all of your videos! You have grown so much since last year! Wish I could keep a bee hive so thank you for letting me live vicariously through you.

[@hypat1aa]

Meat only attracts yellow jackets when they have larva to feed. Yellow jackets eat nectar, though they are less picky than bees.

[@minimouette]

Try maple syrup or maple taffy: we got tons of yellow jacket at the sugar shack I was working at few years ago.

[@aanitaobrien]

Those capped queen cells were started in your Balboa hive....capping happens around day 9....look for more queen cells in your Balboa hive!

[@vinofarm]

Ooooooohhhhhh. Good point. I didn't notice them at all when I moved that frame in there. That's probably not good.

[@julieenslow5915]

That's exactly what I was going to say!! lol anita is fast! ok almost. I was going to say bee math is off but she had the right numbers so there it is. check balboa next.

[@jonathanswoboda]

Agree about the queen cells, takes more than three days. The other potential problem is you added a lot bees to the NUC. Those new bees will see a different queen and kill her. When I move frames of brood I brush all the bees off (dont shake it shifts the eggs on the cell walls). You basically did a join here and the new bees killed the queen. In a big strong hive it might be ok to add a few foreign bees but in a small NUC there aren't enough existing bees to protect her. Also a comment from a prev video. When joining hives the reason you want the queen on the bottom is hot air rises (bees produce a lot of heat). The queens pheromones will rise up into the queenless part. If the queen is up top her pheromones have a hard time going down.

[@jonathanswoboda]

This video was also interesting: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bprCY42NbJqVars

[@BESHYSBEES]

When i graft queens i take a 12 to 24 hr old larvae and i check 24 hrs and re-graft any cells they didnt accept then i come back on day six, most are capped by then if they have accepted the larvae, some take a little longer but iam grafting 45+ queen cells per hive with a 80% strike rate and im a noob at grafting, this does put alot of strain on the colony and thier stores so only graft spring to early summer

[@jo-han]

I like experiments. Last year you had 3 hives and seemed to be experimenting with all, now you have 11 and are experimenting with one. That's mighty improvement in percentage experimentation vs producing in one year.

[@vinofarm]

Yes. I have failures, but you're right that the successes far outweigh the problems. And the mistakes are learning experiences.

[@DembaiVT]

Don't apologize. Not for working and learning and doing your best. You are doing what you're doing. It'll be okay one way or another. So long as the strong hives live this next winter it isn't going to be a problem.

[@julieenslow5915]

Nothing was wasted if lessons were learned. You are an inspiration to me Jim and I am learning soooo much! I think your solution here is a good one, I do hope it works. I did not realize Balboa's new queen started that late, so thanks for reminding us. Yes your hives are doing amazingly and this problem hive has one last shot at redemption (thanks to Balboa). Thank you for sharing!

[@PilotMcbride]

"Like Queens though the Balboa hive, so are the days of our lives"........ This is a very interesting journey of discovery, thank you for sharing with us, it is an epic journey of knowledge, discovery and development.

[@phyreacid]

Mistakes are the way to learn. Thanks for sharing with us.

[@PsychoticusRex]

Lol, good luck. Please remember, both bees and yellow jackets like sugar, but only yellow jackets like meat. watch your trap for friendly fire, if it gets bad, drain the swamp and throw in some meat and water.

[@vinofarm]

After three days there were about 20 yellow jackets and two bees. Not too bad. Thanks for the tips.

[@BESHYSBEES]

Was going to recommend this they love chicken

[@paparlapipas]

If you gonna keep using syrup add a few drops of vinegar. Bees hate the smell of it but wasps like it. ;)

[@AnnieH23]

I have absolutely no interest in my own beehives, but somehow came across your channel and I've been watching for over a year now! I obsessively check to see if a new video has been loaded. Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with all of us!

[@bluzervic]

I'm telling you, Balboa wants the whole bee yard😏 What a great learning experience this has been not only for you, but for me also. Take care, I am marking my calendar for the next update 😜

[@reginaromsey]

The bees decided to stage a coup and hatch pretenders to the throne. Now you are going to combine them with a hive of regicides!! Laying worker = Cinderella.

[@Ash1Størm]

I love how you tell us what your planning on doing and the ideas you have. You haven’t given up yet and seem dedicated to your bees. Definitely would inspire me to keep going if I was into bee keeping. Love your videos they got me hooked. Keep up the ideas, dedication, and great job your doing.

[@dianemilligan7370]

The experimentation is so interesting - it is one part of what makes your series so addicting along with your sharing the full story with what works and what doesn’t. I’m so fascinated to see what happens next that I’m not getting my work done - lol!

[@littlelady2473]

This mini series on bees was super education. I can see showing it in class after learning about bees.

[@rebiceman100584]

from what i have seen over the last year or so is that this has been a real twist and learning curve. its great to see that someone is actually willing to try to fix a worker laying problem and gives me the tips i need if it happens to me ... as for the franken hives them selves it was last minute deal i would have done the same with what i had around me

[@jjiacobucci]

Your videos series of FrnakenNuc is so totally AWESOME ! Love the editing, especially on this Part 4, at 45 secs when the kids cheered. Best entertainment ! Thanks so much . Can't wait to see more.

[@borisnemtsov1470]

OMG... I am COMPLETELY transfixed! I stumbled upon your first Frankenhive video last night and I just HAD to follow your story. I know NOTHING about bees, am actually afraid of bees and just, well... I steer clear of them. But after that first vid, I was addicted! I'm clamoring to figure out what happens next! So, naturally, I subscribed and I'm learning a whole lot about bees that I never knew. I was also sad about the queen that was killed. My new guilty pleasure: Bee Soaps. I hope this solution works! I am waiting with bated breath!

[@vinofarm]

Thanks for the kind words. It's always nice to hear my stories appeal to non-beekeepers!

[@kellianderson535]

Go back and watch them from the beginning not just the Frankenhive series! You’ll fall in love.

[@chilixocoltl]

For real, watch from the beginning. There's so much drama! And I learned a whole lot that way.

[@maxinecrossfire2514]

We are learning together. I am loving this frankennuc

[@MNChoirMom]

As one of the children's story tellers at my church, your Frankenhive situation captured my attention. As I've watched your videos, I see a perfect children's story. Thanks for sharing your experiences. My grandfather kept bees when my dad was a boy and I remember seeing some of his old bee keeping equipment. My cousin is just getting started. I am interested, but live in an area where there are already hives about, so additional bees would make competition for resources a little much.

[@mcbourdua]

Your videos are amazing. It's so interesting to follow your whole thoughts process. For people like me that aren't beekeepers but fascinated by bees, this is all high quality content, very hard to find! Please keep up the good work! I appreciated every bits of it! Would love to hear more about what you are planting or other things you are doing on the farm. Thx

[@WhiTiger]

This is awesome!! I love that you share your journey and adventures with us. If you learn something then the experience wasn't wasted. You're doing great!! Keep up the good work.

[@Kafj302]

Will say i have loved watching this series. There is suspense, there is action, who knew bees could be so exciting to watch.

[@maryries4044]

At around five minutes in you said a mouthful. At this time of the year you can't take anything away from any hive for the struggling nuc...don't even think about it. Start looking forward to the baby bees next spring. It sooo much more fun in April than it is in September.

[@Mizleesha]

Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. As someone who is seriously considering beekeeping, you keep it real and share everything. Other youtubers make it look like a walk in the park. You share reality. I wish I had some advice for you, but instead I will just keep rooting for you❤️❤️❤️

[@canuckyank82]

A free Massachusetts version of the Capulets and the Montagues mini- series. Can hardly wait for next spring's opening to see if there is a queen emergence. Just plain thrilling!

[@flygirlhoney_]

Loving your experiments. Please keep it up. I’m learning so much from all your trials and tribulations. Thanks for sharing them with us.

[@trixiebelton4604]

The saga continues! This is better than a soap opera.

[@jasonlaughon2897]

Yet another awesome episode of “Game of Combs”. Just lost my one hive (R.I.P. Queen Imola) to a bear and intend to start over from scratch next year. Thanks to your efforts I am much better educated this next time around. Thank you.

[@vinofarm]

Oh, sorry to hear that. I do not look forward to a bear encounter. Good luck next season!

[@100amps]

Thanks for the educational and addictive videos Jim. I’m right there beside you learning all the way.

[@silverork7165]

Doing a great job man. You're learning through experience which is usually the best teacher. I will say this though, you should have realized that the moment you put Balboa eggs and bees in there they were going to clean house. Balboa don't take crap from nobody it seems...

[@DembaiVT]

Lol so true. Murdering little nurses.

[@silverork7165]

I do have one question though, are we going to get anymore videos of how your other hives are doing? specifically your other walk away splits.

[@edalemckenna]

I know I’m like 2 years late to this vlog but it’s 2 in the morning here. I’ve been watching your vlogs for the past 3 hours. I’m not even into beekeeping, but I really enjoy how much you care for your bees. I’m gonna keep watching. If one good thing came out of this Corona Lockdown it would be stumbling across you!

[@katkorn5499]

Love watching your videos..learning a lot about bees. Thank you for sharing your adventures in bee keeping. Keep up the great work!

[@rice_to]

Thank you so much for the videos. I'm learning a lot and this is so fascinating/entertaining. Don't apologize or get upset with people's comments; you wouldn't be getting more followers otherwise. :)

[@kathyb395]

I was thinking about your channel the other day and was wondering when I new video was going to be posted and Bang you pay this one! Thanks for updating us on the strange situation in your hives.

[@CashSly]

Great job!! I just did a split a month ago and have ad similar issues, but I have the benefit of being able to watch you and learn. Thanks for this series and keep up the good fight!

[@CuriousCreature]

So fun to watch! Learning a lot. We’ll all be better beekeepers after your series.

[@lukehiggins4101]

Looks like your area is going to be extremely warm this week. I’m from the Midwest I’ve been trying to get to my bees for a 4 days, but it has been raining almost constantly! Love the videos! Thanks!

[@petrarackley4968]

I love the bee drama!! Randomly ended up on this channel a while back and now it’s one of my favorites!

[@MyNameSteph]

I'm excited to see the next video in this series! I have been following since your first year, and it's awesome to see your hives growing. Keep up the great work!

[@lamairepr]

Another great video, really loving the mini-series. It’s been very informative and should help a lot of the bee keeping family! I really hope you get a queen to take ownership of that hive :)

[@DaiLusional]

These videos are always so satisfying to watch. Love it! Let’s hope this new attempt works! Can’t wait to find out!

[@PikSyron]

Hello from Greece. I am a new beekeeper too. I enjoy very much your videos. Hope everything works out for your frankehive. But even if it doesn't surely I learned a lot of stuff with you. And you know, knowledge is power.

[@enstreetbees9968]

My first year of beekeeping in TX has been one incredible hive no problems amazing queen and 3 hives of constant issues some just the craziest situations, and of course my wife and I have learned an incredible amount from the struggles. Love the vids and one thing I am realizing... everyone thinks they know whats best but it finally comes down to your bee your decision and we live with it goo bad and ugly lol

[@fruityfluffyhamster]

I'm hoping this starts the beginning of them hatching one of the queen cells and keeping the queen this time. This must be uber disappointing to have this happen so close to the colder months ;-;. *crossing my fingers this hive makes it*

[@kathyhathaway8823]

Really I do not know what to say . I have saw all your video’s on this story. I guess the best thing you have done a HELL of a job on trying to get this to work out. My hat is off to you and most of all to me I have learned on this story so THANK YOU an I hope this time it works for you and them . 🤞🐝🤞🐝

[@Kevin-gg2bl]

Tapping out the bees, when the laying worker would've been a lot easier and faster for normal beekeepers. No buying queens, no losing brood from another hive. And really a bad process for those beekeepers. But for a learning channel, this was amazing. Now other people might learn and realize why beekeepers don't try to put in all that effort. Also, it really shows that you are doing this more for the bees, and not the honey. It might set you back, but you actually care about your bees. Which is rather amazing.

[@kwell88]

I really enjoy your videos. I live in central maine so we have same climate. It was nice to hear that you had a successful self re queening last fall. I am new beekeeper with 4 new hives. 2 packages and 2 nucs from this early summer. A month ago One of my packages made some queen cells. I didn't see queen so I thought I was late. She swarmed the day later. It was awesome to see but tense at the same time to see all your bees flying around. I did catch her and started laying right away. Within a week they drew 7 deep frames on new foundation. what was confusing for me was that there was 3 more swarms from the same mother hive over the next week or so. I new it was that same hive because three other hives had queens and no cells also witnessed the last one. I caught them all! I never knew about multiple swarms from the same hive.They are all on new frames so they have their work cut out for them. Last week I saw eggs in two of them. Other two had missing queens. Very nervous and loud bees. Two days later quite and queen right. I assume they went out for mating. Hopefully they can build up enough for winter.

[@StealthFB22]

This has been so entertaining to watch! Drama, love, hate and action all in one :D

[@marjoriewilliams4986]

This series has me on the edge of my seat!!

[@claire2430]

Best thing is we all learn from this. Thank you.

[@krashkource]

Raw/rancid meat for the win for a yellow jacket trap. Anything fatty will really attract them and the bees will stay the hell away from it. Not sure if the syrup will also catch bees.

[@MsrKSDisque]

What a great learning opportunity!

[@Peter-dk2ov]

Your music queues are spot on

[@jman414999]

Great video I think we all have a hive that just doesnt want to work. I think this will work. Having so many hives makes such a huge difference. Good luck

[@bfd1565]

Valid effort. I applaud you. At this point. Let nature take it's course. Leave that hive alone and see how it plays out. Let them earn their survival. You've done all you can to this point. Don't disturb that hive for a month.

[@ebswim123]

Hi Vino Farm, love the videos! Have a question for you and your followers. Was doing an inspection today - opened my hive and definitely queenless (we are in the PA region) -> found one queen cell but doesn't appear capped yet. No other brood anywhere, plenty of honey and pollen in 2 full deeps with lots of bees. As I was performing inspection, the entire colony was VERY loud and VERY angry and pretty much all the bees took flight and settled on the outside of the hive - is this normal behavior for a queenless hive? can they swarm without a queen? probably better to try and requeen rather than let them raise a new queen at this point in the season, right? thanks for any advice!

[@chrisb4705]

Great videos. I'm new to beekeeping. I'm leaning a lot . . . from your mistakes. Thanks!

[@_Jolyn]

If you or anyone else learned something new you dis not waste anything. (Maybe me from binge watching you all day vs housework. LoL) Keep up the awesome work!

[@normjacques6853]

You are tenacious and persistent, Jim! At this point, though, you may be the only one who's able to follow who, when, and where, etc.! If it were me, with an otherwise thriving apiary, while i might be tempted to try and will a situation to succeed, I think I would 'cut my losses,' stand back, and let nature take it's course. Whether that results in a healthy colony or empty boxes, keep your notes and reorganize once the scenario plays itself out, for better or worse. Once you begin to prep for Winter, you'll know how to treat the NUC hybrid colony. You do get points for doing everything you could...and more! :-)

[@vinofarm]

This is pretty much the final try. I have nothing to lose by trying and I keep remembering Balboa's saga last fall happened a full month closer to winter than we are now. So I'm not worried. Thanks!

[@philippedelabays9218]

Hello! Great videos, I am enjoying your videos. They are quite interesting! I am a brand new bee keeper myself and I will make my share of mistakes I am sure. Hopefully I can learn more and more from beekeepers like you and avoid some mistakes. By next year I plan to split hives and I think I am also going to attempt to raise queens. It will all be a learning experience. I would suggest to you to try it as well (raising queens that is) that way it would save you some time where you could introduce a queen right away instead of waiting until they make one! Anyway just a suggestion 😀 Keep videos coming!👍

[@wess1405]

Balboa being that chill and with that brood pattern this time of year..split the heck out of them next year, You're gonna want to keep and multiply her genetics.

[@julieenslow5915]

wess1405 go back and watch from the beginning. he has been doing it and I don't know how many balboa daughters ruling their own hives, but they are amazing!

[@wess1405]

@@julieenslow5915 I have watched it. As I said it would be for next year. Queens don't last forever, so splits would work great for requeening, boosting production colonies etc. I know it was never about the honey, but there should be plenty of bees to put those flow frames to use next year. Another experiment ahead.

[@ciaraoneill2505]

Your videos seriously brighten up my day!! Sending well wishes from Ireland 🇮🇪

[@cricketscorner6514]

2nd that from LA lower Alabama. 😎👍

[@mekan0001]

3rd that from Toronto!

[@permanentlygubbed]

4th from Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@tabithaamoroso7027]

Was ready for a dead queen, was less ready for 3 capped queen cells 😂 They love to keep you on your toes!

[@KitsonHeart]

As a passerbier, how bout you try taking a look at Shawn Woods' video called "How to trap 1,000 yellowjackets in just hours" or something by that name? He usually reviews mice traps but he showed a homemade trap that just annihilated yellowjackets/wasps

[@Kfaircloth13457]

Yes!! That was a wonderful video. I'd love to see him do that.

[@heathersfeatherfarm3245]

I can wait to have bees of my own I'm learning so much from your videos besides that I find it very interesting!

[@weatherlyfarms8326]

The manner in which you added the frame of brood balboa and bees to brood "strengthen" the nuc. The Balboa bees didn't recognize the nuc queen as their queen & most likely dispatched them. Sometimes it works & they combine, other times not so much. This same thing happened to me 7 days ago. Had a weak nuc, added a frame of capped brood. Today there were capped queen cells. It is pretty much too late in the year to rear another queen. Time to do a newspaper combine. Great videos Jim!

[@randallx6916]

Heya. I love your videos, they are so interesting. I do not beekeep myself but i find it rather fascinating. Now, a question that haunts me for a while. How is it that you can just take out Bee´s and Brood from another hive and put it into a hive/nuc with a Queen that they do not notice. Wouldn´t the new bees attack her because they know/think that they still have their Queen? Again, I love your Videos. Keep it going!

[@davidsachs4883]

My suggestion for the deep/medium problem. withr the hives with both box sizes, move the queen into the deep. There are several ways to do that, use the method you are most comfortable with. Put a queen excluder between the deep and the medium, I’ve heard metal excluders are preferable to plastic. After a few weeks the brood in the medium will hatch out, turning the medium box into a super.

[@0naallan429]

Yayyyy, I was getting worried.. trial and error,, thank you for sharing.

[@RobertSchwartzLive]

Your logic is going to work... Great Job...

[@alvinsbees518]

Good move getting the 5 queen cells going. I agree with your next move with the paper merge. I know there is some debate about what to do with the "short" queen cells. As long as I have at least three longer ones left I always tear our the short ones.

[@Gabriel-cw5gz]

We have a laying work this year also. What we did to fix it was to put in a frame of eggs and uncapped brood and change it every week for 2 to 3 weeks or when they are capped. That will help the worker to stop laying. We got 5 queens and put a screen around them and got 2 more hives. We also put in a min nuc with 2 large frames. It work for us. Good luck.

[@TheOregonOutlaw]

Jim, I'm not critiquing anything today! Dude... we can SEE the mental frustration in your face! LOL Keeping Bees is not for everyone, but so long as you have the heart for it, and occasionally a good shrink to help you thru things like this laying worker debacle - you're going to make a fine addition to the club! ONE THING I ask - I'd love to read your notes a year from now! LOLOL G L

[@garrettjohnsonyt]

I'm a little hesitant to comment on this video because I don't want to steer you in a bad direction. This is a very confusing situation in both of these troublesome hives and any suggestions you get from armchair quarterbacks (like me!) is likely to be fraught at best. With that said there are a couple of *broad* - *strokes* , mile-high lessons to be learned here, I think: 1. It's tough to breed new queens late in season. Weather's less favorable than spring, and the drones are less abundant. 2. It's tough to introduce a queen that's not laying. And in a laying worker hive, that includes a queen that was laying an hour ago but is now in a cage! This is because you're fighting against two pheromones in those cases: Not only the QMP from the laying worker, but the brood recognition pheromone from that worker, neither of which match the new (true) queen. You might want to consider a queen introduction cage next time this sort of thing happens, but I'm not even sure if THAT will work. It's possible the hive is just dead as fried chicken at that point. 3. Laying workers are important to distinguish from "small/mutant/poorly-raised queens", and to do so early on! 4. Not to belabor the point, but some of your options are limited by the resources you have at your disposal. Yeah, sure, you want to go all-deep, and when you finally get there great. (Though if you want to go all-medium that's fine -- albeit more expensive and more of a PITA -- too!) There are other resources you want to make a point to have on hand: Empty, but fully drawn, broodcomb, because that's the easiest way to get a queen to lay. #8 Hardware cloth, wire cutters, and solder, to fashion a queen introduction cage if that's your wont. Spare nuc boxes because you never know when you're going to get a free queen and you'd rather not throw her away. I'm not sure if those emergency queen cells are actually destined to breed out a real queen. The larvae may have been too old. We'll find out soon enough though, and it's not like your approach is all that likely to change knowing you may not get a queen out of them. Fingers crossed! Finally there are quite a few people in the comments talking about wasp/hornet/yellowjacket bait. Bees are exclusively nectar feeders. Rotting fruit, lunchmeat (provided it's not too heavily spiced; I'd avoid *chorizo* or *prosciutto* , for example) yeah, they're probably a bit better. But the larger issue is the best time to trap is when the wasp/hornet/yellowjacket *QUEENS* are flying! That's in the spring. Those predator insects don't carry colonies through winter: they breed a few queens that overwinter, then they come out and build fresh colonies every year. You want to stunt the population of those predators? Kill the queens in spring. I'm not sure if given your situation I would have done anything much better than you have. In fact I'm fairly sure I'd have performed worse. Good luck! :)

[@johnpotter7777]

Great series!!! Thanks!!

[@philjanikjr9805]

You are doing what you think is correct, resources will be used and $$ spent, look at the lessons learned. Kudos to you for sharing! Smell that goldenrod in the hive yet? HBM

[@douglloyd3802]

Jim, I think one of your first mistakes was adding frame from balboa hive with bees on it. My opinion would to be to shake them all off and only add the capped brood. I think that the balboa bees that were introduced were not Queenless long enough. You should have put frame of balboa bee in a separate box for 8-10 hours so they would have thought they were Queenless before introduction to the queenrite box . I would say that the balboa bee killed or ran the existing Queen off . This is my opinion. Also I watch the yellow jackets kill my bees chew them in half and cart them off. I have yellow jacket that get in to my hive and uncap larva and cart them off also. They are vicious, kill as many as you can. The yellow jacket love raw salmon skin and meat, try this in your trap. Syrup will also attract your honey bees in to the trap, which you do not want. Good Luck! keep the videos coming!

[@kevmarmarsh4238]

I'm waiting for that long vid of you doing an inspection on the other hives. What's the update on the hive that swarmed?

[@dusk152010]

Always fun watching some bees on my lunch break.

[@drrota]

Great job - THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER - :) The bees don't read the books. :) I've got the same problem with odd-sized woodenware.

[@cluelessbeekeeping1322]

I dunno if this is correct, but I have had problems with placing a frame of capped + open brood + Bees into a weak hive. They often killed the queen. Now, I will do the same, but I'll leave the new frame outside, alone for 10-15 minutes. I'm thinking to let these new 'transfer' bees let them realize they are queenless. None of my boosted hives (above method) have lost their queen. Not for sure if what I did made a difference (I've only done this twice), but so far, so good. I figure, at worst, it doesn't hurt anything to leave the frame isolated (hanging on a rack without their original queen/box). As you, I love experimenting and figuring stuff out. That's part of the fun of beekeeping. One other thing I like to do during a split is: Make a major split (50/50), after I get a bunch of queen cells, I'll make a couple of tiny splits with those queen cells (put 1 or 2 cells from the big split), I'll add only 1 or 2 frames of resources in these tiny 2nd splits off of the big split. I do this to just insure I get at least 1 mated queen. Sometimes I end up with 3 mated queens. Give them away or make a 2-queen hive. These secondary splits I consider more of a mating nuc, they are too tiny to make it on their own, but after they get mated is when I'll use the queen. Often one of those boxes ends up queenless, but I've never had all three boxes queenless. Just a bit of insurance. Plus, it's fun to just give away queens to people who need a queen.

[@JessicaMuncey]

This hive really puts you through the paces, but they are strong and keep coming back swinging. I feel like they are just going to surprise us again. Why didn't you cut out some of the queen cells keep Balboa going?

[@jeffreys9667]

Hello Jim, Its easy to transition to deeps. Just place a deep box on top in the spring or mid season and let the queen lay it up. Then move it to the bottom and place your mediums on top with a queen excluder between the deep and the mediums. Once all the young bees hatch out they will begin to fill the mediums with honey and, "TaDaa", transition to deeps with medium honey supers. It doesn't get any simpler than that. As far as wasted resources and time go.....as long as you learned something valuable while doing it, it wasn't wasted, even if it was, "not to do that!" JMHO! Good luck!

[@cluelessbeekeeping1322]

Oh, I forgot to mention, next season, if you want to get rid of all of your medium frames (I'm doing the same, going to all 8-frame deeps)...errr, that's the plan. You can put any 8-frame boxes or frames on top of a queen excluder. After the bees emerge, remove the frames or box. If they store honey in them, keep it or put it out for the bees to rob.

[@samb1123]

I'm not a beekeeper at all, but I was wondering if you could cut the comb out of the medium frames and reframe them into deep frames with rubber bands.

[@vinofarm]

In an emergency situation, yes, but it's very messy and a lot of brood would be destroyed.

[@patrickedgington5827]

Interested in the wasp trap...wont the syrup attract your bees as well? I have seen traps batted with rotten meat, to attract the yellow jackets and not the bees.

[@MrBaltdave]

Oh the suspense !! Great video !!

[@joanhuffman2166]

You mention a dearth of nectar in July. It occurs to me that the American Chestnut is what is missing, they were the last things to bloom. One lone American Chestnut was found because it was the only tree blooming in July in the middle of a forest.

[@dajwedell]

I can't help, I'm just interested. Enjoy your videos. Good luck. 😀

[@flatlinehodl9862]

You're channel convinced me my life mission is bee keeping, I dont like or eat honey, but I do love honey bees.. Can I still be a bee keeper if I don't want their honey?

[@mbgal7758]

Flat line Hodl of course. It’s better if you don’t take their honey. So often beekeepers take too much and colonies starve out over the winter. That’s their food. They’ve been bred over time to produce more honey than they need but the great thing about honey is that it doesn’t go bad and as long as the bees are there to guard it they can keep storing it indefinitely. If the bees die off then honey can become a problem but that’s only because other animals and insects get in to it.

[@Danielle-oj5rl]

Can you name this hive pita short for pain in the arse, with all the problems your having 😂

[@TheVexCortex]

Naw, gotta go family friendly, "WTHB" instead, he keeps saying 'What the heck bees?', so seems fitting.

[@Danielle-oj5rl]

TheVexCortex that is why I said pita as i call one of my customers pita, he loves the name and I can’t call him by anything else not even by his name 🤣

[@Kakashi713]

@@TheVexCortex cursed hive works since he literally said "this nuc is cursed!". Makes it specific to that nuc so makes it unique.

[@LthrWrstlr1]

How did the yellow jacket trap work?

[@theantithesis1]

I suggest for next year to not do any more splits, if that is a possibility I don't know how you would keep you bee population down, and concentrate on building resources. You have several resource hives which, among other things, you'd said are a way to build up resources to use in the bee yard, like more drawn frames. This way, you can more easily transition to all deeps and build up a store of drawn deeps because it seems like having a stack as tall as you is a good idea.

[@JohnVK5JAK]

At 5:50 into this video, when you take the lid off, there is a shim (not really a shim) that has two crossbars and mesh in between those two bars. What’s its purpose? I noticed it in the others in this series too. John

[@vinofarm]

John Tudor That was being used as a spacer so the feeder jar would fit under the lid. However, it was made to fit over an inner cover as a winter ventilation shim. In my winterization video from 2018 I explain how I use those shims as ‘Vivaldi boards’. I will link it below this comment.

[@vinofarm]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZLMlaSPdrGWl6s (3:55 on that video)

[@JohnVK5JAK]

Oh. Of course. Up one way the mesh is flush to the hole in the inner cover. Thanx muchly

[@Evilpengwinz78]

Me: "It's 2am, I should probably go to bed" Also me: "Ooh, a new 19 minute Vino Farm video!"

[@emmagraham1774]

EvilPingu78 Yup!!

[@dalgrim]

First, BTW Goldenrod honey is awesome. Good luck with the combine.

[@kylieanne7392]

I look forward to your videos. You are so sweet. I know nothing about bees. I love your content.

[@fritopg285]

I like your trapping Idea, but fried greasy chicken on yellow jackets would work 10 times better. just a thought for next time.