How To Keep Honey Bees FAQ 19, Making a Split step by step, and walk away... 

1) When choosing Queen Honeybees, what's the difference between marked, clipped, or plain. 1:21 2) Is it possible to split a beehive without having to buy new queens? 7:05 3) My bees won't leave my Dad alone, they harass and sting him while he's working in the yard, what can I do about that? 12:02 4) Ant barriers, should I use oil or grease? Ideas? 15:48 5) What is the best thing to put on bee stings? 20:46 Split demonstration 36:02

I just finished watching, the visor is pretty sharp, I wouldn't be surprised if the Australians start offering it as an accessory for their hives. Fred, your videography looks like a PBS documentary. Well done my friend. Thank you!

Thanks very much for your interesting and varied videos --- and your calm and thoughtful intelligence. The video of the split was fascinating.

Happy Friday fred!!👋

I use Vinegar for bee stings. It takes the pain, itch and swelling out it seems and it cools the skin. You smell bad though, but it works.

get my bees in 2 weeks first time bee keeper enjoy your program keep up the good work

Ants issues. This might sounds crazy but if you pour sweet and low sugar subtitles some how it makes ants disappear. I don't know why but it works

MR dunn your video presentations make me question teh way I've always done things. Beginners? these are useful for eveyone i htink! Your queen releasing methods make me wonder why I have been waiting all those days! and not pulling frames direct from teh center you make some excellent points! keep it up i appreciate YOU!!!

36:02 takes you directly to the split demonstration :)

Yay been waiting for this video all week. And it is kinda exactly what I am doing this week. Fred man. My one Beeweaver has tried to swarm twice, and my other tried today. So I am splitting the first year beeweaver nucs and putting saskatraz queens on them. I have never had a nuc that needed splitting first year. I just don't understand. I swear these things are laying 3000 eggs per day. They each fully drew out 20 frames of comb in a month and a half. I have never had to do this. It makes no sense. Why cant you guys be like regular bees and be slower? lol.

Once again, outstanding video Fred!! I have a Queen coming from BeeWeaver on Tuesday or Wednesday? I have a Queenless hive, and I am going to try and introduce her to the hive using your method! I cannot understand how and why so many of the “Pro” beekeepers work in shirtsleeves and flip flops with no vail?? One will watch a video and you know they are getting stung! Being at this for 1 month, its jacket, gloves, and veil for me! Have been stung 3 times already. Twice thru my gloves and yesterday thru my jeans? 🤷‍♂️

Ant in the hives. Apply TANGLEFOOT to the stand legs, and problem solved. Another great video, thank you Fred. Next inspection I suspect my LL hive will be at this stage. 4/5/21. So.OR.

Gr8 Fred! Paul Stamets just posted a bee feeder. I believe it has his mushroom juice in it.

Amazing video as usual and I have a fast question for you. If I am installing a bee package to a new hive how long should I wait before opening the hive for the first time to see how are they doing?????

Another great video full of very helpful information. As a brand new beekeeper I am fascinated by the behavior of my bees. One of my observations is that my bees will build comb almost completely filling the center access to the ceracell top feeders and this makes it harder getting the bees out of that area when cleaning the feeders. Why would they do this?

Fred, thanks so much for walking us through the split! Another fantastic video, full of helpful information.

One good thing you may have some chewing lines in the woods

Thanks for the info Mr Dunn.. Very very late,,🇱🇨👊🔥🔥🔥❤

I have heard about the hybrid sunflowers having less pollen but how can a person tell the difference. The seed sellers use different terms and gimmicks just like car sellers. Some reviews sound like Mary Poppins wrote them! Even some of the native seed companies ads sound iffy.

Fred, Thanks for another great Friday Evening. I hope you can answer this question: Since Virgin Queens typically fly up to three times the distance that Drones from the same apiary fly, how do they know where the Drone Congregation Areas are and how do they insure that they are mating with Drones from diverse genetic hives.

My one Beeweaver is SUPER hot, worse disposition than Russians, worse disposition of any hive I have ever had. Like I cannot even mow outside without getting buzzed, and they chase me down my driveway. To put things in perspective my driveway is 2 miles long. And another mile from the hives. The guard bees chase me a mile down my driveway before they turn back. They are doing amazing building up and acting normal as anything else, but as soon as it got warmer out they are so pissy. I had to suit up for it, when usually I am just in a veil. They are fine initially but once they get mad they get MAD MAD MAD. I am already looking forward to requeening her I think if her brood does not calm down. I am like did she get some Africanized drones mating with her in Texas? The other two Beeweavers are amazing and gentle. But this hive is like, I HATE YOU DIE NOW. I got stung in the cheek today before I left work just walking out to my car. My car is easily, 500 feet from the hives. While I was dealing with getting stung there and getting to leave again, I got smacked in the center of the head and almost was stung in the forehead. Once they get on you, you have to either go a mile down the driveway or go in the house before they leave you alone and sometimes they wait for you at the front door for you to come back out of the house. Freaking mean colony. I really hope she calms down because I just got this queen in April. I wrote Beeweaver and maybe will call them on Monday. They have a four month replacement window on queens that are making super aggressive hives. Hopefully I can get a replacement. I hope they understand. I got pets and my kids are even being stung now and they are no where near the hives. Another thing that is strange is, my one beeweaver queen looks like a fat long normal queen. My other two beeweaver queens look tiny. Like drones are way larger. I am like are these mated? They are laying so many eggs so I know they are. They just look super tiny. The smallest one is my best layer of any of the hives.

👀 knowledge overflow... Wonderful i tell you, great information as always. 😊 👍

Your hives really are booming good job

Wow, what a difference that visor makes on the temperature of that Flow Hive 2 under a full sun! One hundred and twenty degrees on top off the visor and one hundred eighty one to one hundred eighty four degrees at the entrance. That's over thirty five degree difference- by my calculations. I'll bet the bees appreciate not having their appendages baked as they move in and out of their hive. But my question is what role or purpose does burr comb have ? My initial thoughts were that it serves much like a staircase, providing a more direct means of moving from one level to another, or as a means of directing airflow within the hive, or a move efficient way of joining structure together without the use of propyliss. I am very much interested on your thought on this. Thank you for your contribution to beekeeping and beekeepers.

Fred so get this. Today doing an inspection I found a very large drone, with his head in a uncapped honey cell, eating. It was my understanding they do not feed themselves. It was very curious. I was like huh what?

Is there any way to determine or find if there is a Drone congregating area near me that a virgin queen can utilize? Wondering if I'm so remote there may not be any near me so odds of mating a homegrown queen would be low...and I should instead bring in a mated queen.

Hi Fred, Great video. Just wanted to let you know surgical gloves did not work for me. She stung me.

Hi Fred, I just checked my hive and I found that many of the normal brood cells are full of nectar. I did not see a single egg in any cell so assuming queen is gone. There were capped queen cells on four frames. I split the hive and put half of the queen cells in either hive. The new hive I gave a frame full of brood and left one for the old hive. The new hive i gave a frame of new wax that had a few cells of honey. Both hives have a lot of pollen and honey. The scotch broom flow is on here. My idea is that the two hives will have queens hatch soon and she will start laying eggs in a couple of weeks. I split the hive due to the queen cells and that the hive swarmed a few weeks ago and have built up again. Any thoughts

At 35:00 or thereabouts, you mention rolling the queen, damaging supercedure cells, and so on. I would think it bad prqctice to roll ANY bee, party because it damages whatever they are being rolled on (maybe brood) but also because it is quite reasonable that the bees will interpret it as an attack on the hive, and you can hardly blame them if they get defensive!

Oh i got bees now what? Started packages work with them got them through winter, well what i want to do is graft, and suit them up for splits

Edit to my comment about temperature differences using a visor......one hundred and twenty degrees on top of the visor and "eighty one to eighty four degrees at the entrance" (not one hundred.....) for a difference of over thirty five degrees.

I was going through some of your old shows you look a little bit different which I imagine we all do

Dear Frederick Thanks for the reply but how do I see your latest video. I've looked on you tube and put latest Frederick Dunn questions & answers but see only older vids? Am I right in needing to see 26-11-2021 date...... I dont see any dates until I click on the lists, I hope I'm not a nuisance. It's a long way to spring and I realise I might be way too early buying another beehive. I couldn't resist a complete langstroth hive with flow units for £167...... not easy to find the advert on Amazon by the way. Best wishes Mick

Traveling Back in Time. Like Star Trek. 2020 Thanks joe

Hello Fred, first I would like to thank you for sharing your extensive knowledge & years of experience with us! It's greatly appreciated:) I'm curious as to which flavor of Essential oil you would recommend? Also, what would you suggest... if one's approach was to support pollinators but not specifically working the hives for honey, what would you consider the average managed hive size. And lastly; Hybridized plants, flowering this & flowering that. The botanical mules, do pollinators know these plants provide nothing before they even get there? For example... a plant that requires pollinators in order to reproduce usually broadcasts that fact somehow. Perhaps "Ultravioletly"... as for the mules... do they not broad cast? This way the pollinators aren't duped! Your thoughts? Bye the way, that awning is lacking the "Fred Dunn" touch;);):)

Fred, I am a new beekeeper in Michigan. I just installed a five frame nuc into my ten frame box on 6/1/2019. My question is what is the average number of dead bees that I should be seeing dragged out by the bees? We really enjoy watching your FAQ videos. Thank you.

I have only found 1 hive beetle this year in the nucs I got. I just guess it was a stowaway. But the weavers have eradicated mites and beetles to the bottom pest tray. Even with a good drone population varroa is gone. I do have a problem with a few ants being in the pest board feeding off cappings and waste, but its not more than 2 or 5.

In the split video you mentioned how if Queen cells are in center its supercedure, but if on bottom its swarm cells. If its mixed and both then... I'm not sure if that still means supercedure, or swarm? Today also I had a situation like yours, where I found a queen cell in middle, but the other one was on the bottom.

Hello, Frederick. Great video, very useful info, thank you. May I ask which beekeepers Log Book you are using/prefer today?

Have you considered borage for your bee forage?

hello i am a new follower, i wanted to ask you about that escencials oils you mentioned, can you tell me witch ones and where to get info about them? thanks. Blessings from an Argentinian beekeeper.

If the bees are only attacking one person and not other people, it could be that he is wearing a fragrance, cologne, after shave or something. I made the mistake once by checking my hive when I was wearing cologne and man, my normal gentle bees became very aggressive. So now on I never go near my hives, if I am wearing cologne

Thanks for the frame holder suggestion! Can’t wait to put it to use!

Dear Fred should I stop thinking I could get a queen from the new hive I had in July and think of buying one instead? Iwas thinking these bees are so fantastic could I get a queen out of these bees re the genetics? I am not forgetting It's my first few months beekeeping. Is it correct to wait until I see queen cells before doing anything at all.

Hi Fred I'm confused about the entrance reducer, when do I remove it as you have it here in the video. Thanks

backing powder with a little water to make a paste for bee stings

Or bushy eyebrows especially if you have dark hair stings right in the bushy eye brow that teach him for not trimming those eye brows

Hi Fred! First off - thanks for your videos :) You've helped me prepare for becoming a beekeeper and now I have bees! Secondly - I want to mount a camera near my hive just so I can livestream the hive entrance to myself for fun and cause I'm a nerd. Since you do photography, I thought you might have a camera you would recommend. Application requirements include: IP65 or better weather resistance 1080p FHD or better resolution (I'd love 4k/UHD/8+mp but that may not be available yet) 30+ FPS (someone recommended getting something that can do slow motion just to enjoy watching bees bang their heads against the hive body) Ethernet or WiFi connectivity I've found some cool cameras, but most of them are "security" type and have really low framerates ~15fps. Others are hunting cameras that I'm not sure have the network connectivity that I'm looking for. Do you have any recommendations for cameras for someone looking to set up a bee hive live stream?

Recently discovered your site and am avidly going through back postings. Question... would it be possible for a "snow bird"...that is a person who spends part of the year at the proposed Hive location...to keep bees? I expect to be in Michigan from mid May to mid December each year and would love to attempt keeping bees. Would propose leaving large honey surplus plus dry sugar in December but worry that return in spring would be too late. If possible...reducer or no?

OK...what is missing here? I think the slip itself. I have a friend who is thinking of starting beekeeping. He had no idea what was meant by a split. So I looked up videos on the subject to share with him. His comment was that your video showed the before and the after of the split but not the actual split. So these were his questions. (1) How many frames do you take from the old box to give to the new box. Do you take them all and just decide the number of frames and give each a half? 2) what needs to be on the frame as far as resources, if any? 3) if it’s half and half, then you take out five frames out of a ten frame box and put them in another ten frame box and what do you fill the empty spaces with? It would have also been nice to see a frame with a nice brood pattern and resources around it of pollen and honey. I had to look up three other videos to show and explain the above. It is very nice to see a frame holder but when you are expecting to learn about a split, I think it is rather annoying. Usually you are so good at explaining things from A to Z. In this case I think it fell short. May I suggest a video on the actual split. Thank you.

I know this is an older video, but for anyone coming along, unfortunately, the maker of the frame holder, "Little Mule Bee Supply" has closed, as of this writing...

What kind of larva was that white blob on top of the lower frame? The sight was disconcerting.

That was fascinating. I was watching that and not playing with my new puppy for a change. I have seen a lot of other vids of beekeepers finding multiple queens in a swarm. Is this something you have seen too?

I am on a well also, but its under a clay bed, so nothing is getting down there. But I still wouldn't use grease or oils.

I use cucumber peel in top of hieves just some of them is a perfect natural anti ants

Fred, in the hives in this video it looks like you have slatted racks below the brood box and above the entrance, is that correct?

Hi fred I have a colony that's been split last week queen still laying multiple eggs in the cells eggs are in the bottom of cells just wondering if it's time to replace her got her in Sept. she's marked white

Put clay on it (bee sting)

You really outdid yourself here Fredrick with that split you showed us. I learned so much here. It’Lil be awhile before I get my house out in the country but I tell you what I’ll know exactly what to do when I get out there and get my bees 😎. Thank you so much for the constant value and education 😌🙌🏼

How do you keep the bugs out of the bugs out of the inner cover

My favorite part of the week!

"As Always" Thanks you Mr. Dunn. I've already got a new frame rest on order. We dropped a frame of bees last week with our old rest. (told my daughter "that will never happen again")(:

Fred, couldn't be better. Thanks a lot ~ all the best for you ~

Excellent!

Did you have footage of actually doing the split or did I miss it? Which frames did you put into the new box?

Fred sometimes that marking can be cleaned off the queen. But even so if it is cleaned off if you get a clipped queen you know it is still yours usually cause its clipped.

I'm so glad I decided to watch all these videos again, because I TOTALLY forgot to order that frame holder from Little Mule Bee Supply last season! I really don't like how the frame holder brackets in the Bee Smart Designs Hive Stand swivel easily out of position, and I had a close call with my open-faced frame holder last year and barely prevented a frame of bees from hitting the dirt!

I know you do things a certain way but you should take the swarm sales and the frame and separate them out into new boxes and see how many nukes you can make out of one beehive

Did you drop the Queen sells out

Oh yay, I just bought Tupperware to do the ant proofing oil well method :). Toothpaste sounds far better.

With your split, since the queen was very good is there a way to keep the mailed queens while waiting to see if the queen cells developed to continue her line?

I FINALLY have been able to use my Flow Hive hybrid super, all-be-it late in the spring flow in the Piedmont area of NC, especially after some problems getting my *own* hive (brand new package, old frames) started. Check it out :) Description explains the new situation in this little snip-it vid here --> --ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vor3drYo7n8-.html-

Lots of advantages of a marked queen that I hadn't thought of! Excellent insight as always Fred! Excellent "sting advice". On the hybrid vs heritage... I understand a bee will only visit a flower if it's 7 brix or higher. You'd have to have brix readings of each "set" to even study that. Additionally, the health of the plants and soil is a much higher impact on this (plant sugar in sap). Yep.. GMO varieties, all genetics issues aside, are either producing pesticide or being sprayed directly. I could go on all day about the hazards of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. Thanks for the specifics on frame management.. that is important info! Awesome video documentation, description and information! Thanks Fred!

Another great video. can u supply the link to the hive stands with the fence post and rods for me thanks and have a wonderful day

that right buy bee from africanized zone help other bee keeper

When feeding the bees, why would u feed sugar water rather than honey?

Hi Fred Just checked a ten frame hive with at least 4 frames empty. I found a single capped queen cell on bottom of frame. I presume it's a supercedure cell as only one. I have removed queen and frame of food into another nuc and left hive with cell. As it's my first year with bees I'm always checking my decision ions any advice on this. Also flow frames went on to diff hive today looking forward to monitoring proceeds.

I have used Diatomaceous Earth at the base for ants and the SHB.

Hello, here in Europe (or at least in my country) we don't have Honey B healty and other products. What essencial oil mix would you recommend for extending "shelf life" of sugar syrup?

About 31:25.... nice hit at roundup resistant gmo plants. Not sure if European work found it was a major cause of colony collapse.

Mr. Fred i know you have varroa resistant bees but do you know anything about mite away quick strips? I heard they are safe to use with honey supers on.

That was a fantastic video on the FAQ and the hive split. Interesting how much the mellowed after the Queen was introduced. I have a question though. I noticed that you have a deep brood box followed by a medium another deep box and another medium. What is the reason for staggering the different size boxes apposed running all the same sizes? Thanks again for another amazing video Mr. Dunn.

Ive just split 3 hives without adding queens.It takes time until those bees will become productive again ,3-4 weeks.I got a sting on my leg and 2 bees entered through my protection suit crawling on my skin but ive released them both without getting stung .I consider its healthy to be stung a few times a year.

Great advice as usual, thx!

Sorry, I have to comment again! I find it somewhat amusing that people object to hybridised plants or even specific breeding of animals as if man hasn’t been doing that already by selectively breeding plants and animals for hundreds of years. Where did they think the old heritage strains came from? I can guarantee they didn’t find them originally growing like that.

A pump up sprayer with Dawn dish liquid in water will clean the hive right out

The bees you're showing in this what kind are those