If ever there was a man who is the perfect example of paying it forward - your name would appear beside the definition! Priceless practical information, for those with one hive or a thousand... Thank you again for doing these. You never need to wonder if these videos are appreciated!
Thank you for making the video, it’s amazing how much you helping the bee keepers around the world from beginners to experts, your method is clear and not complicated and it’s pushing lot of us to keep bees, thank you Lan
Lots of us are "have to be shown" people. It's like a zillion times harder to get the same information from text ie:books. Once you actually get to see what's going on and how simple you carry out the process is a great resource. 6200+ subscribers. Thinking "monetize". You need the money for another snubby truck and the $30k ez-loader. ;)
When you come back to make the splits into Nukes, do you try to evenly split the number of bees that are on the frames or just divide up and place in the nukes? Then do you wait 24- 48 hours and introduce a new queen? I am sure my questions seem simple to you, I am just learning and this is my second year in beekeeping. Thanks for the video and your comments.
Likely just take the top box and go. Within a few hours of where the box is placed in a separate location, either a queen cell or a caged queen would be inserted.
This isn't so specific to this video, but I am interested in your cover method. I just don't see how the hive ventilates. How does the air coming in the entrance have a way to escape. I really like the simplicity of it. Can you explain?
Can you send me a RU-vid video explaining how you winter your hives in your buildings. What temperature control you do and anything else. I am thinking about putting my hives here in Iowa into a biarmed concrete building. I am trying to moderate the cold Iowa winters. I want to learn more about storing hive indoors. I enjoy your videos. I also like your hive loader and unloader on your truck.
The book "Beekeeping in Western Canada" has an excellent section on indoor wintering setup. The big key is just enough airflow during the cold to keep it fresh, and lots of airflow during the early spring to keep them from getting too active. 4 degrees Celsius seems to be the sweet spot. Don't let it freeze, as there will be a lot more icing issues than there are on outdoor colonies. Is there a specific reason you want to go buried concrete instead of an above ground insulated building? If your space is properly sized for the number of colonies the bees will keep it warm enough on their own in an insulated above ground structure.
Thank you for your response. The building is what is available. I have seen a couple of your videos on your indoor storage from last year. I find it very interesting. I am having a good honey year so far. I think I will harvest a good amount. Have a great day.
Why do you shake bees? Does it matter they are on the bottom box vs the top box if you are unsure where the queen is? This was really interesting. Thank you! I would love to work for you for a full season, including working with your queen specialist.
Why do you need 4 frames of brood in the bottom? Why not add less and make 3 splits from a strong hive? Canadian spring split system...add a deep on top strong hive...wait 2 weeks...push queen and 4 frames of brood to bottom deep...wait 24 hours then make 2 splits with 2 frames of brood.honey pollen into 6 frame box. Add new queen/cel with 2 queen screens and 2 supers on top of three 6 frame splits. Send thru winter and make into ten frame hives next spring. Do you use mating box's or just add a cell?
Im just learning this and wanting to start my own hive. I thought a Nuc comes with so many brrod a polland and a honey along withthe bees and a queen. But he shook off all the bees. What you put other bees in the nuc with a different queen? Or will he have them make a emergency queen cell. Being new and seeing how everyone does it a bit different. Makes it hard to quite understand what just happen. Because that looked like a split i seen from other videos!! Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Let me get this straight in my head: 1) Take a strong 2-box brood nest. 2) Evenly distribute the brood and resources between the two boxes. 3) Make sure the queen is in the lower box. 4) Put a queen excluder on top the lower box. 5) Put the upper box back above the lower box. 6) Come back later after some nurse bees have gone back into the upper box. 7) Take the upper box away and wait for those nurse bees to raise a new queen. Do I have it right?
I suspect you do not do this with all 1500 hives - you'd never have enough time. Just using the "strong" hives - about what percentage of your hives are you able to split this way each year? Thanks for the new technique for my "toolbox".
i wouldn't define this as exact, more along the lines of scattered brained lol!!!! maY make sense for those that already know the info but certainly does not for those seeking the skills necessary to do a split.
how do you secure the queen excluder to the bottom of the rubber tote? Is the queen excluder plastic, metal bound or wood bound? Thanks for the videos.
Hi Ian, greetings from Western Australia. It is winter here and I can't wait for spring. I love your videos. Is your shaker box homemade or bought from Canada?
After you take the splits off, what do you put back on top the brood box, another brood box or will you use the excluder and top with a super.? You still have 3 weeks to honey flow, does it pay to set up the second brood box again?
Are you looking for capped brood to go down with the queen or a mix of eggs, larvae, and capped. Also, how long do you allow the brood frames in the hive before cycling them out?
@@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog Thank you. As I watch your channel I enjoy your style of keeping bees. Thanks for the information. I'll be splitting hives to re-build my apiaries this coming spring. All new foundation to re-build the colonies.
Hi Ian, Can you please tell me if you are putting cells into your splits and nucs or mated queens? Secondly, will these nucs become production hives this year or will you take them through as nucs to be next seasons production hives? Thanks.
Hello , beekeeping in Quebec, i watch all the video I can and your’s are great ! What I would want to know is why do split unless you sell them ? I mean you could establish a 10 frame colony in place of 2 nucs ? Is there a advantage to let bees in a nuc for a year ?
You could pull the split as early as that evening when all the bees are back in the hives. Keep in mind, Ian produces his own Queens. So, he will be introducing a cell, virgin or mated Queen. Being a commercial Beekeeper, he does not have time to allow the split to make its own Queen. The split should be removed within 24 hours to avoid emergency cells.
I don’t understand why he switches several frames from one box shakes of the bees. The add already used frames and add them later the the other box with also more used frames. This makes no sense to me you only try to confuse these bees be replacing and added more of their same Danes into just snother box. Very confusing.
I really like your efficiency preparing the splits, I remember your description on this at your talk in Kelowna this year. Do you have any numbers on the queens lost or stuck in the top box using this method?
