Canadian Beekeeper, Thanks man! I cant take the credit, my better half makes our videos and I just shoot. I'll forward the message. Thanks again for checking us out and dropping a comment. Also want to mention, you are the first Beekeeper RU-vidr I have ever watched. Do you have any tips you could share as we venture into the RU-vid scene?
Yes, but it looks like you have that figured out nicely. keep it real and always speak to someone. Looks like you will quickly gain momentum here just because you are easy to listen to and your production value is terrific, so you are going to start getting haters. Haters are probably the hardest part of this deal. Push through them because that negative is merely a fraction of the positive watching you. Cheers 🥂 subscribed
I have a good tip for you. I'm 72 can't get in and out of truck like I used too. I took a 4x8 plywood put 4 rollers on one side, then you can just grad the plywood from the back of the truck pull it out on the tailgate and don't have to climb in and out. I put a 3" board around 3 sides so things wouldn't slide off.
Great video man. Thanks for taking the time to make it. I'm going to try these minis this year. The UoG mini video showed them putting a push pin in the front to hold that entrance up. I feel like that a good way for me to get tacks distributed all over the ground though lol
Absolutely! Glad you found it helpful. Thanks for the tip on the doors, I really hate puncturing with pins but its probably the best method in keeping the doors open. 🤷🏻♂️😄 Well thanks for watching and if you have any questions on the minis, drop us a comment and we'll get to you soon as possible 🤙 We appreciate the support
I'd heard that some of these mini nucs the styrofoam can sag in heat, and cause the gates, doors to move. So some people say to glue them in. I don't know if that's true of these particular types of styrofoam mini nucs yet. I am wondering also if you'd have to worry about off roaders where you are at, and if so maybe have them farther away from the trails, and roads. Maybe that's not the case where you are at, but where I'm at off road stuff is kind of popular. Your looked a little close to the trail, but I'm only speaking positively to help contribute.
Thankfully we have not experienced the sagging 🤞🏼 Good thinking about the off roaders 🤙🏼 We do get them out in our areas sometimes. Thanks for sharing Noah and the support
thanks for sharing... I have never used these but I do like you attitude toward learning and change. As a reference I work with Dr Juliana Rangel at the Texas A&M Bee Lab.
@@jasonsmithjcshoneybees5959 Yes!👍 Tacks work great tried one at our shop. Thanks for the feedback. I just need to remember to have them in my trucks all the time🤫😂
Just so you are aware, NEVER put your feet on the dash of a vehicle while driving. If the airbags deploy, even in a minor fender bump, the person with the feet on the dash will be a cripple the rest of their life. They will have their hips dislocated and feet will end up spread out behind their head. I have seen this so many times it is sad. But, you make great video's and I love them.
You are very welcome, we appreciate the support of our channel and journey. You both feel free to drop us any questions on the comments and we will do our best to answer them. Bare with us as we are full swing with queen production from the nuc yards to the office 👌
Hi Jose, this is a great video and thanks you for shearing it!!! I would like to ask you how far from old place (main apiary) I should place the small nucs to avoid all the troubles? Thanks a lot!
Hello Hose. I’m a beekeeper myself second generation. I’m located in N Texas. I was doing almonds pollination in Ca 2 years ago. I like to doing it again for this season of 2024. I own 140 colonies. I have nobody there to help me with this. I love your baby’s. Mini nucs is something that I have to look into. My brothers practice this method back in Romania. Hose I m looking forward to see if I can do the pollination with your help. Thank you and Hope for the New Year.
Hello I have been following you for quite a while and have really enjoyed it all . Those mini nucs peaked my interest an I have finally got a little saved up an planning on getting some this season to see if my thumb is as green as yours LOL . I do not work I am retired so I can keep a eye on them pretty well so do you recommend the 3 or 4 frame nucs . I was worried about how fast they would get plugged out being small . Hope you have had a great new year an your season is a blast with success . Thanks
I've seen push pins used to close the doors and move it below to open the doors. Pretty quick and easy. I've not used these (still small and in central IL) but I've been trying to learn to see if it is something that fits my schedule. Also seen them put on cement blocks and strapped down because here raccoons will take off the tops of the boxes.
Thanks for the tip! We plan on getting pins and possibly large rubber bands. The cinderblocks would be pricey for us, we would need 1500😵 Thanks for watching 🤜🤛
@@TheCaliforniaBeekeeper yes sorry been out all year. Yes mini and also the double mini mating nucs. They are great but wear and tear gets the best of them. The bottoms if they have plastic you can change those squares for 1/8 wire meshing. I also cut wood and placed on top of lid to minimize heat and to prevent lid from warping. Now I just changed everything to 3 way mating nuc. No more shaking bees :)
Where did you get your poly mini nucs at? I've been debating about trying them, and I was glad to see someone using them!!! Hope you missed out on the fires last year, Best of luck!!!
This batch we got from Mann Lake but know that Mann Lake and glory bee carry them all the time. Fires just missed us but we had to stay proactive with fire breaks and or moving bees away from harms way. Thank you for watching
Thanks. Yes, we normally have our mating yards of 96 hives within a quarter mile. We don't have a specific number per nuc but, we do bring in enough to in order to be heavily saturated with drone stock. Thanks for watching
I have a question! I’m a new beekeeper and just had my first queen cell hatch in a mini styrofoam Nuc ! They are not many bees still in the Nuc and I’m wondering if I should cage her and put her in cage in a 5frame Nuc with lots a lot more bees to get her through getting mating and laying eggs ?? Thanks joe d
@@TheCaliforniaBeekeeper I couldn't get enough nurse bees to stay in them and draw comb for when I put cells in them. Do you drop a cell in the same time that you put bees in?
Yes. I place the cell between the top bars of the frames(hanging) and with 1 of the 3 frames removed I dump a spam can worth of nurse bees and place the cell back. Close up the nuc and let it sit for 3 days max. We pull them out on the 3rd day(evening) and open the doors. This helps with drifting when you place them out in the evenings.
Yes, we are getting closer to queen season and have already begun going through the damaged equipment. Piecing parts together to make complete mini nuc bodies. Video will be coming. Stay tuned! Thanks for commenting and watching
У вас батьківська лінія одна, чи декілька, для обльоту маток з ваших нуків? Ваші бджоли це італійська чи інша порода. Я тестую від року до чотирьох, щоб вибрати достойні батьківські. В 2020 році від кліща не обробляє, а в 2021 році обробив два рази. Звичайно загинуло більше 20 колоній, але лишилися кращі
У нас є кілька заводчиків з кожної лінії. Ми розводимо італо-кордову, карніол Нового світу та наших гібридів. Ми чергуємо заводчиків і утримуємо по 500 нуків для кожної лінії в наших парних дворах.
@@TheCaliforniaBeekeeper Зрозумів. А від кого ви берете кордован оригінальних селекційних маток (queens) , з ізольованих облітників, чи користувацьких? Бачу по відео що ви дуже таланрвитий чоловік. З вас і таких як ви друже, я беру приклад.
Hi Jose, it's difficult to find someone willing to share information about how they deal with afb when it shows up. I was wondering what your preventative and/or treatment methods are for afb if it crops up? I have never seen it and hope that will always be the case... But it's so prevalent today, I am certain at some point it will appear.
We've never experienced AFB in our operation. I have before working for a larger commercial outfit. We would inspect it and determine what needed to be done. We would dust with terramycin. Empty equipment would be burned.
@califoriabeekeeper what size foundation do you buy and cut up for the frames I just bought a ton of them to try but not sure what size foundation to buy to have the least amount of waste when cutting them for the right size. Thanks hope to hear from ya soon. Love your videos and watch them all!
We use the 6" foundation, rip in half and do cuts at 3 1/2". The last piece is about an inch smaller but still can use it. I prefer to have most pieces at 3 1/2 for a good fit and no voids between frame
Hey Danny! We check them on day 14 from hatch date and catch ONLY if there is enough layout of eggs to ensure proper mating. I know many guys that run push pins, we try not to puncture our styrofoam. Just our preference but totally a great method on keeping doors opened for sure!
how about a middle sized nail to hold it in up position. pull it by hand and have another hole on the inside wall to hold it in down position. so one hole on the moving part and two in the wall. does that make sense? styrofoam can shrink so form tight solutions are always risky i guess. Or use minis that slide left to right for opening. Or how about glue tape? thats a lot of work i guess. I use boxes calles "Mini Plus" you can stack them and overwinter queens. I close the flight hole with a piece of wood and tape. But I only have so many of them and dont move them much.
How do you suggest the best way to set up the in hive feeder section of the mini-nucs so they don't drown? I hate drowning my bees... These are also so light, that I'm going to have to figure out at what wind speed they could blow over. And if that's the case, I may take different options with placement, shade.
Some guys put window screen wire, some use plastic dish scrubbers. I normally just let them draw some comb and leave it. Honestly I have yet to have them blow over, based on the areas we run them at.
Just wanted to know if you have problems with ants. I’m in Australia and I had to keep my five frame nucs off the ground as the ants would attack the weaker nucs. We are coming into summer soon and I’m going to us these styrofoam mating nucs for the first time. Also my first time trying to rear a few queens. Hopefully it will go well. Thanks for the video.
Hey there David! We have experience with ants but as long as we start them strong and maintain a certain level of bee population. It also helps if you keep away from trees IF it gets bad and place in direct sun. Ants in our area seem to stay away from the areas under direct sun for most of the day. The nucs hold up well in the sun as long as it doesn't get over 105° I've experienced absconding when the temps get to high for an extended amount of days.
Hello, one question - how do you preserve bees to stay in these small nucs initially, after they are moved from a larger colony. It happens to me sometimes they simply leave, especially if there is no brood inside, even though I moved them 15km away from the old location and the queen cell was inside. Do you keep them closed in some dark room for a while 1-2-3 days? This year I plan to do with brood inside, this should keep them 100% inside even after 1 night at new location...
Yes, you are on the right track. We keep them inside, dark, and with a Portacool so they don't overheat, typically 2-3 days until they're hatched and then we move them out to the yard. Keep us updated on how it goes....
@@TheCaliforniaBeekeeper It goes that bees started destroying this styrofoam the first night already - my assumption was that if I left them 3 days inside they would break out. I relocated them the second night and allowed them to go out the evening before the dark. The next day there was an orientation flight and I noticed in several cases there was a mixing of bees between different nucs, some nucs were reduced in bees, and some were overcrowded - probably my mistake was they were too close to each other...as a result, I lost bees from several of them completely - then after two days I refilled again, but allowed bees to go out next day already during a day - for a surprise, they all remained inside and there was no loss nor mixing during the orientation flight (probably I took mainly young bees in this occasion)...
We feed after every catch. Honestly the feeding will vary pernicious depending how packed it looks with bees and stores(feed) you feed just enough to give her enough laying room for the next round.
@@TheCaliforniaBeekeeper is a drone yard a typical apiary yard or do you increase the qty of drones using drone frames? Curious how the population would be increased if so. Thanks 👍
I use poster board tacks hold the doors up and down .. Both on my double mini and my single mini's ... I think im going to move the hole on the sides .. Way their designed makes it hard for them to defend because the combs running in ths wrong direction .. Dont get the air flow ether ...if you left the frames out bees would build the comb front to back .. Ones i made out of them little uline med coolers dont get robbed out like the mann lk mini design because i ran my frames front to back .. I didn't need all that ventilation ether ... Also use 1/2" peace of temp queen in each mini .. Helps hold the bees dont go laying worker on me so fast .. That temp queen will last couple years not couple months like the direction says .. Im dont buying these mini and building them going to just buy all lyson mini mating nucs .. Im in Michigan i can over winter queens in the lyson plus they will last decades .. Bought some supers to try with them for next queen rearing season .. Think once i get them rolling ill slip in small double screen board mate 4 at a time then .. Nice thing about the lyson they all stack on top of each other ..
I've seen those lysons and I too like that you can stack them for winterizing. Let me know your thoughts once you get really into them. I will give in to the tack pin idea, I personally dislike punching holes of any size to any of our equipment. Thanks for the tip my man!
For your Flow hive I would recommend a 3 or 4lb package of bees or a 5 frame nuc. Find your local beekeeper and I'm sure they could assist you in that. If you have any questions after that point, drop us a comment and we'd love to help you you🙌 Thanks for watching 👍
@califoriabeekeeper what size foundation do you buy and cut up for the frames I just bought a ton of them to try but not sure what size foundation to buy to have the least amount of waste when cutting them for the right size. Thanks hope to hear from ya soon. Love your videos and watch them all!
