A Growing Nuc, New Comb & My First Defensive Hive Inspection — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Hey guys, Bernie coming at you with a
2. 0:01beekeeping video. It is Wednesday, July
3. 0:0415th. Can you believe we're already
4. 0:06halfway through July? It's crazy. I have
5. 0:09quite a bit to do in my apiary today.
6. 0:11The main thing that I'm going to do
7. 0:12today is check on my nuke. That is a
8. 0:15swarm that I caught late May. I was
9. 0:18going to sell it. Now I'm pivoting to
10. 0:20preparing them to overwinter, which
11. 0:21means I need to really build them up. I
12. 0:23need to see how they are doing on
13. 0:24drawing out frames, building up stores.
14. 0:26But first, I'm going to play a little
15. 0:29swap game with some frames. I need to
16. 0:31get my drone frame pink hive, and then
17. 0:33swap around a few hives, check on some
18. 0:35queen statuses, and try to go as quickly
19. 0:38as I possibly can because it is hot. It
20. 0:40is full-blown July beekeeping, and it's
21. 0:44hot. But we're going to push through. I
22. 0:46have my electrolytes, smoker lit. So, if
23. 0:48that sounds good to you, keep watching,
24. 0:50and let's get into it.
25. 0:57>> [singing]
26. 1:01[music]
27. 1:04[singing]
28. 1:07>> Man, they are propolizing. Goodness.
29. 1:11Okay, you know, the super's not filled
30. 1:13with honey. It's not even entirely
31. 1:15drawn, but they are up here working. And
32. 1:18you know, it's all I all I can ask.
33. 1:21Second year beekeeping. I'm going to go
34. 1:22ahead and just leave that on there, and
35. 1:24then pop this open. And then I'll just
36. 1:26leave that on there, and it'll keep them
37. 1:27a little more covered and protected in
38. 1:29there. Before I really smoke them down.
39. 1:32I don't feel like the camera ever really
40. 1:34truly does great justice, but I hope you
41. 1:36can see you got a lot of bees in there.
42. 1:39They're working hard. I can see that
43. 1:41they have fattened the tops of the
44. 1:43frames, which likely means that they've
45. 1:45stored honey, arched over the brood, and
46. 1:47then the outside frames are probably
47. 1:49honey. We will see.
48. 1:51Uh
49. 1:52the first thing that I want to do is Oh
50. 1:54gosh, what how I don't even know how
51. 1:56long it like a week and a half ago I was
52. 1:58in here and I took out the green drone
53. 2:00frame, which was where this black
54. 2:01plastic frame is now.
55. 2:03Um they had capped drone brood in there.
56. 2:06I took that out, froze it and uh as a as
57. 2:09a method of IPM and I put this frame in
58. 2:11here as a space saver so they wouldn't
59. 2:14draw wonky comb cuz they've already done
60. 2:16that on me the first time that I took
61. 2:19the drone frame out. Now, something that
62. 2:21I haven't I don't think I've ever used,
63. 2:24but it came in my beekeeping kit is this
64. 2:27frame grabber. I don't know if there's
65. 2:29another name for it. Frame frame grabber
66. 2:30is a good name, I think. And I decided I
67. 2:32may use it this time just to get this
68. 2:34outside frame out. We'll see. I've just
69. 2:36kind of had troubles getting my fingers
70. 2:38in there, especially when I'm wearing my
71. 2:40gloves. So, I may use that. I don't
72. 2:42know. We'll see how easily or not easily
73. 2:44this is to get out. So, what I'm doing
74. 2:47in pink hive is I'm going to replace
75. 2:50this frame with the drone frame as long
76. 2:53as there's not a lot of brood in here or
77. 2:55we'll just see what it is and and make a
78. 2:56decision then. And I'm also going to
79. 2:58check their queen status while we're in
80. 3:02here. I'm going to I think I'm going to
81. 3:03try this. I mean, you know, why not?
82. 3:06That might make it easier. Maybe. Just
83. 3:09on this first frame. Yeah, that's much
84. 3:11easier. Now, I did kind of cut into
85. 3:14their capped honey, but you know, it's
86. 3:16not that big of a deal and I think it
87. 3:19was less invasive than what I've been
88. 3:21doing. I've just really struggled to get
89. 3:23that first frame out. Okay.
90. 3:25All right, so they have a mostly capped
91. 3:29frame of honey. So, that's a good frame
92. 3:31for them to have this time of year as we
93. 3:32may or may I don't think we're in a
94. 3:34dearth right now. Not by the looks of
95. 3:35their activity, but they're going to
96. 3:36need this potentially in the near
97. 3:38future. Oh my gosh, my hive tool's stuck
98. 3:41to the propolis. Look at that. Left a
99. 3:43line of propolis on there. That feels
100. 3:45like it is all honey. So, I'm going to
101. 3:48just leave it in there. There's no
102. 3:50reason to pull it up. And then this
103. 3:52frame you know, I have
104. 3:55I've made the majority of my frames, all
105. 3:57my equipment, myself um until I got my
106. 4:00Lyson rapid hive and then some plastic
107. 4:03frames and foundation. And man, that was
108. 4:06my blue that's blue hive for me and they
109. 4:08really took to the plastic frames and
110. 4:10foundation. They did really well. I'm
111. 4:12pretty sure all of my other bees just
112. 4:14hate it because
113. 4:17man, they've hardly done anything. And
114. 4:19these double waxed frames so it's kind
115. 4:22of disappointing. Hm. Man, there's a lot
116. 4:26of propolis and it's hot so it's sticky.
117. 4:29I need to see if this frame has brood.
118. 4:32See if we're queen right. Hm, it's
119. 4:34pretty heavy. Oh, but we have capped
120. 4:37brood. All right, we have a nice pattern
121. 4:39there. They have backfilled those
122. 4:41uncapped cells with nectar. And hm, not
123. 4:46seeing pollen. Hopefully they have that
124. 4:49in the bottom. I do see a couple a few
125. 4:50cells that they are uncapping. No queen.
126. 4:54I wouldn't expect her on this frame.
127. 4:55Let's see if this side has some pollen.
128. 4:59More capped brood and
129. 5:02hm, they're backfilling with nectar. I'm
130. 5:05watching my timer on the camera cuz I
131. 5:08really want to try to keep these
132. 5:10inspections short for me and the bees
133. 5:14cuz it is hot. And I mean, you know, no
134. 5:16matter how careful you are when you open
135. 5:18your hives, it is invasive to the bees.
136. 5:20So, I'm realizing during editing that
137. 5:23this frame that I'm pulling was undrawn
138. 5:26with just a wax foundation section about
139. 5:28a week ago and it's fully drawn now.
140. 5:30Maybe I should consider using this
141. 5:32colony to get my frames drawn for
142. 5:34building up my nuke for winter. Also, as
143. 5:36I've said before, this is the perfect
144. 5:38example of why you should video your
145. 5:41inspections. You can miss and forget
146. 5:44things in the moment and when you review
147. 5:46your footage, you see it, and it becomes
148. 5:49so clear. Quicker you can be the better.
149. 5:51Okay, that's interesting. I do see
150. 5:54pollen, so that's good. I do not see
151. 5:57eggs. Oh, I see eggs. Okay, she might
152. 6:00even be on this frame. If there are eggs
153. 6:03in some cells and not in other, she I
154. 6:06would assume is probably working on this
155. 6:08frame. Not seeing a ton of eggs. Kind of
156. 6:11makes me want to check one more frame
157. 6:13after this regardless of the time. It
158. 6:14hasn't been too long. She could have
159. 6:16hopped onto the next frame over. All
160. 6:18right, we're going to check the next
161. 6:20frame, just see what we're looking at.
162. 6:22See if we see more eggs, maybe day-old
163. 6:26eggs, cuz those look to be at least
164. 6:282-day-old eggs. This is my original
165. 6:30package queen as far as I know. I'm
166. 6:33taking this video in July 2026, and she
167. 6:37is from 2025.
168. 6:39Okay, they've got pollen on this frame
169. 6:41and honey, so that's good. She's got a
170. 6:43good laying pattern. Again, there's no
171. 6:45eggs over there. Can you see the pattern
172. 6:47there? That straight line there, I don't
173. 6:49know if you can see, that's where my
174. 6:50wire goes through, and I have found
175. 6:52often times they just don't she they
176. 6:54don't lay eggs in those with the wire
177. 6:57running through it. Oh, we have
178. 6:59uh we have a queen cup. See if it's
179. 7:01charged.
180. 7:02Of course, it's where I can't see very
181. 7:04well. I'm going to just kind of open it
182. 7:06a little, and they can repair it if they
183. 7:08need to. Like if they need the cell. It
184. 7:11looks looks like just a practice cup.
185. 7:13I'm going to call it good. Like since
186. 7:15they have a queen cup, if they were
187. 7:17raising a new queen, they would be they
188. 7:19would be charged, and they would have a
189. 7:21bunch, so I think we're good. We're
190. 7:24going to leave them alone. Close them
191. 7:25up. Going to get that in there. Let them
192. 7:29fix it a little. There's not too much
193. 7:30damage to it, but a little. And then
194. 7:34potentially draw lay more drones in
195. 7:36there or more I can.
196. 7:39All right, on to blue hive. All right,
197. 7:42so we're over at blue hive. I do want to
198. 7:44go ahead and check their queen status,
199. 7:47but the main thing I want to do is I
200. 7:49don't know if this is like a weird thing
201. 7:51for me, but this is my only hive that
202. 7:54has plastic frames in it. I would like
203. 7:55to keep it that way. And so I took out
204. 7:58the black plastic frame that was a space
205. 8:00holder in pink hive. We're going to put
206. 8:02it in here and then move one of the
207. 8:03wooden frames into the nuc because I am
208. 8:06planning on overwintering the nuc and
209. 8:08then in the spring because they're going
210. 8:10to survive, I can make a few splits from
211. 8:13that to make some nucs. And I just don't
212. 8:15really want to sell my plastic frames.
213. 8:19Okay, they are up here more than they
214. 8:22have been. I don't know if you can can't
215. 8:23really see from there. They still have
216. 8:25not really drawn it out a lot. I don't
217. 8:29know why that is.
218. 8:31Something that I noticed the other
219. 8:33night, I was I like to come out here
220. 8:35occasionally with my thermal imaging
221. 8:36camera and just take a look at them. And
222. 8:38I noticed a gap
223. 8:41where the lid was sitting on this top
224. 8:43box.
225. 8:45So that's something that I definitely
226. 8:47want to do a better job of putting in
227. 8:50place this time. I want to take a look
228. 8:52at this one. This was undrawn. This is
229. 8:55one of the newer frames that I put in
230. 8:56here with just
231. 8:57wax foundation. And then this one too.
232. 9:00You can see that this one the foundation
233. 9:02kind of fell down a little, detached
234. 9:04from the top bar. So yeah, I definitely
235. 9:08I guess we'll just start on the outside.
236. 9:09We'll work our way over. There aren't a
237. 9:12ton of bees over here, so I feel like I
238. 9:15can grab this a little bit easier and
239. 9:17better without the frame grabber. Okay,
240. 9:21they are filling it with nectar and
241. 9:22pollen and it's pretty drawn out. So you
242. 9:24can see this is a plastic frame. A
243. 9:27rooster just went crazy on something. I
244. 9:29don't see any hawks. I don't know if you
245. 9:31can hear hear him or not. Anyway, like I
246. 9:33said, this is a plastic frame and they
247. 9:35have drawn it out nicely, but some of my
248. 9:37colonies just don't I don't know, it's
249. 9:39weird. All right. Well, I can see we
250. 9:40have good number of bees in here. Like I
251. 9:43said, they swarmed
252. 9:45Memorial Day, actually. This frame I can
253. 9:47see they have started on, but it's not
254. 9:49really drawn. So, we'll just leave that
255. 9:51in there. See what this one looks like.
256. 9:54So, they have a pretty new queen, and
257. 9:58they were really strong before they
258. 10:00swarmed. They still appear to be pretty
259. 10:02strong. We have capped brood, and I
260. 10:05would imagine that it's been emerging
261. 10:06from the center out. Don't Oh, wait, do
262. 10:09I see? No, they're polished. Nope, they
263. 10:11have eggs. Right? Yep, they have eggs.
264. 10:14Uh
265. 10:15let's see. Now, I did not tear down the
266. 10:17queen cells from where they raised a new
267. 10:19queen. Maybe I should have, cuz it
268. 10:20really kind of just worries me. You can
269. 10:22kind of see the remnants of one on the
270. 10:23side there and one at the bottom. But,
271. 10:25they're pretty much they've pretty much
272. 10:26tore those down. And I see eggs over
273. 10:29here, as well. All right. Oh, I don't
274. 10:31know if you're going to be able to see.
275. 10:33I'm not going to wait for her to fully
276. 10:34emerge,
277. 10:35but here is a bee there at the top that
278. 10:37is just starting to emerge. I'll try to
279. 10:39point it out in editing. Can you see
280. 10:42Pepper? That's Pepper. She's a barred
281. 10:44Plymouth Rock. I'm glad to see that they
282. 10:46are started on this. You know, this is a
283. 10:48head start for our nuke. Um hm, or do I
284. 10:54want to leave this for them to continue
285. 10:56on and give the nuke a more drawn frame?
286. 10:59Maybe. I do want to fix this. Can you
287. 11:02see where it's like coming down detached
288. 11:04from there? I'm going to press it up
289. 11:06there, centered. Um you know what? I'm
290. 11:10going to see what this other frame look
291. 11:12new frame looks like. I mean, honestly,
292. 11:14we don't have to give them one of the
293. 11:15new ones. These two are going to be what
294. 11:17plastic foundation, which I classify as
295. 11:21the um plastic frames. So, I would like
296. 11:24to keep those in this half. Well, that's
297. 11:27interesting. They have some capped
298. 11:30brood, but this has nectar No, it has
299. 11:33some larva, too. I don't understand why
300. 11:36they're backfilling that with nectar.
301. 11:38They've got room elsewhere. That's kind
302. 11:41of weird. This laying pattern is pretty
303. 11:45weird, too. Well, okay. So, these are
304. 11:47drone cells. I don't know if you can
305. 11:49tell. These are drone cells on the right
306. 11:51and worker cells on the left. So, I
307. 11:53guess that could make the pattern vary a
308. 11:56little. So, maybe I shouldn't be so
309. 11:58concerned. But also, it's kind of weird
310. 12:01when this is a new queen, so definitely
311. 12:03want to keep an eye on her and her
312. 12:05laying pattern and stuff. Well, now
313. 12:07they've got backfilling with nectar over
314. 12:10here, but they've got some eggs and
315. 12:12larva over here. That's weird. I don't
316. 12:15know if I should put move this to the
317. 12:16outer part because of the drone brood. I
318. 12:19think I might do that. Part of me hates
319. 12:21to change up what they're doing, but
320. 12:22also correct me if I'm wrong, but it
321. 12:24doesn't really make sense what they're
322. 12:25doing. And since there's drones on this
323. 12:27frame, I'm going to just slip it over
324. 12:29here. That's what I'm going to do.
325. 12:31We're going pretty quickly, so I'm going
326. 12:32to just go ahead and take a look at
327. 12:34these and see what we're looking at. And
328. 12:38also take a better look at her laying
329. 12:40pattern on this frame. Pretty good.
330. 12:43Those those empty cells are backfilled
331. 12:46with nectar, and they've got a nice uh
332. 12:49rainbow of bee bread arched over the
333. 12:52top. This is a plastic foundation on a
334. 12:55wooden frame. All right. The larva looks
335. 12:58healthy, pearly white. And I really want
336. 13:00to see what this looks like, and maybe
337. 13:03we can give them uh give the nuke that
338. 13:05one. We'll see. Hopefully, it's more
339. 13:06drawn to give the nuke a head start. I'm
340. 13:09not so worried about the nuke being able
341. 13:11to build up stores so much as I am them
342. 13:13being able to get drawn frames. Maybe
343. 13:16they've done a really good job since we
344. 13:18were in there last time. I hope so.
345. 13:20That'd be great to see. We have some
346. 13:23capped brood, lots of larva, and some
347. 13:27eggs. No, yeah, a few eggs and then tiny
348. 13:30larva that progressively kind of swirls
349. 13:33around from the center working out. She
350. 13:35started in the middle. The oldest being
351. 13:38the capped and then around that is
352. 13:41larva, older larva, and then younger
353. 13:43larva, and then eggs on the outer parts.
354. 13:45So, she seems to have a good laying
355. 13:47pattern. They've got a good bit of
356. 13:49pollen over here. That's good to see. I
357. 13:51was keeping an eye on the pollen that
358. 13:53was either coming in or not coming in by
359. 13:55my screen bottom board inserts. But,
360. 13:58since it's been so hot, I have left
361. 13:59those out just to kind of you know,
362. 14:01they're fully capable of regulating the
363. 14:03temperature in the hive. But, if I can
364. 14:05help them out a little, then, you know,
365. 14:08why not? And then, that keeps more of
366. 14:11the workforce available to do other
367. 14:13things than try to cool the hive. That's
368. 14:15my thought, anyway. So, by not having my
369. 14:18insert in there, I haven't been able to
370. 14:21see the pollen that's coming in or not
371. 14:24coming in. Okay. Hey, you know what?
372. 14:26This doesn't have anything in it, but
373. 14:27they have definitely started on it. Can
374. 14:30you see? So, you know what? I think this
375. 14:33is a a good frame to pass on over to the
376. 14:37nuke. It's started. It gives them a
377. 14:39slight head start. And it gets the smell
378. 14:42on there to entice them to to do the bee
379. 14:45work. Yeah, I think that's a good one to
380. 14:47give them. Okay, so, that means let's
381. 14:51see. We're going to put this undrawn
382. 14:54frame that we took from pink hive. We're
383. 14:57going to put that in its place. So, it's
384. 14:59between two drawn frames, and that'll
385. 15:02encourage them to draw it. And let's
386. 15:05see. This one's empty, so I do want to
387. 15:07get this one there on the outside. Let's
388. 15:09see if these will all move for me as one
389. 15:12unit. I think so. Yeah. Yay. Makes it so
390. 15:17much faster. Okay.
391. 15:20And then, we're drawing nicely on both
392. 15:22sides, so we can just put it in either
393. 15:24way.
394. 15:26You know what I'm thinking about doing?
395. 15:28This was so quick. I'm thinking about
396. 15:30getting into the bottom deep and
397. 15:31swapping out a frame cuz my drone frame
398. 15:33is down there and I haven't been able to
399. 15:35use it. I'm going to. I'm going to.
400. 15:37Since I'm in here, that's what I'm going
401. 15:38to do. Yep, I'm going to do it. I've
402. 15:40been wanting to do that for a while.
403. 15:41We're going to do it.
404. 15:44Cuz having that drone, oh my goodness,
405. 15:46we have a lot of ant eggs. Can you see
406. 15:48that? I don't know if you can see on
407. 15:50there, but we've got a lot of ant eggs
408. 15:51there that I want to get off.
409. 15:54They've just laid their eggs there in
410. 15:57between boxes.
411. 15:59You know what? I'm going to also move
412. 16:01the small hive beetle traps to the top,
413. 16:05too, because I have not been able to
414. 16:07monitor their them because I really
415. 16:08haven't been getting into this bottom
416. 16:10deep cuz it's just not necessary, but
417. 16:11that also means that I haven't been
418. 16:13using these. There's a few in there. I
419. 16:15haven't really seen a lot of small hive
420. 16:17beetle this year. Last year seemed like
421. 16:19a lot. Maybe that's because my colonies
422. 16:21were growing and they weren't, you know,
423. 16:23as strong to take care of the small hive
424. 16:25beetles. I don't know. But regardless of
425. 16:28the reason, I haven't seen as many this
426. 16:29year.
427. 16:30Okay.
428. 16:31So, by moving this to the top, yeah,
429. 16:34man, they've had this forever and
430. 16:35they've hardly done anything with it,
431. 16:37but they are mostly doing it the right
432. 16:40way. So, yeah, I'll just make sure that
433. 16:43I put it between two nicely drawn
434. 16:45frames. I'm just going to go ahead and
435. 16:47put this frame in there that way they
436. 16:49can make it worker cells cuz it's in the
437. 16:51middle of the brood nest. So, that's
438. 16:53what should be there. And since it's
439. 16:55double waxed, hopefully they'll draw
440. 16:57that out nicely. And then, I'll put this
441. 17:00in here. Yeah, and that's also going to
442. 17:02be the
443. 17:04uh by the frame that I moved that had
444. 17:06some worker cells and drone cells. So,
445. 17:08that'll be on the outside of the brood
446. 17:10nest. Yeah, I think that'll be nice. I
447. 17:12got to be honest, there are pros and
448. 17:15cons to these polystyrene hives and the
449. 17:19interlocking design. I kind of feel like
450. 17:21I smash more bees with them. I'm making
451. 17:23back in here and put some feed cuz they
452. 17:27do have frames to draw out. I'm not
453. 17:28going to pull honey from them this year.
454. 17:30I think I'm going to take this frame out
455. 17:34but that works space-wise. I take this
456. 17:37frame out. I've only got nine frames up
457. 17:39here and they haven't touched that. And
458. 17:41I have more room over here so then I
459. 17:44could I think I could fit a couple of
460. 17:48mason jars there just sitting like
461. 17:50resting on the frames below. I'm going
462. 17:53to try that. So definitely don't want to
463. 17:55feed on the outside. That can really
464. 17:57trigger robbing and they aren't a super
465. 18:00strong colony at the moment. So yeah,
466. 18:03that's what I'm going to do. Move this
467. 18:05over and I think that's going to work
468. 18:06out nicely. I'll just have to keep a
469. 18:08close eye on making sure they don't draw
470. 18:11wonky comb. I think that's going to work
471. 18:13out. I'll put a couple in there and
472. 18:15maybe that'll encourage them to get
473. 18:17those frames drawn out more and maybe
474. 18:19even some of the super frames. I'm more
475. 18:21concerned about them drawing out the
476. 18:22frames that are undrawn in the two deep
477. 18:24boxes that they're going to eventually
478. 18:26overwinter in. I want you to look at
479. 18:27this. See that tick right there? I have
480. 18:30ticks so bad on my hives. They get in
481. 18:34the nooks and crannies, all the
482. 18:37crevices. I guess they're going after
483. 18:39the warmth. All right, on to the nuc.
484. 18:42All right, here we are at the nuc and
485. 18:46we're going to see how they're doing
486. 18:47with the frames that they've had in the
487. 18:50bottom uh
488. 18:51last time.
489. 18:53I gave them a frame of mostly capped
490. 18:55brood from Pink Hive to give them a
491. 18:58boost in population so that they can
492. 19:01build up and prepare for winter.
493. 19:04All right, they have some honey stores.
494. 19:07Now, I am feeding them and I air quote
495. 19:08that because it It be honey, it may be
496. 19:11funny honey. I really don't care cuz I'm
497. 19:13not extracting honey from them, so
498. 19:15doesn't matter to me. And I'm going to
499. 19:16grab my sugar syrup. This is one to one
500. 19:19with a splash of vinegar. Okay, that
501. 19:22worked really nicely. I have had
502. 19:25problems in the past with filling this
503. 19:27and making a mess. This is the first
504. 19:29time I've used a milk jug. I just
505. 19:31cleaned out the milk jug. All right, I'm
506. 19:33going to go ahead and take this top box
507. 19:34off so I can take a look in the bottom
508. 19:36because what I really want to see is how
509. 19:40they're doing with the foundation frames
510. 19:43I gave them. Well, they're definitely
511. 19:45drawing wax. Can you see that burr comb
512. 19:47right there? I want to see if they've
513. 19:49drawn any of these and it's highly
514. 19:53likely that their queen is in the top
515. 19:54box unless they've drawn something down
516. 19:57here for her to lay in. So, okay, yeah.
517. 20:01They're on it. They haven't really done
518. 20:03anything. Do you want to take a peek at
519. 20:05this front the frame that was drawn that
520. 20:08I gave them? That was pretty heavy. Oh,
521. 20:10no, it was just stuck. Okay, they've had
522. 20:14some brood emerge and they have capped
523. 20:15some brood because it wasn't entirely
524. 20:17capped when I gave it to them. So,
525. 20:20they've got that bottom part that's
526. 20:22capped there. They capped that and the
527. 20:24uncapped middle part was capped brood
528. 20:27that has emerged. So, that has given
529. 20:28them a boost in population,
530. 20:31which is good. This also had some pollen
531. 20:33on it, which is great for them to have
532. 20:35in building up their population cuz they
533. 20:37need that to raise brood.
534. 20:40I'm not really seeing any pollen now, so
535. 20:44either they've moved it or used it.
536. 20:46Either way, uh that's good that they had
537. 20:48it. Not seeing
538. 20:50any eggs. I do see a little bright and
539. 20:53fuzzy bee, which means she just recently
540. 20:55emerged. Oh, there's another one. They
541. 20:57have some new bees some newbies. Okay.
542. 21:00All right, we're going to put this back.
543. 21:02Oh, they have started on the next one.
544. 21:04Yay! All right, they have drawn out this
545. 21:08next frame a little, so I am curious to
546. 21:11see if the queen has been down here to
547. 21:14lay. It'd be great if they if she has.
548. 21:18It's not completely drawn, but you know,
549. 21:20it's she could have laid some in the
550. 21:21middle. We'll see. All right, push this
551. 21:24over just a little bit. They have drawn
552. 21:28some there. I don't know if you can see
553. 21:29there or not. And some over here. Not
554. 21:32seeing any eggs, but they have started
555. 21:34over here, so that's good. Just need to
556. 21:36keep feeding them. I will say I'm not in
557. 21:39love with how tight this nuc is. I made
558. 21:41it. This was a nuc that I built as a
559. 21:44swarm trap last year, my first year in
560. 21:46beekeeping, and it's a little more snug
561. 21:49than the second one that I built.
562. 21:52Honestly, it's crossing my mind to make
563. 21:55another one and then swap the frames
564. 21:57out. And then I could just use this one
565. 21:59to on top to feed them, you know, like
566. 22:01enclosed to feed. It's a thought. I
567. 22:03think also I don't know if you can tell,
568. 22:05but it is pressed plywood, and that does
569. 22:09uh swell and warp a little more than the
570. 22:13the nicer plywood. So, that could be a
571. 22:16big part of it. I don't know. All right,
572. 22:19where you're going to
573. 22:22just put this right here. Think that'll
574. 22:24work. Now, I do want to pull a frame or
575. 22:27two from up here. There are only three.
576. 22:29Just to see about their queen status. I
577. 22:33do want to be careful because it is
578. 22:35tight, but this one is not as tight as
579. 22:36the bottom one. The bottom one kind of
580. 22:39got weathered more because I did have it
581. 22:40out as a nuc, and I had a different lid
582. 22:42cover to begin with, so it's just a
583. 22:46little more
584. 22:47swollen up. Okay, they've got some burr
585. 22:50comb on here. I'm pretty sure that the
586. 22:51measurements that I used to build these
587. 22:53nuc boxes are a little taller than a
588. 22:55regular box, so they have a little more
589. 22:57space between the boxes, bottom of the
590. 22:59frames and the next box. Oh, well. All
591. 23:02right. We have capped worker brood,
592. 23:05honey, and bee bread. That's awesome.
593. 23:08Let's check this side. Same over here.
594. 23:11Don't see any eggs. It's all capped
595. 23:13brood. Larva looks healthy. She's got a
596. 23:16good pattern. She's actually she's the
597. 23:19queen that I overwintered with in white
598. 23:21hive. She built up blue hive when I made
599. 23:23splits in April. I mean, like a champ. I
600. 23:28mean, she built them up fast. We have
601. 23:31larva.
602. 23:32With this limited space, you know, maybe
603. 23:35she lays for a few days and then takes a
604. 23:37break. I don't know. She only has so
605. 23:39much room to lay. Oh, there's our queen.
606. 23:55I hope you can see her. So, she's in
607. 23:57there. She has a good laying pattern.
608. 24:00She just She's on the space she has to
609. 24:02lay in. So, you know, it is what it is.
610. 24:04And they're doing all they can do. I
611. 24:08have faith that they're going to build
612. 24:09up nicely for winter. They're going to
613. 24:11make some really great nukes in spring.
614. 24:14Clear off these side walls.
615. 24:17Put this frame back in. That's good to
616. 24:19see. There's definitely more bees in
617. 24:21there than there were. Work queen right.
618. 24:24And they are drawing some comb. So, you
619. 24:27know what? They're going to build up in
620. 24:29time for winter and they're going to be
621. 24:30strong and great. Make great nukes in
622. 24:32spring.
623. 24:33All right, we are over at green hive.
624. 24:37It's been a hot minute since I've been
625. 24:39over here. Uh last time I was in here
626. 24:41was probably 3 weeks ago and I pulled a
627. 24:45couple of deep frames and extracted the
628. 24:47honey from them because I felt like they
629. 24:50were nearing a honey bound place.
630. 24:54I had some people that said maybe they
631. 24:56weren't honey bound because they had
632. 24:58moved some of the honey and made room
633. 25:01for the queen to lay in the top box.
634. 25:02But, you know, it is what it is. They're
635. 25:04a strong colony. I'm happy that I got
636. 25:07some honey. I don't feel like it put
637. 25:09them in a bad place. And uh
638. 25:13it is what it is. Okay. Okay. Okay. Not
639. 25:18what we're looking for. When I was in
640. 25:20here last time and took the honey
641. 25:21frames, they got a little defensive on
642. 25:24me and I had used the bee brush and I
643. 25:27thought, "Okay, maybe I made them angry
644. 25:28cuz the bee brush." But also, they have
645. 25:31a a queen new this year. Maybe her
646. 25:35genetics aren't what we want in the
647. 25:37apiary. I don't know. Definitely
648. 25:40something I've had in the back of my
649. 25:42mind that is not anything I've ever
650. 25:45experienced or seen. It did kind of jar
651. 25:48them a little when I loosened the
652. 25:50propolis seal from their inner cover.
653. 25:53Might give them just a minute to settle
654. 25:55down and
655. 25:56see
656. 25:57how they do if we try try to take this
657. 25:59inner cover off again. Cuz if that's
658. 26:01what they're going to be like, maybe we
659. 26:04won't be overwintering the nuc. Maybe we
660. 26:05will be replacing this queen with that
661. 26:07queen. I don't know. I can't even work
662. 26:09them if you're going to be like that.
663. 26:11So,
664. 26:13I'm going to see if they'll even let me
665. 26:15in here. There are a lot of bees up
666. 26:17here. I wonder if they've stored honey
667. 26:19up here. They have stored honey up here.
668. 26:22Maybe they're just being in defensive
669. 26:23cuz of their honey stores. I wonder if
670. 26:26they would let me take the super box off
671. 26:28and get into the bottom or the you know,
672. 26:31the next box down. Got a girl that stung
673. 26:33my glove and I'm trying to let her get
674. 26:34out. I don't know if she's going to be
675. 26:35able to or not. Oh, she did. Yay. Okay.
676. 26:38I want to get them back in there so I
677. 26:40can put this cover down and then see if
678. 26:41we can maybe get into the brood area.
679. 26:45Let's see how they do when I lift up
680. 26:47this box. Oh my, that is a nasty looking
681. 26:49spider. I I'm all about nature, but
682. 26:52don't judge me. That one got squashed.
683. 26:55Oh, that's a heavy box. They're not
684. 26:57pouring out from there, so I'm going to
685. 26:59try taking this off and seeing if I can
686. 27:01pull some frames. See how they're doing.
687. 27:04Okay, that's better. Nobody's rushing
688. 27:06me, although the ones that already were
689. 27:08are.
690. 27:09Oh man. Oh my gosh. I'm going to smoke
691. 27:12my gloves in case anybody tagged me.
692. 27:14Man, they are strong.
693. 27:16I have heard that if you have too calm
694. 27:18of a hive, maybe they aren't the best
695. 27:20honey producers. It is also later than I
696. 27:24would prefer to get in here. I think I
697. 27:25did that last time. It's a little after
698. 27:272:00. I saved this one till last because
699. 27:31one, they were defensive last time, and
700. 27:34two, they weren't my first priority of,
701. 27:38you know, doing something in here. Yeah,
702. 27:40that's definitely much easier to get
703. 27:42that first frame out. All right, capped
704. 27:44honey. Oh, and bee bread. You go, girls.
705. 27:48Okay, that's pollen and capped brood.
706. 27:51Oh, I see a bee being born. Some drone
707. 27:53brood at the bottom. Bee bread in the
708. 27:55middle. Drone brood at the bottom.
709. 27:57Worker brood on top and some honey. More
710. 28:00bee bread. I have a queen cup. Doesn't
711. 28:03look charged. This next frame should be
712. 28:06brood.
713. 28:07I'm trying to keep my my gloves smoked
714. 28:10heavily. Just want to try to check this
715. 28:13frame.
716. 28:14More capped brood. Larva. Good laying
717. 28:18pattern. All right, let's see if we have
718. 28:19eggs over here. We have some capped
719. 28:22brood, larva. You know what? I'm kind of
720. 28:25just thinking I'm going to scrape off
721. 28:27this propolis. I see more capped brood.
722. 28:30I don't know if I'm getting used to it
723. 28:32or if they're actually calming down.
724. 28:34Kind of think they might be calming
725. 28:35down. I don't know. All right, I feel
726. 28:38like I'm going to call them queen right
727. 28:42for now. They have young larva in there.
728. 28:45I haven't seen eggs yet, but they are
729. 28:47just not being easy to work and it's
730. 28:49later in the day. I think I'm going to
731. 28:50call it good. I'm giving it all back.
732. 28:52I'm not taking anything from you ladies.
733. 28:55It's all coming back to you. It's been
734. 28:58long enough. I think they've all all the
735. 29:00ones that would have been here when I
736. 29:01took those two frames would have already
737. 29:03died. So, they can't be remembering me
738. 29:05unless they have a picture of me posted
739. 29:06in the hive. This human came and steal
740. 29:10our honey. Don't let her in. Good news
741. 29:13is, I think I'm going to have a super of
742. 29:14honey to extract, so yay. Definitely
743. 29:17going to use an escape board when I'm
744. 29:20ready to do that. And you can make one
745. 29:21or buy one. Then I'm going to have to
746. 29:23open it back up to place it, but they're
747. 29:25not done yet. So, we're going to leave
748. 29:26it for now. All right, time for the
749. 29:27heavy super box.
750. 29:30All right, watch out ladies.
751. 29:31Oh, shoot. It's all the angry bees in
752. 29:34the super box. I think I managed to get
753. 29:36that on without killing any bees. That
754. 29:38is a first for me. Like a hot hive,
755. 29:41they've all been so pleasant to work.
756. 29:43But also,
757. 29:44this is the first hive that looks like
758. 29:46they're going to produce honey for me.
759. 29:47So, maybe I tolerate that. All right,
760. 29:50I'm staying suited up because I still
761. 29:53have some girls from green hive that are
762. 29:55not happy with me. Uh tell me in the
763. 29:57comments what you think about that hive
764. 29:59and that situation. Just for context, it
765. 30:02is mid-July. It is mid to upper 90s. It
766. 30:06was about quarter after 2:00 when I
767. 30:08popped the hive open and broke the
768. 30:10propolis seal of the inner cover. It did
769. 30:13jerk them. So, I don't know if that
770. 30:16jerking set them off. We were getting
771. 30:18into their super with honey stores. It's
772. 30:21nearing what could be robbing season.
773. 30:24The time of day, the the heat, I don't
774. 30:26know. There are a lot of factors that
775. 30:28could be contributing to that. But like
776. 30:30I said, they also have a new queen this
777. 30:33year and I haven't inspected that hive a
778. 30:35whole lot. Just the way things have
779. 30:37worked out. So, I don't know if it's
780. 30:38their new genetics or just the time of
781. 30:41year and they're a strong colony. That
782. 30:43said, with them being such a strong
783. 30:44colony, they are the only colony that
784. 30:47looks like they're going to give me any
785. 30:48honey this year. So, tell me in the
786. 30:51comments, do you think that it's spicy
787. 30:53genetics? Is it tolerable? Like maybe
788. 30:55just inspect them last and fully suited
789. 30:57up and they'll be a production colony. I
790. 30:59don't know. Tell me what you think. I
791. 31:01want to know. Tell me in the comments. I
792. 31:03am going to put some feed on Blue Hive
793. 31:06like I mentioned. And other than that,
794. 31:09I'm happy with the way the nuke is
795. 31:11moving along and pretty much everything
796. 31:13is fine other than the spicy bees, but
797. 31:14they do have honey, so there's that. So,
798. 31:17if you want to keep following along with
799. 31:18my journey, don't forget to like and
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807. 31:34am so, so excited about. You don't want
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811. 31:41you in the next one. Bye, guys.