Splitting Using a Double Screen Board
2019 ж. 12 Сәу.
271 387 Рет қаралды
A unique technique for making Splits or Nucs using a Double Screen Board or Snelgrove Board. Also discussed is good queen acceptance, feeding, comb rotation, equalization, swarm cells, raising your own queens and more. Discussion at the Coweta Beekeepers Association.
WHY WE PRODUCE NUCS AND HOW WE DO IT, Bee Culture Magazine
www.beeculture.com/why-we-pro...
Everytime i feel like I'm ready to start, more info is presented. So overwhelmed at times. Been learning for two years. If there wasn't such a big start up cost I'd just learn as I go. But I dont want to mess up.
Beekeeping is one of those things you just have to dive in to. If you wait until you think you know enough you'll miss some of the fun. I guarantee you will mess something up. After forty years I still mess up sometimes. Just go with the flow and don't let the failures bother you too much. That is where you will learn the most. I wish you good luck.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you for the encouraging words and for all that you do. I appreciate the enormous amount of time and information you've shared with us. It's invaluable for folks like me who don't have people around them that they can apprentice off of. Hope you have a great weekend. -Grant from Hamilton, Ontario.
I would totally agree. Everyone messes up and you just have to learn from it. There’s no better way to learn than actually diving right in and doing something.
Alot of beekeeping knowledge that you acquire is just different methods, similarly to how humans are different coloured but all the same. Same as beekeepers, different methods but the same result. You just decide on what method resonates with you and your ability, methodology and understanding. I've been beekeeping since a kid on and off, am 50 now and still also stuff up my routine sometimes... I can't keep bees commercially anymore because I prefer not crunching bees which means slower methods of frame handling etc and with only 3 hives now I went Flow. Big jump from 120 hives back in the day to sitting and connecting to my girls each day, opening up every 2nd day, so even the field force won't head butt you anymore. But Bob is one the best I've watched, you have an excellent mentor.
You learn by messing up
I can not tell you how many times I have watched this video. So much information!!!THANK YOU BOB!!!
I was just re-setting it to the beginning to rewatch, and your comment popped up. Same thing here. Sometimes it's good to be inventive, but sometimes it's not necessary to be reinventing the wheel.
I can see Bob has spent his life rearing bees’s, so have so many other beekeepers, but others don’t tell you how to stop a swarm, Also learning how to multiply your stock via Queen rearing, I have learnt a lot from Bobs videos, But you have to keep reinventing the wheel or you would be driving your car with model T wheels, compered to this last 2 years of reading and studying beekeeping I have learnt more out of the box with Bob than what is standard knowledge, the way the western countries keep bees is different to how the eastern countries keep them especially the colder climates, having the knowledge to stop swarming using a double board and when to treat has changed the way I think, But flintstone Jon will not reinvent the wheel anytime soon lol
Mickey... You've taken my "reinventing the wheel" comment out of the context that it was intended. I follow Bob's stuff so that "I" don't have to reinvent the wheel. Bob's already done that for me.
The most informative bee rearing,and management lessons of all time....
On 3 time here😅😂
I read the title and thought this video might be boring. But now I've learned my lesson: Bob Binnie is NEVER boring, even when talking about double-screen boards.
Queen update, I have purchased 4 queens…. I’m happy to say all 4 are accepted and laying! Thank you Bob!!!
I am memorizing this. I have made some double screen boards and I am trying it next spring. I hate not to "like" it but I sometimes watch on my television, iphone and computer, so I can't like every time I have watched. from me you should have dozens more likes than KZhead knows about. LOL Thank you.
This is kinda like a walk away split with purpose! Very good information on this technique. 👏
Excellent video! I will try this tomorrow using queen cups that haven't been sealed. Thank you.
I have watched this video about 10 times, and I’m going to watch it 1 more time today before I try it tomorrow!
I hope it works well for you. You might also watch our video "Nuc Production and Harvest Using Double Screen Boards" kzhead.info/sun/Z6myl9CSm2KmdKs/bejne.html
I split much the same way, it works very well and it’s quick . I’ve never seen the double screen board used before. Good stuff
Thanks. We use double screen boards for all kinds of stuff. We always keep some on the truck during the active season. Splitting swarmed colonies, starting nucs above to requeen with, overwintering breeder queens, etc.
Ian, I enjoy your channel very much. Thanks for doing it
Hi Bob Can you contact me at stepplerfarms@hotmail.com
@@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog if he doesn't see this you should be able to contact via his web page www.blueridgehoneycompany.com/ contact info
Sir, you are the reason I started beekeeping. Thank you. ps. the thumbs down was mine, I hit the wrong button, fixed it.
That was a must see for any keeper. The rabbit hole just became cavernous!! Lol👍👍👍thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.
I am using one of your double screen boards that purchased from your store last winter to do a split also I’ve started with two packages i will have 9 colonies tomorrow when i install a queen cell in a nuc above a double screen board and in my second year of beekeeping haven’t lost a colony because of all of your u-tube videos. Thank you very much. And your sourwood honey is awesome!!!!!!
I’ve got mine going right now. I really appreciate all that you share.
Your a very patient and smart man. Great teacher. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I'm glad I found you and will recommend you to my friends. Thanks,Chris
Thank you.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you for share You are a true artist when it come to bees I'm interested in the internal bee feeder if you could point me in the right direction to obtain one it would be greatly appreciated thank you again
Thank you. www.mannlakeltd.com/ item # FD 525
I learn so much from you, thank you Bob!
Brilliant idea my friend and thank you for sharing. Glad you uploaded this one. I totally get the concept
Thanks again.
Wow! So MUCH great information in this video! Thank you!
I did a replay of this video today, this is the best split/nuc video ever. The info about day 4 is so very good, to take down cells capped around day 4. Love this video once more.
Thank you.
Thanks Bob. That was was it. I'm doing that this weekend. Your videos have helped quite a lot.
Thanks.
Thanks Bob, this is soooo helpful. This year (even in Cashiers, NC) everything is about three weeks ahead of schedule. I am queen-right, well fed, and kept up with mites and full of happy bees. I'm betting I may have splits mid-late March. I'll be down to visit your store soon. Finally, Seth Hill's channel is great too (and I told him so). Thanks again! Kevin
Very good explanation, not confusing at all. Great stuff!
Thank you
Awesome video, so well explained and understood
Thank you for what you're doing in the mites. We really need something that's affordable and works in the US
Thank you for all the good advice. 👍
👍
This video is exactly what I needed. I'm going to be splitting my hives soon as I can feel the time is near, and this is totally helping me square away a step by step plan and checklist to not mess up on my first time. Thank you.
VERY GOOD .. Thanks For Sharing
Thanks again, Bob
One of my favorite honey bee videos!
Thanks for taking the time to teach others. I am a new beekeeper and really enjoy your videos. I just finished up a double screed board and am looking forward to trying it out. At 76 my eyes aren’t what they used to be so I will definitely use your method of shaking the bees off and using a queen excluder to isolate the queen.
Thanks, hope it works well for you.
Thank you so much!! This is so helpful and will be sharing with our bee club❤!!
Thanks Bob. Made six of these as a trial run this March. Works great!
Hi Jay. Thanks for the comment
Hi Bob, First off thank you for sharing your knowledge. I have a couple of questions for the upcoming spring but first let me paint a picture of what I have going on. I bought two nucs last spring and transferred them into their own 10 frame deep with 5 frames of foundation. After watching videos and reading, I almost immediately started feeding them the sugar water. I also was adding honey bee healthy that I had made following a recipe with tea tree oil, lemongrass, wintergreen, and I think spearmint oil. After several months the 10 frame deeps were 80% built out. I then added a another 10 frame deep on top of each of the original hives. I moved a couple frames of brood and food to the top boxes as well. Fast forward to November and now the top boxes are 90+% full. I was worried about swarming but was told that I do not need to worry about that right now during the winter months but be prepared to handle it quickly come early spring. My original goal was to build out all four of the deeps then split them so I had four colonies. At the same time I would add a queen to the two queen less hives, add a queen excluder to all four hives, then a medium honey super to all four hives so I could start producing honey. Question one, Am I on the right track? Is this method you use in the video a good way to accomplish this? Ultimately you still end up with a double deep so in you video so I am questioning if this type of split will work for what I am trying to accomplish. Second question, what exactly is the honey flow you speak of. Is this a time of the year that the bees are working overtime producing honey? If so, is this normally at the same time each year, spring? Thank you again, Robert
Brilliant! Great video. I watched 4 times already. I can believe it never cross my mind to use This method.
Glad you liked it.
Thanks for introducing me to this device, I’d never heard of it before this video. I cobbled one together from a spare bottom board and was able to utilize a spare queen cell & get back two mated queens from the same colony! Much simpler than breaking down a colony to make a nuc.
We use them all the time.
THANK YOU BOB FOR SHARING THESE INFORMATIONS. AS A NEWBEE I LEARNED A LOT FROM YOUR VIDEOS. GREETING FROM ALGERIA
Greetings!!
Hi Bob. Like many others I have watched this particular video of yours more times than I can count. I built a couple double screen boards, but considering making many more to expand their use next year. I’d like to read your comments about a change I propose to make to your process as to where the queen goes when the split occurs. This year is an example of how my replacement queens arrived one or two weeks later than the decision for many of my colonies to swarm here at 2200 feet elevation in the mountains of southwest Virginia. The swarm decision occurred in early April, and the queens arrived in mid April. I’m not a big operation and so it impacts me greatly when a significant percentage of my 1 yr old productive queens and workers hit the trees despite doing all I know to relieve congestion. In retrospect I wish that at about 1 April, I had split out nucs using those queens, and let the mother colonies start queen cells. Then I could decide weeks later, when my replacement queens arrive, where to use them. Depending on timing, I may let some of the new queens they made themselves carry on. Please comment on my idea of moving the marked queen into the nucs being created above the double screen board around April Fools’ Day (so hopefully I’ll be less of a fool). Pros and cons? Anything I’m perhaps not thinking of? Thanks for all the help I have received from your videos in the past.
Hi Randall. That could definitely work. If I did that I would go back in four days if I had the time and remove all cells that were sealed and leave two of the best unsealed. This would eliminate any cells started from older larvae and with only two cells there wouldn't be multiple virgin queen secondary swarms. Usually with only two cells they don't do it at all. I would also feed a steady but moderate flow of thin sucrose syrup if there isn't a flow which seems to help with queen quality. Of course make sure that current year pollen is present. When all is done you could unit both parts and have a new queen and a great colony.
I just love your videos! Love from România! 🤗
👍Thank you.
Thank you, Master Binnie!
You’ve just doubled your odds! I’m a fan of your math and your videos!
Thanks.
Thanks for sharing this video! I'm a second year beekeeper and I feel like I've learned a lot from this! I still have a lot to learn though. 👍😁
Thanks, it's a fun journey.
Hi Bob, I can't say how many times I watched this video. I think you did a great job explaining the method and I can't wait to try it myself this session.
Thanks for your informative videos Bob. We started using the double screen board last season and they worked great for us. They are available in 8 frame from some suppliers. We use the ones with 3 sides of entrances, accessible to either top or bottom. Great for raising extra queens.
Very useful tool.
Thanks. I haven’t started my bee keeping adventure with my own bees yet. I plan on retirement in the Philippines and will buy or catch my bees there.
Swarm cells do make the best queens. I live in New Zealand and the Beekeepers bible here (Practical Beekeeping in New Zealand) states swarm cells should be destroyed and any queen in a swarm should be replaced but hard won experience has taught me they are the best queens. Natural supercedure queens and swarm queens actually have a royal gene that is not present in queens raised from emergency cells or grafted cells. Never waist a good swarm cell or swarm queen.
Thank you
Truth seeker ..I agree with you on the Swarm Queens,but I'd love to read more about the Royal Gene Can you help me find that info, I Breed Queens and always wanna know more if it's interesting and that's very interesting
100%truth (hello from serbia)
Verry interresting. Tks from Brz
Great stuff thank you!
Thanks.
Bob, here in northern Illinois, I too use double screen boards like yours for making splits. I also use the same double screen boards as bottom boards. Two uses. Works good!
We seem to end up with double screen boards being used as bottom boards too. Thanks for the comment.
Greetings from Turkey, you share great information, I watch with admiration.
Thank you Bob for sharing. Our season is short making nucs up in the north mid west, temperature-wise and a short intense spring nectar flow. Hard to build them up going into winter. Thanks!
Thanks for the comment.
Terrific stuff well presented thanks from an ancient Aussie beek
Thank you.
My bees are swarming too.But always I have a bunch of trapps with lemon grass on those frames and also a piece of cotton inside of the perforated zip bag .That lemon grass attract the bees,they never go some where else.
visuals awesome!!!!!!
Bob. We use the double screen divider board a lot in Romania , but we work on bottom Boxes for 1/1 frames always we start colonies in 1/1 big frames .For a stationary apiary we work always on1/1 at bottom. Then storage 3/4 frames in top and then play only with 1/2 if is necessary .....but if you do pastoral ( travel with the bees ) then you work only with 1/1 frames at bottom box and 1/2 frames for storage box to have enough time to cap the honey and to harvest it before you travel to your next place .....in USA everybody run with 3/4 frames or 1/2 frames but in this condition you have the possibility to swarm fast ! Bees need space and they can work so hard to fill out up! I like your videos ....to be frank I start to watch them for about 2 weeks ....a lot to learn from you ! I am a fan of 12 frames boxes because some I can travel with them and some stay home .....I have few portable modules for 32 hives each , so I work on 12 frame box because I can change them in hot bed or cold bed for winter and summer time ....for me works well the detached bottom side so I can change the position of the hive fast for summer time or winter time without to touch the frames ....even if the boxes are with frame holders in all 4 sides .....screen bottom boards also works well for me because I don’t know sometime which one will stay on apiary and which will go in to a modular apiary ....and in module it’s very hot in summer as you know so need ventilation as well use well for Varoua( mites) and fumigation . I can show you a good design topper part for feeder half and screen half easy to add the strop and won’t be robbing at all ( an Austrian invention ) Respect! Lucian
Thank you for your comment. This is very interesting. I have had other comments from Romania wondering why we don't use double screen boards more. Every country seems to be different. Thanks.
Hi.Thank you v much for the v.I am from Europe, Macedonia.With the Internet the planet is so Small. Over 20 years Ifinished H Shool in New Mexico, US, working with bees and a few years ago I had a job in Canada as profesonal beekeeper in comercial beekeeper (God bless my employers).I am saying this because I got the idea not only for mantality but also for the ideas.Just BRAVOO. I watched a few times yours videos, and with your congludings and advices, you are giving many tips, for splits, selection the quins and etc.In Europe or paticularu in Balkan region, beekeepers do not use much double screen board. Instead using the same advantages of double s.b, when they want to make splits without lusing the crop or make the colony get week, they use the same board but not the double screen. It is called Peletof's method. Also it would be very nice for the beekeepers to see your video, what you announce in the future about cell bilder in the second super. I qoute you:"It works.It remand me of a course I took here:" New Zeland's method of Making a new queens in presens of current actual Queen i the same hive". My email salamovskigoran@gmail.com. Have all of you health, happiness, honey and smiles:) God Bless you. Worm regards from Goran Macedonia.
Hi Goran. Thank you for comment and info.
I modified my triangular bee escape to be a double screen board. It also.its a Multi Tasker now.
Also in Serbia we call it Snegler's board but it is mostly used by beekeepers with LR hive.
I love listening to you, I dont event do beekeeping but I find it very interesting. Who knows, I might get "stung" and start doing it. I imagine its hard to do in an appartment.
You could always find a spot on someone else's property.
this was great thank u
Thanks.
Merci beaucoup .
Vous êtes les bienvenus
Bob thank you for sharing your knowledge. When doing nucs this way and using cells. Do you get a high return of newly mated queens making it back to the nuc on top and not going in bottom hive?
Hi Robert. We usually get better than eighty percent. Oddly enough, when mating queens in the bottom and the top at the same time we almost always average better in the top than the bottom.
Hı Bob great video.İ use this board longer as 20 years here in BELGİUM. We call it Seperator. İts multi functional. İ use it for queen rearing and harvesting royal jelly and also for swarm controlling. But you can also do biotechnical varroa mite treatment. İ can not image an apiary without this double screenboard.
I am surprised that these devices are not utilized more in this country.
@@bobbinnie9872 its very easy to rearing queens . Must change place off the broodbox and honeybox with the double s screenboard in the midlle. İn the honeybox you put a frame with max. 15 transferd larvas with two frames open brood both side. Shake 3 frame young bees in the honeybox.After 12 days you got 15 very vital queens.
So you dont need starter or finisher.
@@bobbinnie9872 if the bees build swarmcells you rotade the broodbox and the honeybox .use double screenboard in the middle. Change one frame honey with a frame open brood. Now the bees gonna build emergency cells in the honeybox. The swarmcells in the broodbox will be destroyed by the bees instictly because all the forager bees are in the honeybox. After 7 days you rotate again. And destroy the emergency cells. So the swarming intence is over and honey flow was good.
When you use a double screen board to raise a nuc above the mother colony, and once thee nuc is old enough to come off the mother colony, how would you relocate the nuc in the same bee yard , and avoid the flying bees from the nuc drifting back to the mother colony? If the frames are moved to a 5 frame nuc box in the same apiary, does the new box and entrance style get them to orientate. I have also heard that moving them at night and piling branches with leaves at the entrance will force them to orientate to the new location. Would there be any benefit to creating a 2, 3 or 4 chamber queen castle with a double screen bottom to use as a mating nuc over a strong colony? I am planning to use 4 chamber deep queen castles to mate queens this spring, and if these 2 frame nucs could be put over a mother colony to accelerate growth... well can I just plunk the 2 nuc frames with the newly mated queens, in with couple frames of stores from the host hive below, and 6 foundation frames over a double screen board?
Thanks Bob, I real enjoy your vids. Can you build a double screen divider board that will support two nucs next to each other and create two 5 frame nuc splits?
Absolutely. Some like doing four frame nucs.
Hi, great video. Note: Im not quite sure but the "Snelgrove board" is a little bit different than this(double screen board) at least what I have seen. It has entrances on both sides, that way during the honey flow you can combine the field force from both colonies and harvest more honey, I think this is the core feature of snelgrove board.
You are correct. We accomplish somewhat the same thing by lifting the board and shifting the entrance from one end to the other.
Smart .thanks
Thank you
Hello Bob! Thanks for all your great videos. Would you be so kind and share your recipe that you use as an alternate to honey B healthy? You said it was lemon grass oil and spearmint oil. How is this used? Thanks
It's nothing fancy. We add 400 ml lemongrass oil and 200 ml spearmint oil to 250 gallons of syrup.
This is a great video, thank you taking the time. I have two questions: 1. How long should I leave the nuc (Top Box) after I insert my store bought queen? 2. Did you place the double screen board opening the same direction as the main hive or 180?
I like to leave the nuc on top at least until her own bees are hatching. The entrance works both ways but I prefer 180 when possible.
Appreciate this video and wi be using it in splits this year. Question can I split a very strong hive and usethe new top box as a starter finisher for queen rearing. Only planning on trying 15 and hoping for at least 6. My first try at queen rearing.
This technique is great for introducing queens and cells but not the greatest for building cells. I would recommend looking at our video "How We Produce Queens" kzhead.info/sun/lpZxf51pbaWvZ3A/bejne.html
Thank you very much.
Great idea but I want to build a queen castle for the top. I will add your double screen and a super in between the box's. I was thinking of putting 2 nucs on top but I think the castle with your double screen will produce queens faster and can be used as a mating box. once the new queens start to lay I'll put into 6 frame nuc's and over winter them.
Sounds pretty good. We've found that queen cells installed in equipment on top generally have a better success rate than those installed close to ground.
Great video! Only one question and maybe I missed it. How long do you leave the nuc on the top before taking it off to make it a hive by itself?
Ideally it's best to wait until they have plenty of their own hatching brood if your keeping them in the same yard. If your moving them to a separate yard, simply waiting until the queen is laying well is OK.
Thank You for the info….at what time do you take the nuc off of screen board and how far away from the original hive should it be placed? Can it be kept in close proximity?
We like to wait until bees from the new queen have been hatching for a while, perhaps one week, when placing the nuc in the same yard. This insures that there are some young bees that don't know their way home to the old entrance and will stay put. When doing this the distance doesn't matter.
I have been watching all of your videos the last few days. THANK YOU so much for all of the time and effort you put in to filming, editing, producing and posting your videos and for sharing your four decades of experience. After watching this video (twice) 😊, this makes perfect and wonderful sense and I am going to do this. I created an account on your website, but it appears you do not ship double screen boards. If not, the ones sold by Mann Lake have much larger openings covered by wire - are the larger openings OK? And the second question is - I have telescoping covers. Once the Nuc is set up and the new queen (or cell) is introduced, is it fine to use an internal feeder with the Nuc? Thank you again so much!
Hi Bee Guy. If you call our store at 706 782 6722 they can take an order for double screen boards. Th Mann Lake boards work well also. We only use division board feeders if the nuc or colony is at least four frames of bees. Too many drowning bees with small colonies.
@@bobbinnie9872 I just called and just placed an order for three. Thank you for your response and thank you again so much for all of your wonderful videos! - Guy
UK Beekeeper. Bob, I look forward in 2021 in implementing the double screen board idea , which is a little more straight forward in it's application than the snelgrove board as presently used in the UK. Can you confirm as to the placement of the supers while conducting this split. Would you put them below the the bottom brood box while completing this exercise and then replacing them above when completed.
I would leave the supers as part of the lower colony, above the brood nest.
Hi Bob, Loving your videos. Could you please tell me what size the 2 holes are. Thanks in advance. My wife asked if the quietly spoken man realized he was being heard on the other side of the world? Cheers fron New Zeland.
Hi Steve. Our holes are a little larger than 2.75 inch. We use the same hole saw that we use for cutting holes in our lids for feeding with jars that have a 70mm cap. The size of the hole isn't critical as it's simply there to let heat come through from the colony below. Some double screens are entirely covered by screen except for the rim. Please tell your wife the answer is no.
is there an advantage to using the jar to feed the split/nuc versus a cap and ladder frame style feeder? great video thanks
Yes. The cap and ladder can be a problem for small colonies with a bit of drowning. Larger colonies have less of a problem with this.
СПАСИБО
You say in this video that you mix up your own lemongrass i believed I wish you would do a video with that recipe thank you for your time
Hi Don. Nothing fancy. Depending on the strength we want we just put in 200 or 400 ml of lemongrass oil and a cup of Health Pro or Honey B Healthy to help with emulsification in 250 gallons of syrup. We don't use it all the time.
@@bobbinnie9872 thank you so much
Hi Bob, thanks for the video. Do we put the entrance of the double screen board on the opposite side of the entrance to the main brood box is and if so will the nuke have its entrance on the opposite side for the entire three weeks?
Either way can work but we prefer the rear if convenient. When using queen cells we believe we have better success facing the rear because there is less traffic and confusion for the virgins coming home. When introducing a mated queen it's less important. Keep in mind that when the nuc is eventually removed any field force remaining will be looking for their old entrance and a way in. In this case the front may be better because they migrate to the lower entrance eaisier or you can simply leave a crack in the boxes for one day as a temporary entrance. And yes we leave the entrance facing the same direction the entire time.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you so much again.
Hey Bob! First off I wanted to thank you for all of these great videos you put out for us to learn from. I think I've dang near watched them all 2 or 3 times!! I'm up in southeast South Dakota and I just started keeping bees last year. And with some luck and a ton of hours on youtube trying to learn, my bees over wintered and look to be very strong. I believe I'm going to need to split my colony and I'd really like to try this method. My question is...Does the split need to be moved in to a nuc box or could in stay in the 10 frame deep with the frames set up the way you show in this video? Thanks again and I hope all is well!!
When we make these nucs for our own use we just leave them in the 10 frame box and move it after it's well established which is after the queen has her own brood hatching.
Thank you for this video, on the top box once you introduce a new queen can you then move the box in the same yard? The queen would mostly have nurse bees so they would stay with her?
Yes, but we like to wait until it's well established. Perhaps three weeks or more.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you
Hi Mr. Binnie, Thank you for posting these videos! This method looks really good when it comes to swarm control. I would like to use it for requeening the original colony as well /which is beneath the double screen board/. In this case I should insert a queen cell in the nuc, which is going to be 14-16 days old. Then I will have to wait for about 21 days until the new queen gets strong and her chances of acceptance go high. But aren’t these 21+ days too much? Will the original colony not go swarmy during that time? If so, what should I do? And one more question: when you unite the two colonies, do you put the new queen in a cage just in case or that's not necessary?
If the lower colony is left to strong it can swarm. We try not to leave the bottom to strong for that reason.
Thanks for video! I live in Turkey and have about 150 colonies. I will try double screen board next season for my splits. I wonder how long can I hold a split with a queencell on main colony with double screen board? Should I take it away just after mating or can it wait a little more to take advantage of main colony's heat?
If it is not too large it can stay for a month and will grow faster with the heat from below.
Are there potential problems with using a double screen board that is all screen rather than just the holes you have in yours? The pre-made ones that are available in my area are made with a wood frame and screen covering the whole middle.
Hi Bob, and thanks, as always for the great information in the videos. Just wanna make sure I’m understanding the process correctly. Would you agree that if the beekeeper can readily find the queen, and knows that she’s in the bottom box, the interim step of shaking all the bees down, and then placing a queen excluder is not necessary. Could I not just create the five frame nuc, which is ultimately going to be in the top box, make sure to shake in enough nurse bees into it, place the DSB over the second deep, and place the newly created nuc on top from the start?
Yes, that's correct.
Bob, one thing I’ve been thinking about. You mentioned that 4 frames of bees will peak in 7-8 weeks. Can you please tell me what you mean by peak? Is that a particular size? Is that dependent on the type of equipment you use?
Hi. I mean it peaks in population. It's kind of a general statement. It assumes conditions are good with plenty of stores or a flow and the queen has plenty of room to lay. We use a double deep brood nest, ten frame equipment. If the queen was restricted to a smaller space the colony would experience peak population sooner.
Great instructional video! If a nuc should fail to make a queen I think you said just remove the double screen board. No need to use newspaper or worry about fighting then?
Generally, we smoke both halves well and no fighting will occur. If you want to be doubly sure a mist of very light sugar syrup or even water will further insure no fighting. I don't care for newspaper because of the mess left to clean up.
Hi Jeff For some reason I can't reply to your latest question from yesterday and can't read it all so I'm using this comment to reply. Small glitch I guess. If you're asking if you can use an existing swarm cell with a double screen board the answer is yes and it would be helpful to let the new start realize it's queenless first by waiting a couple of hours if you have the time. Good luck.
Bob, really enjoy your tutorials. I have a small apiary, after using a snelgrove board and new Queen has been introduced and at what point do you remove the NUC and where do I put the NUC bearing in mind I cannot move it over the at least two miles. Thank you.
Hi Richard. When leaving this type of split in the same yard we like to wait until it has plenty of new hatching bees. This gives the nuc lots of young bees that have never been out of the hive before. There will be a temporary set back but they'll bounce back quickly.
Bob, I really appreciate your help, and timely reply.I use WBC hives, I will use the Snelgrove board for the split, leave a gap in the lift to allow flying bees access to the outside. My thought is if I use a colour code ( purple, violet, blue) on the entrance on the WBC lift/snelgrove , when I move the NUC from my main hive to its new site the flying bees should gravitate back home following the coloured guide ....?
@@richarddrake1843 Hi Richard. I believe you will see most of the bees zero in on their original point of entrance for a short period and then end up in the closest entrance available to them.
Bob I also have frame feeders in all my dbl deeps. How often are you cleaning out the dead bees in the ladders and does it cause any issues if you don’t clean them out? Thanks Ray
Hi Ray. If the ladders have more than a few dead bees in them we do clean them out. It seems like excessive dead bees in the tubes causes issues with the syrup itself and the colonies won't take it as readily. Strong colonies have very little trouble but it can be a problem with smaller colonies. This is on of the reasons why I prefer to feed small colonies from above with jars or buckets.
@@bobbinnie9872 I’m already set for switching it next year.I completely agree
Great video Bob. If I use this method to create a new colony (top box). After 3 weeks I check for eggs or queen. Then can I move the top colony anywhere? Or does it have to be moved far away for 2 months?
Once the queen is established we feel comfortable moving it but if we're leaving it in the same yard we like to wait until she has an ample amount of hatching brood and new young bees.
Bob I must commend you on you videos. I have some of your videos multiple times and find them very educational. You mention in this video an article you authored. How can I obtain a copy of the article?
Thanks, www.beeculture.com/why-we-produce-nucs-and-how-we-do-it
I've never tried it but is it possible to cut a queen cell from the side of plastic frames? Thanks and I really like the way you do your splits, I really enjoy looking at your videos.
Thanks for the comment. Yes on the queen cell, just get underneath it with a sharp blade.
How long should you leave the nuc on top of the double screen board before setting it on its own bottom board??? Could you notch cells on the box above the queen excluder to produce a three way split??? If there is a time constraint ?
Hi Todd. We like to wait until brood is hatching from the new queen before moving, although it can be done sooner if you need to. Sorry, I don't know very much about notching cells to make cells.
Mann Lake sells a double screened nuc bottom board for making splits.
Easy to build them. Scrap lumber works just fine. Bob uses really quality materials making his.
Bob, thank you. I systematically keep two colonies like this, but simply separated by an excluder. The difficulty with this setup is feeding, specifically feeding the bottom colony. Do you do it when there is a natural flow on and 1.5 gallon feeder fill up one time is enough, or do you periodically top off the bottom feeder? If you top off, do you have an estimate of how much/often to promote growth and discourage swarming? Again, I am addressing the needs of the bottom colony.
For starters, we usually don't maintain colonies like this for an extended period during the active season but if we are using this method to make splits repeatedly in the spring we will feed the lower colony each time we split with the 1.5 gallon feeder, which is usually three weeks apart, and once in between unless there is a nectar flow. As far as swarming goes, it's different every season. If the lower colony has plenty of stores and we add back drawn comb after splitting, we may not feed at all because it can promote swarming if the lower colony is still strong. If there is foundation to draw and the lower colony is not too large we will give it repeated feedings, once a week or more.
Hi Bob what the measurements of the plastic box ,and measurements of the openering of the shaker box ,is better to bee smaller than 405 mm by505 mm so bees fall better into the brood boxes thank you Bob ,great videos, watch you heaps of times,
I don't have a plastic box nearby to measure as I comment back but I know it is narrower than 405mm. It is slightly less than the inside dimension of a bee box.
I’m thinking about putting a partition in a full deep to make two splits (above the divider board) would there be enough nurse bees to take care of 3 frames of brood on both sides. My main reason for this is to ultimately reduce hives to medium honey supers. Also how many holes are in the jar lids for feed, when I tip buckets at times syrup will flow out the bottom board, thanks for all your information, great videos! Todd
Hi Todd. Yes, two nucs in a deep over a divider board could have three frames of brood with nurse bees. With small nucs we will usually put one to three holes in a jar lid with a two penny nail.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you, you are a great resource to the honeybee family!
Bob, is now a good time of year in North TX to try this method? I understand now is a great time to create splits, but due to the low population of drones this time of year, it is best to only introduce a mated queen. My fear is a newly hatched queen won’t have the adequate number of drones needed to mate with and return to the hive and be a productive layer. Any help or suggestions are appreciated. I tried this method a couple of months ago and it worked great.
I would be surprised if there aren't a least enough drones for mating. At least mating weather should be very good. You might be surprised. We also use this technique with purchased queens a lot with great success.
Bob, how long can you leave the new hive there? can I keep it in my current yard? or do I have to move the new hive to a different location?
You can leave it there as long as you like but eventually it will run out of room. We usually move them after the queen has her own hatching brood. We young bees coming off you could leave it in the same yard if you like. It will only have a temporary set back until it develops more field workers.
Hey Bob, awesome video thank you so much! I have around 120 hives and never heard about this kind of board, i think it's an excellent method because we can use less bee's and frames of brood per nuc and therefore we can make more nucs :) Just a question....is there any problem if we don't use the "second story box"? Can't we just use 2 boxes, 1 for the mother hive and 1 for the split? And why do you use a second story box if you just drop your population? BTW here in Portugal swarm cells are considered to be bad eheh but in the past 2 year i've been using some of them and had excellent results! Best regards João
Yes, we make splits off of single story colonies all the time. Once you get the concept of this technique there are many possibilities. We keep the second story box on colonies we want to remain double deep brood nests.
@@bobbinnie9872 oh okay! Thank you so much!
Bob, doing your 'split'. In relation to what nectar source are you doing this? Early dandelion bloom, apple bloom, etc.? I think because we all in different zones of plant growth this could be beneficial for a lot of your viewers. I would plan on this when I'm seeing drone which is often just before the dandelion. Plus, for us northerners reminding us to purchase queens ahead of time is important if we're going that route. Great videos as I've said before in your other presentations. This is about the 15th time watching this. It should help with how I perform my splits.
Of course you can split any time conditions are good but the time we do it the most, and find the most benefit, is just before swarming starts. In our area that would be just prior to apple bloom. When mating queens some say you can install ripe cells as soon as your drone larvae are in the purple eye stage but we wait until drones are hatching in abundance. This insures plenty of mature drones for mating.
@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks. The apple bloom was what I was looking for. We have a crazy early flow of something just after the maple. But I don't know what it is. Then the apples come in and swarming starts. I always try to identify blooms of flowers to management of the hives. Now you've given me what I'm looking for.
My problem is my apple tree is about to bloom now(Atlanta metro area). I think I’m going to give it another 2 weeks and have my overly full hives build out comb on my honey supers while they’re producing wax like crazy.
I am about to get into bee keeping for the first time. I have been devouring your videos. Do you have a written "schedule" for when to do what? Thanks!
Hi Michael. Sorry, I don't have a written schedule.