# What's your strategy for growing your apiaries?



## frankthomas (Aug 2, 2012)

I have 4 hives in my 2nd year. I am interested in learning more about different methods to increase colonies. I realize that just getting them through winter is sometimes the best you can hope for but what else do do beeks do? I don't want to buy more packages every year. Thanks for sharing your strategy.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Bought mine w/ loans from FSA.


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

sqkcrk said:


> Bought mine w/ loans from FSA.


Not to be an idiot here Mark but what is FSA?

As for increasing numbers of hives, SPLITS are key. Small splits from healthy hives early in the spring will get you great results. Doesn't take much 3 frames from each hive in a NUC box and 3 to 4 weeks later you have a laying queen. Then to manage your splits you let them build up to a point and rob them of a frame each making a new NUC. Won't take long to build right up there. I went from 10 hives this spring to 43 right now using this same method. Buying queens will get you the results even faster and give you more genetic diversification in your apiary too.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Sorry. I hate name dropping too. Farm Service Agency.


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## ABruce (Dec 27, 2013)

Drlonzo, Can you expand a little on how you did it. Did you just take 3 frames from each hive? I am running 10 frame deeps two high for colonies, I am thinking in the spring a person could maybe take two sets of three frames with out too much setback. I started with two lb packages in April with all new frames and I have two hives with a full medium of honey and filling a second as of today. I am hopeful that we will grow next year, if we figure out how to survive the winter.
thanks


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## BeeGhost (May 7, 2011)

Split each year and catch swarms. If you put in the time you will learn how to better your odds of over wintering, and talk to people with the same climate as you and what they do to SUCCESSFULLY over winter!! I do my increases by splitting and the occasional swarm catch or easy removal from a irrigation box or bird house!! I rarely do swarm catches or removals because I can split my hives in much shorter time and not worry about people in the area getting stung.


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

ABruce said:


> Drlonzo, Can you expand a little on how you did it. Did you just take 3 frames from each hive? I am running 10 frame deeps two high for colonies, I am thinking in the spring a person could maybe take two sets of three frames with out too much setback. I started with two lb packages in April with all new frames and I have two hives with a full medium of honey and filling a second as of today. I am hopeful that we will grow next year, if we figure out how to survive the winter.
> thanks


ABruce - Expand a little on how I did it, sure. I got 10 packages of 3# each of Italians in the spring. Started on April 6th. They started in 8 frame deeps, 1 frame each drawn and the rest were RiteCell waxed from Mann Lake. Each hive was allowed to build giving them 1:1 syrup with HBH in it. We were actually in a flow here at the time so I fed them about 1/2 gallon every two days at night. They built comb out like crazy. Within the first 3 weeks I had to super up the hives with a second deep. Same as before only frames with RiteCell in them. At that point I actually only fed them about once every week just to make sure they had plenty stores to keep building with. At the 6 week mark I pulled 5 frames of brood/bees/stores from each hive and started new hives with Russian Queens from Coy's. Then I allowed them to go back to work again and fill up those new frames that I just put back in and brood up again. At the next 6 week mark which was about the 1st of July, I had a hive swarm and knocked it down and made nuc's with the extra brood. But I also went into each and every hive and found they were on one heck of a flow and pulled honey. Then gave them empty frames again. The Russian hives at this point were in need of a knock down as well since I plan to overwinter them in singles this year, so I pulled 4 of the frames from each of them and put in empty frames and started those new hives. So basically it's been a process of just keeping the girls in the hives. If they are healthy and you don't mind feeding them a bit when needed, they will make more hives than you can keep up with. Counting the NUC's i've sold so far and the hives that I still have, total is 50. It actually would have been more at this point but I lost a round of grafted queens I started. Waited too long to pull them. I plan to do another round of grafting tomorrow though to catch up. I hope to winter about 30 NUC's and the 10 doubles, and 20 singles this year.


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## garusher (May 28, 2012)

Watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIYz65Vquxg

he suggest a week before swarm season to decide if you want to make honey or make increase.

If you wanna make increase do this.
take the queen and a couple of frames out an place in a nuc, move her away.
next step is dependent on how many brood frames remain. notch every other brood frame. let the entire colony perform as a cell finisher. 

couple of days before the cells are to hatch remove the brood frame, the extra frame some resources and make a nuc. so the 8 frames of brood in the original hive now makes 4 nucs. etc.

also by moving the queen into another box, you have created an artificial swarm. so minimizing the chances of the original hive getting the swarming feeling.

G.


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## Ron B. (May 11, 2009)

In your particular area, there is a date you can say each year that the flow is over. At the end of the flow there will be loads of bees with nothing to do. Take at least one split off each of your big hives. It relieves congestion in the hive, and saves honey that was left for winter stores. There should be plenty of time to get these nucs ready for winter. It would probably be best in Mi. to buy some mated queens so the nucs will have more time with a laying queen. Also, feed, feed, feed.


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## Andrew Dewey (Aug 23, 2005)

Get yourself a copy of Increase Essentials. Understand the biology behind what you want to accomplish.


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

drlonzo said:


> Not to be an idiot here Mark but what is FSA?
> 
> As for increasing numbers of hives, SPLITS are key. Small splits from healthy hives early in the spring will get you great results. Doesn't take much 3 frames from each hive in a NUC box and 3 to 4 weeks later you have a laying queen. Then to manage your splits you let them build up to a point and rob them of a frame each making a new NUC. Won't take long to build right up there. I went from 10 hives this spring to 43 right now using this same method. Buying queens will get you the results even faster and give you more genetic diversification in your apiary too.


This is how I went from 1 overwintered and a couple swarms to 7. I wish I had of thought to steal a frame from each nuc once they were bursting. I will remember that next spring.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

Good question. it is what I spent my entire season on. My goal was to increase 20 fold in a single season and produce queens nucs or honey to pay for it all. This woudl require not only producing 20 queens per colony during the swarm period. All destined to be sold. But then turning aroudn and producing another 20 queens per colony for the final increase.

Actual results: We did get on average 19.5 cells per colony. Plus we put together a cell builder and gafted 45 cells resutling in an additional 32 queen cells. Not bad for being an estimate based upon one hive cell building the previous year.

Of those cells and mainly due to I suspect weather conditons. 40% of all cells did not produce a live virgin queen. This loss was not expected. 

Proper hive build up in spring supplied the ebs necessary to make up mating compartmetns for all virgin queens. We had more than adequate numbers of bees. Btu it required reducing all colonies to sizes taht woudl nto be capable of producing honey. IT was expected that production of large numebrs of queens woudl restore bee numebrs in production colonies.

The results where that very few virgin queesn survived mating flights. In all of nerly 300 queen cells we ended up with only abotu 80 total queens nealry half of them sodl as virgins. We never got our bee numbers restored.

The failure of the plan was simply that virgin queens did not sucessfuly mate. All other factors not only can be done they have been done. I am workign on both queen cell handling and rate of virgins getting mated.

At thsi time we are attempting the second production of queen cells. so far our take on grafts at thsi time of year is very low. Of a total of 420 grafts introduced in the past 15 days we have had 12 accepted. We saw this same thign last year in the earlier half of July. A few weeks later acceptance increased to well over 75%. I still do not know what causes this.

In all our goal was to increase from 23 colonies to 207. we are currently at about 50 or a little more with 23 queen cells that are in an incubator. We set up 14 mating compartments yesterday and will start introducing ripe queen cells later today. So far it seems to me the harder it is to get queen cells made the better mating rate we get. I hope that holds true. I have litel hope of makign the 207 colonies and would be very happy to have 100 at the end of the season. But the truth is there are far easier. less expensive and more reliable ways to make a 4 fold increase of an apairy. I will continue to attempt to make the 19 fold increase work but now with only a select few colonies each year. If you count each succesfully mated queen as a new colony even if I sold it afterwards. I actually have made a 3 fold increase so far. much of it has been sold though. I do not count it as increase inless it is a colony that will remain in my apairy. This means to increase from 23 to 207 colonies and pay for it my apiary has to produce 368 total new colonies or queens. Half of teh new colonies or queen are sold to generate teh income to cover the costs. Since many could do it cheaper than I was trying to do it that number could be reduced.

As for me I believe the answer lies in finding a more realible location to get queens mated. That and improving the handling of queen cells to increase emergence of virgin queens.


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

Wow Daniel, those are high ambitions, 20 fold. Nothing I could ever consider. Im going to be a 15-20 guy. Interesting the numbers. Good Luck on your future endeavors and increases. G :thumbsup:


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

Those of you who are aiming to large increases how are you handling:

The cost and/or time & effort to keep up with equipment
The need for drawn comb..it seems they draw on the flow then quickly shut down
The time & effort required to manage the larger number of hives
The cost of feeding & treating extra hives if in fact you feed and/ or treat

I ask as I made up some nucs this summer and my family are pressing for no more hives due to the time comitment, the kitchen looking like a production line and my asking for help if I need to have deeps lifted.

I would like more hives as it is great fun watching how different each is, it is fun trying to manipulate some to see if I can alter a result in the direction I am hoping for and fun to see if others can make it on their own.


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## WRLCPA (May 12, 2014)

At the end of the flow season, if your hive consisted of 2 deep brood boxes, why couldn't one simply move the second deep to it's own Bottom board and call it it's own single hive? Basically a walk away split, or if you could find the queen, requeen the queenless box.

Could a hive theoretically survive the winter like this?


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## garusher (May 28, 2012)

I like Daniel Y mention of selling to provide income to increase your apiary. I think i will need to start some more nucs to pay for the resources i will need next year. I'm already figuring 60+ deeps, frames and Wax.
Half a dozen nucs at the going rate would go along way to keeping my wife from getting on my back about the cost and little return. lol.

I'm hoping these double nucs will turn into drawn comb factories.

Time, argh there is only 24 hours in a day.

I might get laughed at, but we have an old beekeeper at our club. he does not believe in feeding.
I am thinking correctly managed i wont have to feed either. also my bees are feral survivors. I will not be treating them.

G.


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## frankthomas (Aug 2, 2012)

Andrew Dewey said:


> Get yourself a copy of Increase Essentials. Understand the biology behind what you want to accomplish.


Just ordered it. Thanks


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## Andrew Dewey (Aug 23, 2005)

garusher said:


> also my bees are feral survivors. I will not be treating them.


In the words of a now dead politician: "trust, but verify." In other words test (or at the very least learn to recognize viruses, check drone brood, etc.) Feral survivors are not exempt from ordinary bee maladies such as skunks, queenlessness, chalk brood and swarming. Get to know your bees. Don't be a bee haver. Check your hive's Varroa levels and if they are high be prepared for the colony to collapse and die. Or to change your attitudes about treating.

I am an avoid treatments person trying to reconcile myself to losses from Colorado Potato Beetles that are having fun in my potatoes at present.


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## frankthomas (Aug 2, 2012)

WRLCPA said:


> At the end of the flow season, if your hive consisted of 2 deep brood boxes, why couldn't one simply move the second deep to it's own Bottom board and call it it's own single hive? Basically a walk away split, or if you could find the queen, requeen the queenless box.
> 
> Could a hive theoretically survive the winter like this?


In Michigan I don't believe that a single deep could survive a typical winter, let alone last years winter. Some people were pushing two heavy deeps with a medium super of honey on that! Nebraska winters are pretty tough too aren't they?


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## frankthomas (Aug 2, 2012)

garusher said:


> I might get laughed at, but we have an old beekeeper at our club. he does not believe in feeding.
> I am thinking correctly managed i wont have to feed either. also my bees are feral survivors. I will not be treating them.


I believe Michael Bush feels the same. Only feed in an emergency. Bees will generally be healthier from nectar and real honey as opposed to table sugar and the stuff it becomes.


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## peterloringborst (Jan 19, 2010)

> Bees will generally be healthier from nectar and real honey as opposed to table sugar and the stuff it becomes.


What possible evidence do you have for this?


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## WRLCPA (May 12, 2014)

frankthomas said:


> In Michigan I don't believe that a single deep could survive a typical winter, let alone last years winter. Some people were pushing two heavy deeps with a medium super of honey on that! Nebraska winters are pretty tough too aren't they?



I don't know how my signature says Nebraska or how to change it. To your point, it is even worse, I live about 15 miles away from Michael Palmer in Northern Vermont


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## peterloringborst (Jan 19, 2010)

> Get to know your bees. Don't be a bee haver. Check your hive's Varroa levels and if they are high be prepared for the colony to collapse and die. Or to change your attitudes about treating.


I agree. Untreated bees are not more healthy, especially if they are riddled with varroa and viruses. They may survive, or not. Wild animals tend to be vectors for parasites, whereas livestock are generally in good health as a result of modern veterinary medicine. Same with bees. There is no magic to "feral bees." Most of them have escaped from commercial hives, anyway


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Andrew Dewey said:


> Get yourself a copy of Increase Essentials. Understand the biology behind what you want to accomplish.


Oh, I thought you were surveying people to find out what they did, not to find out what you should do. Okay.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

WRLCPA said:


> I don't know how my signature says Nebraska or how to change it. To your point, it is even worse, I live about 15 miles away from Michael Palmer in Northern Vermont


When did NE become a State? You are from Lincoln, New England?


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

WBVC said:


> Those of you who are aiming to large increases how are you handling:
> 
> The cost and/or time & effort to keep up with equipment
> The need for drawn comb..it seems they draw on the flow then quickly shut down
> ...


1. The cost and/or time & effort to keep up with equipment
Disipline in how cash is handled. every dime must go toward the goal. no room for wasted purchasing. As wellas dual developpemtn of my local market for both hnoey and bees/queens. Both are ways to get the most money for what you have. I count on 1/3rd of all production will be for nothing more than generating cash flow.

Time, so far I build in the off season. bring in help and develop faster methods of assembly. this year we finally went to purchasing new equipment requiring only assembly. assembly was improved by the purchase of a stapler. Never forget when it comes to large numbers seconds matter. they matter a lot. Building can also be evening work. to hot to be outside work. it is the rest I have a hard time getting in in the hours that it is sane to be doing it.

2.The need for drawn comb..it seems they draw on the flow then quickly shut down
I find the best time to get comb drawn is actually in the pre swarm build up period. I use checkerboarding based methods. Otherwise any hive smaller than 20 frames is fed until it is 20 frames. jsut part of getting a colony built up. I count on doing it like I count on making queens or buying boxes.

3.The time & effort required to manage the larger number of hives
Time and labor. I have help. I also have an attitude that if I am still breathing in and out. I might as well do so while working. I get off work today at 3:30 and will be on my way to a cutout. The couch can wait. it never misses me anyway.

Learn as I go trim what I was doing to eleminate what is not realy necessary. time to stop learning and start managing. You can know all you need to know about a hive in 5 minutes. Or so they say. I am down to around 15. I may have to go find some other beekeepers to get tis one completley dialed in.

4.The cost of feeding & treating extra hives if in fact you feed and/ or treat
Low cost treatments. Lowest cost treatmetn is to keep colonies strong in the first place.

Cost of feed. I set aside a certain precentage of all honey sales. trading honey for sugar water dictates that. In the event of no honey I simply project how much honey I will need to buy and get the money in any of the various ways I can earn money. I have not yet attempted even more creative ways to come up with feed for bees. but they exist.

Every hive will cost a certain amount every year. every new hive will cost a certain amount to create. know what that cost should be. and plan on paying it.


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## peterloringborst (Jan 19, 2010)

> I have not yet attempted even more creative ways to come up with feed for bees. but they exist.


Boy, I'll say. In the spring of 1975, I helped a "beekeeper" feed hives by shoving cheap hard candies into the hives. After a couple of days he thought it was too much work so we dumped the candy out on the ground for them to grub around in.


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## TWall (May 19, 2010)

sqkcrk said:


> When did NE become a State? You are from Lincoln, New England?


Mark,

NE is the abbreviation for Nebraska, as in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Tom


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

Daniel Y said:


> 1. The cost and/or time & effort to keep up with equipment
> Disipline in how cash is handled. every dime must go toward the goal. no room for wasted purchasing. As wellas dual developpemtn of my local market for both hnoey and bees/queens. Both are ways to get the most money for what you have. I count on 1/3rd of all production will be for nothing more than generating cash flow.
> 
> Time, so far I build in the off season. bring in help and develop faster methods of assembly. this year we finally went to purchasing new equipment requiring only assembly. assembly was improved by the purchase of a stapler. Never forget when it comes to large numbers seconds matter. they matter a lot. Building can also be evening work. to hot to be outside work. it is the rest I have a hard time getting in in the hours that it is sane to be doing it.
> ...


Thank you for your succinct reply. Is your "help" paid help or family help? Here the minimum wage is 10.50 with EI, CPP and vac pay on top of that. They are aiming to shift it up to $14 per hour in the near future. Even at that it is hard to get folks to work for minimum wage. Minimum time is 4 hours per day so paid help,if you can find it adds up quickly.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

I figured it would be easier to build up some capital via selling now, and buying a couple hundred hives for cheap after almonds but that's just me if I wanted to make a big jump quickly anyways. You get the initial woodenware/frames and the bees for a good price, now you can requeen and split all you want... I'm a firm believer in it takes bees to make bees, and with 10-20 hives, there's only so much you can do in a season and still produce a honey crop and/or have the bees ready for winter with a good population to start increasing again the next year.

Daniel, what was your main problem with virgins, did they never return or just fail to do anything in general?


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

TWall said:


> Mark,
> 
> NE is the abbreviation for Nebraska, as in Lincoln, Nebraska.
> 
> Tom


He's from VT, not NE. NE, in the NE, is New England. Since he is from VT, that's what I thought he meant. Especially since he also said that he lived 15 miles from Michael Palmer, not Michael Bush. I have heard of Lincoln, Nebraska. Thanks.


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

Any more info on this notching method ?


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Notching or not they still make qcs out of desperation.
Try to do a search and you will see.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

peterloringborst said:


> Boy, I'll say. In the spring of 1975, I helped a "beekeeper" feed hives by shoving cheap hard candies into the hives. After a couple of days he thought it was too much work so we dumped the candy out on the ground for them to grub around in.


Expired hard candy or overstock of halloween candy is one I have heard about. I have also wondered if crushed fruit woudl work. I have heard about bees going after grapes and other fruit that has been damaged. My neighbors have apples, peaches, Pears, blackberreis and I am not sure just what all within walking distance of my hives. I know of a bunch of grape vines just a couple of blocks from here. all of that fruit just goes to waste. I was thinking of getting some of it crushing it up and seeing what happens.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

JRG13 said:


> Daniel, what was your main problem with virgins, did they never return or just fail to do anything in general?


They don't return as far as I can tell. We do not tend to look for them after introducing them So I cannot be certain they survive even long enough to take flights. we do watch for signs they are accepted. I very seldom see the bees begin aggressive toward them we make the bees in the compartments queenless for about 2 days before attempting to introduce them. It was suggested we introduce cells rather than virgins so we tried that. it did not make a difference.

So in all I am thinking they are lost during flights. I have posted about this in the past and so far the only advice we have not followed through on was changing locations of the mating yard. One other is maybe the design of out compartments is part of the problem. not enough ventilation or something. We are trying all sorts of different things but so far have not found anything that makes a difference.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

WBVC said:


> Thank you for your succinct reply. Is your "help" paid help or family help?


Both, I have hired help on a part time as needed basis. but they are good friends as well and work cheap. They are also in this as joint owners eventually. so they are working for themselves as much as I am. I also have family that helps from time to time. One Daughter that helps me full time. it is her that I have in mind when I say "We".


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## kingd (Oct 31, 2013)

peterloringborst said:


> Boy, I'll say. In the spring of 1975, I helped a "beekeeper" feed hives by shoving cheap hard candies into the hives. After a couple of days he thought it was too much work so we dumped the candy out on the ground for them to grub around in.


 I know an old beekeeper that still does that and gets all kinds of different syrups that were thrown out too.


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## Scpossum (May 4, 2014)

Daniel Y said:


> Expired hard candy or overstock of halloween candy is one I have heard about. I have also wondered if crushed fruit woudl work. I have heard about bees going after grapes and other fruit that has been damaged. My neighbors have apples, peaches, Pears, blackberreis and I am not sure just what all within walking distance of my hives. I know of a bunch of grape vines just a couple of blocks from here. all of that fruit just goes to waste. I was thinking of getting some of it crushing it up and seeing what happens.


I just dumped a bunch of peach skins 40 ft from my hives two days ago and have yet to see a bee on them. Some kind of yellow jacket/yellow somethings on it, but no bees. The bees are watering a foot away, so I know they have found it. Did the same with some old jelly I did a long time ago. You would think they would be into the sugar, but NOPE. Not even a passing glance from them. I must live in the land of plenty.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

WRLCPA said:


> I don't know how my signature says Nebraska or how to change it. To your point, it is even worse, I live about 15 miles away from Michael Palmer in Northern Vermont


The only way to change the location displayed in your profile is to send a PM request to _Barry_.


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

Daniel Y said:


> Expired hard candy or overstock of halloween candy is one I have heard about. I have also wondered if crushed fruit woudl work. I have heard about bees going after grapes and other fruit that has been damaged. My neighbors have apples, peaches, Pears, blackberreis and I am not sure just what all within walking distance of my hives. I know of a bunch of grape vines just a couple of blocks from here. all of that fruit just goes to waste. I was thinking of getting some of it crushing it up and seeing what happens.


Some of my hives stand amongst grape. They do not use them...or the peaches,pears,nectarines and plums...but the wasps sure do.


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## WRLCPA (May 12, 2014)

Rader Sidetrack said:


> The only way to change the location displayed in your profile is to send a PM request to _Barry_.


Thanks, I knew there was a way but didn't know who to ask...


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

I tried demaree swarm control this year. Placed a deep with all the brood I could get my hands on above a Queen excluder and a super or two. In 10 days I would have multiple capped QC. I took the QC and placed them in a mating castle (deep split 4 ways, 2 frames each). I only kept the queen cells from my good hive. My mistake was that I should have made up the second frame for the mating castle from another hive. Eventually I figured it out (did run the hive down) but I had about 10 queens mated. And laying in the castles. When they were almost full I would split the outsides to divided deeps. I am just now going into a dearth so I have not fed until this last week. So one awesome hive and a donor hive and sold one, killed one queen with the cover sliding it off of the divided deep (green paint all over the lid and it was queenless). I was not trying to increase thought. Now I got hives all over the home, 3 at a friend’s house, and I am building deeps in summer. Neighbor details cars and the bee poop makes him mad. 
Sorry but this is just wrong. I love bees but I am getting tired of them. It is like drinking your favorite beverage from a fire hose. And I got almost no honey. 
:scratch:


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Daniel,

When cutting watermelons in the field the bees will come something fierce. I've had them go after fallen nectarines as well, but I don't know how the 'juice' keeps in the hive vs nectar.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

I once fed them watermelon juice inside the hive using an inverted 
canning jar. They went bad about a day or so. 
I believe they mixed the fruit juice with the rest of the
collected nectar. So I would assume that they pass on the juice to a
few bees before finally depositing it into the hive. I don't see much 
watermelon juice though. Must be that the amount is not significant enough
to influence the nectar/honey outcome. I won't do that again, honey syrup is
better.


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## johng (Nov 24, 2009)

Daniel why are you trying to mate queens just to turn around and use them to make up increase hives? Why not make up regular nucs with the queen cells? Then once the queens mate you will already be half way to having another hive. Make up 20% more nucs than you want in the end and just combine the nucs that fail to make queens to the ones that are queen right. It will save you a bunch of work. Just wondering I know everyone has their own way of doing things.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

John, it has to do with the number of queens I was trying to produce. It is a long story that I have posted in other locations but the final results was planned to be 2 frame compartments for mating. resulting in 50% of the queens mated. the frames would then be combined and each mated queen woudl have 4 fraems of bees in a 5 frame nuc.

Actual results never came even close.


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

To the original question - my strategy for growing my apiary is to concentrate all year long on doing everything possible to come through winter with as many healthy hives as possible. Strong overwintered hives are what give you the options you need to grow your apiary. They can make a honey crop or produce nucs for sale to finance your expansion - while also building comb that you will need to make increase. And mostly they keep you from buying bees.


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