Splitting Honey Bee Colonies 101

WEBVTT

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May I have your attention, please? The following

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is not the real Jeff Fox review. If you create

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more splits than a divorce lawyer, you might

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be a beekeeper. If you dream of your life ending

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the same way as a drone bees, Welcome, welcome

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to Be Love Beekeeping presented by our good friends

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at Man Lake. Today, our guest is Frank LaCotta,

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and we'll be talking all about splitting your

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colonies. When to do it, why, and even how to

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do it. If you're a new beekeeper, this is vital

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information. And if you're a seasoned pro, you

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still may learn something from Frank's years

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of experience. But first, some honeybee fun facts.

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Did you know? that honeybees have a sense of

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smell 50 times more powerful than a dog? Did

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you know that honeybees can taste with their

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feet? Wait a minute, I'm not so sure about this

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one. But what I'm reading here says the claws

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on a honeybee's foot are especially attuned to

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salt. Did you know that honeybees like caffeine?

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Studies have shown that caffeine consumption

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actually improves honeybee's memory and learning

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capabilities. And finally, did you know that

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a queen bee's stinger is smooth, unlike a worker

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bee's which is barbed? This allows her to sting

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multiple times and survive. I'd always been told

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that queens don't sting and it's true, they rarely

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sting people. They primarily use their stingers

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to defend themselves or to be aggressive against

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other queen bees, especially rival queens. And

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that's why their stingers are designed to sting

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multiple times without it killing them. Before

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we jump into it, I'd like to give a quick shout

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out to V2B Health for their support of this podcast.

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Vita's Varroa Control range of products includes

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Apistan, Apigard, and now Veroxan Extended Release

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Oxalic Acid Strips. Thanks guys. Now, let's have

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a chat with Frank. I'd like to welcome to the

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show today, Frank LaCotta, coming to us all the

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way from, are you in Pennsylvania? Yes, I'm in

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Northeastern Pennsylvania. Well, it looks like

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you're in a beautiful cabin. I'm just trying

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to picture the snow, the mountains, that kind

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of stuff. But it's springtime. Right. That's

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long gone. And today we're talking about a spring

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subject, which is splits. Everybody's heard about

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this. Some people are experts at this. Some people

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are new to beekeeping that are listening and

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have no idea what we're talking about. So, Frank,

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being the expert that you are and you were with

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Man Lake for years, weren't you? I was with Man

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Lake for about just over 10 years. It was actually

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the twilight of my career. I was working on Wall

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Street, pretty much a financial district most

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of my career. That's an adjustment. Yes. Wow.

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Congratulations. Thanks. I want to start with

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the first part of what's going on with splits.

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And the first question that I have for those

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that don't know, why do we want to do a split?

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And when is a good time? Okay, the reason why

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we want to do a split is bees have this natural

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instinct to propagate themselves. One way of

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doing that, they have a few ways, but one way

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is by swarming, where that's where 60 % of the

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bees in the old queen actually leave the hive.

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That's where you see them hanging on that post

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or that bush or that house or whatever. the foragers

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or the scouts go out and find a new location.

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That is something that happens almost with every

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overwintered hive. So I tell most beekeepers,

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if you have an overwintered hive is almost for

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sure going to swarm on you in the springtime.

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The ramifications of that are you lose your queen.

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You may or may not get a new queen based on if

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she, the new queens are raising fly out and they

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may make it back. Okay. but it sets your hive

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back, of course. So you may or may not get any

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spring honey. You might get a little bit. You

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might get none because it takes him a while to

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build up again. So as a beekeeper, we want to

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take control of that. Rather than let those bees

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swarm, we do what we call a split, which we do

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it right. The bees believe they swarmed and we

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can control those splits to the point where we

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do not lose our bees. Better for us. to lose

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the bee or to keep the bees with that split than

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to lose them in a tree or, you know, wherever.

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And frankly, it can be better for the bees, too,

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because a lot of swarms that leave don't live.

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Absolutely true. If they can't find a place to

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make that new home or they don't have time to

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build up, depending what time of year they leave.

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Yes, those swarms just may not make it. So for

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us and as good beekeepers, It behooves us to

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do these splits because we can replace our winter

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losses, our dead outs with these splits. We can

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grow our apiary if that's what we choose to do,

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or you may just make a nuke out of that split

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and sell it off and make some money back. We

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know that beekeeping is not cheap. So there are

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a lot of reasons that we want to do that. Yeah,

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it's good all the way around. All right, let's

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talk about wind. I mean, you and I are in colder

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climates, but Some people in the US, and we have

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listeners all over the world, if you're in an

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even warmer climate, you may be past the best

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time to split already. If you're in a cold climate,

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it's coming right up. Well, I'll agree with you

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somewhat on that. We might be too late. We may

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not, because there's another time of year when

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we can make splits. But we'll get to that. But

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spring splits, you're right. We want to get into

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our bees when the weather is warm enough for

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us to go in there and start checking brood, right?

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That's what we're going to take survey of what's

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going on in that hive. And we're going to look

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for a few things. The main thing is congestion

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in that colony. Congestion is not how many bees

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are in there. It's when that queen starts running

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out of space to lay eggs because they're bringing

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in a lot of wet nectar. You'll see in that brood

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nest, it's filled with wet nectar and a lot of

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brood. Once they get that, that can trigger the

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swarm instinct. So as beekeepers, we're going

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to go in there, we're going to monitor that,

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right? And we're going to see how much cap brood

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they have in there, that brood nest is growing,

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how many bees are in there, how much room is

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in the brood area for those bees. And that's

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when we're going to determine when we want to

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make those splits. We don't typically want to

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wait till the bees start thinking, hey, I'm going

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to swarm and start making swarm cells. We want

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to do it before that. For instance, in my area,

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usually about the 15th of April, I know I have

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to go in there and start checking brood, right?

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Because the bees need a few things, obviously.

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They need some brood going before they're going

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to swarm. They also need drones. They will not

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swarm without drones. They need drones, obviously,

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for those virgin queens they're making. So we

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look at those drones. When we start seeing drones

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in that colony and a lot of brood, a lot of bees,

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congestion, then we know it's time to maybe make

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that split before the bees do it. So why don't

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we wait to see swarm cells before we do that?

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Well, the problem with that is if you wait too

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long and they have capped swarm cells, you can

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come in and make that split no matter what, or

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you cut those swarm cells out, which is what

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a lot of people do. If there's one capped swarm

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cell in there, the bees are going to swarm anyway

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on you. And now you've got what we call a hopelessly

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queenless condition, which is something very

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common to new beekeepers. They don't realize

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that they think cutting out all those swarm cells

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will stop them. It won't in a lot of cases. So

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it's better for us to be proactive and make that

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split. We can always rejoin that split with the

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mother call me later if we want. All right. So

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we've talked about timing. I know a lot of beekeepers

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go online and they look at videos and they see

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all kinds of different sorts of splitting techniques

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that there are out there. I know you have a favorite.

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Will you tell us before you jump into your favorite?

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Just name some of the others that you know of.

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What options do we have? Well, there's walk away

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splits. There are the split that I do where I

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know where the queen is. The walk away is one

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where you don't know which box the queen is in.

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let the bees make their own. You basically just

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split the hive in half, right? Right. Or you

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can, you know, there are other ways where you

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actually just pull enough brood and nurse bees

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off to make a nuke and replace the comb you pulled

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with drawn comb, not foundation, into the mother

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colony and, and let the bees, you know, continue

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on. You just pull that nuke off. You may add

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a queen to it. You may just have a young one

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day old larva in there where let the bees make

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their own in that nuke. There are a lot of ways

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to do it. If you get a hive that you're too late

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and it's got all kinds of queen cells in there,

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cap queen cells, you can pull out a couple of

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frames, three frames and put it in a new box.

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Another three, put it in another, you could split

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that colony up into three, four or five nukes

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and then wait a month, see which ones made queens.

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If they didn't, you could rejoin the ones that

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didn't, but the ones that did. So there are a

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lot of options and making nukes and splits is

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much easier than the average beekeeper thinks.

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Really really easy and I love your simple method

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and I think you called it the easy split or something

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like that Also a shakedown split. Yeah Something

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I forget what it there's all kinds of names for

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it. You can trademark it make t -shirts if you

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want. Yeah Well, I didn't invent it. I've seen

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it. I saw it somewhere else as well when I was

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much younger I just call it the the shake split

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because the simplest way to describe it is we've

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got it in this case, say two deeps and the bees,

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we've got a lot of bees. We've got a lot of brood.

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They are absolutely thinking, you know, getting

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to the point where they're going to think about

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swarming. Where's my queen? I don't want to pull

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every single frame looking for my queen. What

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I'll do typically is I'll balance those boxes.

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So I'm going to, maybe the day before I'm going

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to make that split, I'm going to go through there

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and I'm going to make sure that I have some very,

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very young larva in the top box, mostly open.

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brood, but I want a couple of very young ones.

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And I'm going to have a couple of frames of cat

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brood in there as well. The reason why I want

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the young larva in there is because that's where

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the nurse bees are going to go to and take care

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of. So I prep my boxes the day ahead. I wait

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a day and I come back. By prepping, you mean

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you're actually moving frames around so that

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your top box looks like this thing that you're

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explaining. Correct. I want to put the majority

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of the majority of my cat brood in the bottom

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box. and the majority of my open brood in the

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top box. And I'm going to come back the next

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day and I'm going to have an extra empty box

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sitting on the ground next to me. I'm going to

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pull every frame out of the top box, shake those

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bees off of it, look it over just to make sure

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that queen's not on there, put it in that box

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on the ground. I'll do that with every frame

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until that top box is empty. All my frames are

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in the box in the ground. They contain nothing

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but honey and all kinds of brood, whether it

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be eggs, larva, cat brood. That's it. Maybe,

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you know, the occasional bee is still on there,

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but the queen certainly isn't. I'm going to take

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the top box on that hive, shake it, whatever

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bees are on the inside of that box, shake them

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all down. Take that box off. Now I've got a single

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bee and a lot of bees in there. I have my smoker

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going. If I lightly smoke those bees, they're

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all going to go down into that bottom box. I'm

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going to put a queen excluder on top of there

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and take that box from the ground with all the

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brood, put it back on top of that colony and

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close it up. And I'm going to leave it overnight.

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What's going to happen is with all that open

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brood up top, all the nurse bees are going to

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go up to that box. And that's what I want for

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that split, those nurse bees. And I know my queen

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is down in the bottom box. She's under the queen

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excluder. So I'm going to come back the next

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day. I'm going to have my hive stand ready to

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go. my bottom board, my lids, I'm going to take

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that box off, I'm going to move it over to the

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new location, and the mother colony that I took

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that box from, I'm going to remove the queen

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excluder and put another deep on top of that

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box. So now the bees have room to expand up into

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there. The swarm instinct or pressure has been

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taken off that mother colony and now I've got

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a second colony. Let me just take a minute here

00:13:57.320 --> 00:14:00.570
to thank our presenting sponsor, Man Lake. One

00:14:00.570 --> 00:14:02.669
of the things I love about Man Lake is their

00:14:02.669 --> 00:14:05.830
commitment to education because that commitment

00:14:05.830 --> 00:14:08.490
shows how much they want you to be successful

00:14:08.490 --> 00:14:11.659
at beekeeping. One great resource is their mobile

00:14:11.659 --> 00:14:14.779
app. You know, it's not just for shopping. It's

00:14:14.779 --> 00:14:17.679
packed full of all kinds of helpful information,

00:14:18.100 --> 00:14:21.720
including videos, articles, plus a plant identification

00:14:21.720 --> 00:14:24.600
feature designed to help beekeepers identify

00:14:24.600 --> 00:14:27.059
and plant bee healthy plants for their area.

00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:30.480
It's free, so download the Man Lake app today.

00:14:31.139 --> 00:14:33.460
And speaking of shopping, don't forget your discount

00:14:33.460 --> 00:14:37.360
code MLBlove10. It's in the show notes. For $10

00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:41.679
off your first $100 dollar purchase. Now, back

00:14:41.679 --> 00:15:10.049
to the guest. most of the day and put that in

00:15:10.049 --> 00:15:13.330
near the end of the day into that new split and

00:15:13.330 --> 00:15:15.529
let them get used to that queen and let her out,

00:15:15.529 --> 00:15:17.750
you know, five, six days later. Now I've got

00:15:17.750 --> 00:15:19.669
two functioning colonies with laying queens.

00:15:20.110 --> 00:15:22.809
If I let the bees raise the queen, it's fine,

00:15:22.990 --> 00:15:26.450
but it's going to take another 30 days before

00:15:26.450 --> 00:15:29.129
she's back in laying. And if there's any issues

00:15:29.129 --> 00:15:32.149
with her not making it back to the colony, well,

00:15:32.169 --> 00:15:34.049
then I've got to start again or I could rejoin

00:15:34.049 --> 00:15:36.669
that with the original hive. So I tend to buy

00:15:36.669 --> 00:15:39.889
queens myself in the springtime. Is it true that

00:15:39.889 --> 00:15:42.669
split that you've just talked about making that

00:15:42.669 --> 00:15:44.889
you're going to put someplace else, does it really

00:15:44.889 --> 00:15:47.909
need to be two to three miles away? No, we're

00:15:47.909 --> 00:15:51.450
moving mostly nurse bees across. So the nurse

00:15:51.450 --> 00:15:53.529
bees have never left the colony. As long as there's

00:15:53.529 --> 00:15:56.370
a queen in there, they'll stay. Any foragers

00:15:56.370 --> 00:15:58.690
you moved in with that colony, they'll fly out.

00:15:58.710 --> 00:16:01.759
They'll come back to the mother colony. What

00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:04.000
I tend to do to ensure that a lot of bees stay

00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.919
in there and they don't drift out I will close

00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:09.220
that hive up for a couple of days I'll put that

00:16:09.220 --> 00:16:11.759
queen in there and then I'll stuff the entrance

00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:15.059
of my hive with grass I'll pull grass and stuff

00:16:15.059 --> 00:16:17.740
the entrance closed, you know, it's usually the

00:16:17.740 --> 00:16:19.159
springtime. It's cool enough They're not gonna

00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:21.620
overheat in there. I've got a feeder on there

00:16:21.620 --> 00:16:24.679
so they're able to get syrup and After two three

00:16:24.679 --> 00:16:27.559
days that grass naturally will wilt on its own

00:16:27.559 --> 00:16:30.139
and the bees will start coming and going By then,

00:16:30.139 --> 00:16:32.539
they've established that this is their hive.

00:16:32.580 --> 00:16:35.460
They won't drift back to the mother colony. If

00:16:35.460 --> 00:16:40.320
you didn't put a new queen in that box, then

00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:42.539
are you in the same situation or are you going

00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:44.340
to start losing nurse bees or are they going

00:16:44.340 --> 00:16:46.840
to be patient for a month? I would do the same

00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:48.960
thing. I would close it up with grass, but I

00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:51.159
would absolutely make sure I've got syrup in

00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:54.059
there and at least a few frames if I'm going

00:16:54.059 --> 00:16:56.620
to let them raise a queen. I want a few frames

00:16:56.620 --> 00:16:59.480
with a lot of pollen in there because To raise

00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:02.059
a queen, they've got to make royal jelly. Royal

00:17:02.059 --> 00:17:04.720
jelly comes from a gland in those bees, in the

00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:07.420
nurse bee's head. But to make royal jelly, they

00:17:07.420 --> 00:17:11.039
must consume bee bread. Bee bread is a mixture

00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:13.900
of pollen and nectar. So I'm going to make sure

00:17:13.900 --> 00:17:15.960
they have plenty of both, if I'm going to let

00:17:15.960 --> 00:17:18.480
them raise a queen. And after, they'll start

00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:20.480
raising a queen almost immediately. Within a

00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:22.200
few hours, they know they're queen -less, they'll

00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:25.039
start raising a queen. So after a day or so,

00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:26.960
when that grass starts swelting, they're not

00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:28.660
going anywhere. They're staying in that colony.

00:17:29.559 --> 00:17:32.500
I have a lot of success doing that. I rarely

00:17:32.500 --> 00:17:35.460
lose colonies when I do that. And they don't

00:17:35.460 --> 00:17:38.759
need to be two to three miles apart. No, because

00:17:38.759 --> 00:17:41.519
most people, let's be honest, I happen to have

00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:44.579
12 or 13 different locations, but the average

00:17:44.579 --> 00:17:46.559
hobby beekeeper does not. They have one place,

00:17:46.940 --> 00:17:50.180
one apiary. So no, all you have to do is close

00:17:50.180 --> 00:17:53.299
it up. Close the hive up for a few days. I'm

00:17:53.299 --> 00:17:56.130
glad to hear that. You mentioned another time

00:17:56.130 --> 00:17:58.549
of year that's also good for doing splits. Let's

00:17:58.549 --> 00:18:01.990
talk about that. All right. So we all know we

00:18:01.990 --> 00:18:04.789
could do a spring split and people do it a lot.

00:18:05.390 --> 00:18:08.230
But the other time we could do it that I do it

00:18:08.230 --> 00:18:12.430
is when the nectar flow is in full, you know,

00:18:12.529 --> 00:18:15.609
raging, which in my area is June. They're bringing

00:18:15.609 --> 00:18:17.809
in a lot of nectar. I've got a lot of bees in

00:18:17.809 --> 00:18:20.730
that colony. And I go back to this is when I

00:18:20.730 --> 00:18:24.440
make my my nukes to overwinter. I overwinter

00:18:24.440 --> 00:18:28.700
a lot of nukes. So to do that, I got thinking

00:18:28.700 --> 00:18:31.599
about it one time and I thought, well, my nectar

00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:35.819
flows over the first week of July. It takes from

00:18:35.819 --> 00:18:39.299
egg to emerging bee is 21 days. Once that bee

00:18:39.299 --> 00:18:42.019
emerges, it's another 21 days before it becomes

00:18:42.019 --> 00:18:46.660
a forager. So any larva or egg that's laid in

00:18:46.660 --> 00:18:49.539
the first to second week of June, By the time

00:18:49.539 --> 00:18:52.839
that becomes a forager, my flow is over. So what

00:18:52.839 --> 00:18:56.119
I will do is I'll go into those colonies about

00:18:56.119 --> 00:19:00.500
the second week of June, and I'll pull off almost

00:19:00.500 --> 00:19:03.660
all the open brood. I'll take it with the nurse

00:19:03.660 --> 00:19:05.980
bees on there, and I'll make a lot of five -frame

00:19:05.980 --> 00:19:09.819
nucs. And I may take, out of every hive, I could

00:19:09.819 --> 00:19:12.700
make maybe two, maybe one and a half. And you

00:19:12.700 --> 00:19:15.720
can combine frames from multiple colonies into

00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:18.130
one nuc box. It doesn't matter. And I'm going

00:19:18.130 --> 00:19:21.029
to shake a lot of bees in there, a lot of bees

00:19:21.029 --> 00:19:23.569
into those nucs. Anything that's a forager is

00:19:23.569 --> 00:19:25.029
going to fly out and come back to the mother

00:19:25.029 --> 00:19:28.950
colony. So what I end up with is I end up with

00:19:28.950 --> 00:19:32.990
my mother colony has almost no open brood in

00:19:32.990 --> 00:19:35.289
it. So all the nectar they're bringing in is

00:19:35.289 --> 00:19:38.470
going up to honey production. And my nucs, you

00:19:38.470 --> 00:19:40.289
know, they've got open brood and I'm feeding

00:19:40.289 --> 00:19:43.950
them. And what I've done, which I don't want

00:19:43.950 --> 00:19:46.950
to buy queens this time of year, I can let the

00:19:46.950 --> 00:19:50.150
bees raise their own, but what I tend to do is

00:19:50.150 --> 00:19:53.529
I graft a lot of queens. So I usually, by using

00:19:53.529 --> 00:19:56.349
the calendar and planning out my work, I have

00:19:56.349 --> 00:19:59.349
ripe queen cells ready when I do this. So I just

00:19:59.349 --> 00:20:01.750
come through, I wait half a day after I got these

00:20:01.750 --> 00:20:04.210
nukes all set up, and I go through and I drop

00:20:04.210 --> 00:20:06.769
in ripe queen cells that are gonna hatch in a

00:20:06.769 --> 00:20:09.210
day or two. And that's how I do it. You know,

00:20:09.230 --> 00:20:12.069
I might make 100 of them, and out of those 100,

00:20:12.740 --> 00:20:15.740
Maybe 60 to 70 of them are successful in a month.

00:20:15.740 --> 00:20:17.799
They have a laying queen. The other ones, I just

00:20:17.799 --> 00:20:19.519
combine them back with another hive. It doesn't

00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:23.559
matter. So what I've done is I've taken the pressure

00:20:23.559 --> 00:20:26.460
off the mother colony to feed all these bees,

00:20:27.220 --> 00:20:30.000
moved it to a nuke. So my mother colony is doing

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:33.400
nothing but putting up honey. And these nukes

00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:36.099
are raising queens or, you know, and they're

00:20:36.099 --> 00:20:37.980
starting to lay. You know, she'll go out there,

00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:40.779
she'll mate, she'll lay. And those nukes, by

00:20:40.779 --> 00:20:43.309
the time I get into fall, they're going to be

00:20:43.309 --> 00:20:46.710
a double nuke, a 5 over 5 nuke. And I can take

00:20:46.710 --> 00:20:49.609
those through the wintertime. So it's almost

00:20:49.609 --> 00:20:52.869
like an insurance policy for me, in that if I

00:20:52.869 --> 00:20:54.869
lose a lot of bees in the wintertime, I've got

00:20:54.869 --> 00:20:57.289
all these nukes. So if I go into winter, instead

00:20:57.289 --> 00:21:00.329
of going in with my normal 200 colonies, if I

00:21:00.329 --> 00:21:04.329
go in with 200 colonies and 100 nukes or 50 nukes,

00:21:04.369 --> 00:21:06.809
no matter what I lose, I've still got enough

00:21:06.809 --> 00:21:09.450
bees to have my 200 colonies come spring, because

00:21:09.450 --> 00:21:11.630
we all lose bees in the wintertime. We know that.

00:21:11.950 --> 00:21:15.210
You make this all sound really simple it actually

00:21:15.210 --> 00:21:18.789
is And I appreciate it, but I know it can't be

00:21:18.789 --> 00:21:21.430
that simple It is are there things that I need

00:21:21.430 --> 00:21:24.009
to look out for mistakes that maybe I should

00:21:24.009 --> 00:21:27.730
avoid well Yeah, I mean I would say the most

00:21:27.730 --> 00:21:30.769
common mistake I see people do is when they make

00:21:30.769 --> 00:21:34.650
a nuke They don't shake enough bees into that

00:21:34.650 --> 00:21:38.410
nuke because they get no they get a lot of foragers

00:21:38.410 --> 00:21:39.930
in there that happen to be on the frame when

00:21:39.930 --> 00:21:43.180
they pull it and those foragers fly back. You

00:21:43.180 --> 00:21:46.180
need enough bees to keep that nuke, the brood

00:21:46.180 --> 00:21:50.420
warm in there. So you should, you know, obviously

00:21:50.420 --> 00:21:53.900
it's much better if you either find your queen

00:21:53.900 --> 00:21:56.740
so you don't shake her into that nuke box. So

00:21:56.740 --> 00:21:58.740
you want to find her. Once you've got her frame,

00:21:58.900 --> 00:22:01.000
I'll go through that colony and I'll find that

00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:03.319
frame. I'll have an empty nuke box on the side

00:22:03.319 --> 00:22:05.140
and put just that frame in it with that queen

00:22:05.140 --> 00:22:07.700
so I know where she is. Now I could shake a lot

00:22:07.700 --> 00:22:10.609
of bees into that nuke I just made. The foragers

00:22:10.609 --> 00:22:13.289
fly back. That's fine. The nurse bees stay there.

00:22:13.549 --> 00:22:15.289
When I'm all done, I take that queen frame and

00:22:15.289 --> 00:22:17.730
put her back in. I know she's in the mother colony,

00:22:17.890 --> 00:22:20.190
and I know she's not in any of the nukes I made.

00:22:20.529 --> 00:22:22.450
So that would probably be the biggest mistake

00:22:22.450 --> 00:22:24.910
people make is they do not put enough bees in

00:22:24.910 --> 00:22:27.750
that box. And they should, being that they're

00:22:27.750 --> 00:22:30.690
weak, feed them syrup, feed them sugar water.

00:22:30.890 --> 00:22:32.930
Don't give them, you give them a frame of honey.

00:22:33.549 --> 00:22:35.650
Bees don't raise brood off of honey. They raise

00:22:35.650 --> 00:22:38.609
brood off of nectar. They make wax off of nectar.

00:22:39.130 --> 00:22:44.950
So... It's really quite simple. When I was much

00:22:44.950 --> 00:22:47.410
younger, I thought it was this big complicated

00:22:47.410 --> 00:22:50.190
thing and my mentor showed me and I was like,

00:22:50.210 --> 00:22:54.089
wow, that's all there is to it. And from then

00:22:54.089 --> 00:22:57.690
on, I've never been out of these. And by the

00:22:57.690 --> 00:23:00.349
way, you've got a good YouTube video on this

00:23:00.349 --> 00:23:02.950
and I don't very often recommend YouTube videos

00:23:02.950 --> 00:23:05.630
because there's a lot of bad ones as well as

00:23:05.630 --> 00:23:08.930
the good ones out there. If people want to actually

00:23:08.930 --> 00:23:12.690
see how you do this very simple split is it just

00:23:12.690 --> 00:23:15.750
under Frank locata or is it under man Lake? It's

00:23:15.750 --> 00:23:19.450
under man Lake And my I don't believe on these

00:23:19.450 --> 00:23:22.910
I think it shows two boxes one might be purple

00:23:22.910 --> 00:23:25.490
on the ground, you know two different high bodies

00:23:25.490 --> 00:23:27.549
that's the start of it says making a split or

00:23:27.549 --> 00:23:30.549
something and Yeah, it shows it easy and I tend

00:23:30.549 --> 00:23:33.789
in my in my YouTube videos. I tend to not put

00:23:33.789 --> 00:23:36.460
a lot of Fluff around everything I get right

00:23:36.460 --> 00:23:38.579
to the point. I don't want people to be bored

00:23:38.579 --> 00:23:40.900
I'm just gonna do it quick and hopefully they

00:23:40.900 --> 00:23:44.319
see how easy it is I just pulled up the video.

00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:46.900
It is a purple box on the bottom and a yellow

00:23:46.900 --> 00:23:49.259
one on top Yeah, there you go. So if you find

00:23:49.259 --> 00:23:51.440
that you've got the right one. That's right.

00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:55.160
It's under the man Lake Channel Okay Love it

00:23:55.160 --> 00:23:57.700
anything else we need to know about splits. I

00:23:57.700 --> 00:24:00.539
swear you've made it simpler than anyone I've

00:24:00.539 --> 00:24:04.000
ever heard before it is very easy and you know

00:24:03.900 --> 00:24:08.039
All I think is people need to, you know, don't

00:24:08.039 --> 00:24:10.980
just watch me. Watch 10 other people on there

00:24:10.980 --> 00:24:14.339
as well on YouTube. Read a few things and take

00:24:14.339 --> 00:24:16.359
the best of everything and put it together. That's

00:24:16.359 --> 00:24:18.960
what I did my whole career is I wouldn't just

00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:20.960
listen to one person because we all do things

00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:23.759
differently. I'd watch people, I'd listen to

00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:26.359
people and I would try different things. I would

00:24:26.359 --> 00:24:28.440
make one split this way, one another way and

00:24:28.440 --> 00:24:30.579
see which one worked out. The only way you learn

00:24:30.579 --> 00:24:33.099
to be keeping is to make a lot of mistakes. You

00:24:33.099 --> 00:24:35.660
don't learn by being successful. You learn by

00:24:35.660 --> 00:24:38.480
making mistakes your first five, 10 years, then

00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:41.059
you become successful. So do you mean at this

00:24:41.059 --> 00:24:42.859
point, I'm not going to make any more mistakes

00:24:42.859 --> 00:24:45.519
because I've passed 10 years now? No, because

00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:47.380
I've been in it over 20 years and I still make

00:24:47.380 --> 00:24:50.940
mistakes. So we never stop. Oh, there's so much

00:24:50.940 --> 00:24:53.140
to learn. And that's part of what I love about

00:24:53.140 --> 00:24:56.380
it. There is. Yep. And then things change all

00:24:56.380 --> 00:24:58.750
the time. You know, things I used to do. Even

00:24:58.750 --> 00:25:00.670
10 years ago, I don't do anymore. I do something

00:25:00.670 --> 00:25:03.730
different. So keep learning. Yeah, I love the

00:25:03.730 --> 00:25:06.529
intuitiveness of it. As you were talking about,

00:25:06.809 --> 00:25:09.869
look at 10 different videos and then use your

00:25:09.869 --> 00:25:12.470
own intuition. Try to be in tune with your bees

00:25:12.470 --> 00:25:15.089
to know enough, right? What's going to work best

00:25:15.089 --> 00:25:18.069
for them, right? What I do in Pennsylvania may

00:25:18.069 --> 00:25:21.630
not work in Texas and vice versa. So you've also

00:25:21.630 --> 00:25:25.150
got to take your location into account and yeah.

00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:27.160
I always tell people, try everything. That's

00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:28.819
why it's always good to have a couple of nukes

00:25:28.819 --> 00:25:32.380
to play with. Because if these are your, what

00:25:32.380 --> 00:25:35.299
I call production bees, or your only two colonies,

00:25:35.420 --> 00:25:37.779
you're not going to experiment at all. But if

00:25:37.779 --> 00:25:39.299
you have your two colonies and you got a couple

00:25:39.299 --> 00:25:41.400
of nukes on the side, play with them. That's

00:25:41.400 --> 00:25:45.220
how you learn. Sounds great. Okay. It's time

00:25:45.220 --> 00:25:47.460
for you to give us a wild and crazy story. Have

00:25:47.460 --> 00:25:51.539
you thought of one yet? Well, yeah, we all like

00:25:51.539 --> 00:25:55.309
to... have videos of us standing there with no

00:25:55.309 --> 00:25:57.589
protective gear on going in our colonies, you

00:25:57.589 --> 00:26:00.109
know, and we know that, okay, this time of year,

00:26:00.210 --> 00:26:03.069
the bees are - Don't do it. No, don't do it.

00:26:03.269 --> 00:26:04.809
I, you know, I was like that at one time and

00:26:04.809 --> 00:26:08.529
my, my experience was, so I needed a frame with

00:26:08.529 --> 00:26:11.289
some eggs on it. So I stopped it in a beer and

00:26:11.289 --> 00:26:15.210
I thought, I'm not lighting my smoker and I'm

00:26:15.210 --> 00:26:17.089
not going to wear my gear. I'm just going to

00:26:17.089 --> 00:26:19.529
pop the lid real quick and just ease out a frame.

00:26:20.230 --> 00:26:24.500
So I went to the hive. and pulled one out. The

00:26:24.500 --> 00:26:26.420
bees were calm, pulled one out. There's no eggs

00:26:26.420 --> 00:26:29.000
on there. Put it back in, pulled the next one.

00:26:29.160 --> 00:26:30.920
There was none there. And the bees are starting

00:26:30.920 --> 00:26:33.299
to come up through the frames. Pulled the third

00:26:33.299 --> 00:26:35.559
one out, none in there. And just as I'm putting

00:26:35.559 --> 00:26:39.059
it back, they just came at me in droves. I was

00:26:39.059 --> 00:26:42.420
running through, it was a big garden, my neighbor's

00:26:42.420 --> 00:26:44.779
farm. I was running through that field swatting

00:26:44.779 --> 00:26:47.359
and running and screaming. I think I got lit

00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:52.369
up about 40 times that afternoon, but yeah. So,

00:26:53.150 --> 00:26:56.170
my takeaway from that was never assume that you

00:26:56.170 --> 00:26:57.869
can go in there without gear. I always have my

00:26:57.869 --> 00:27:01.029
jacket on now and ready to pull it up if they

00:27:01.029 --> 00:27:04.329
turn on me. Such great advice. Frank Licata,

00:27:04.470 --> 00:27:06.349
thanks so much. I really appreciate your time

00:27:06.349 --> 00:27:12.569
today. Sure, Eric. Thank you very much. Thanks

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again for joining us here on Be Love, Be Keeping

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presented by Man Lake. Hey, if you wouldn't mind,

00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:20.579
please take just a couple of seconds here to

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follow or subscribe to this show and to share

00:27:23.980 --> 00:27:27.640
it with a good friend. I got thinking. Have you

00:27:27.640 --> 00:27:29.619
ever wondered how much you actually love your

00:27:29.619 --> 00:27:33.359
bees? Tell you what, ask yourself this philosophical

00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:37.359
question for the day. Would I keep bees even

00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:40.460
if they didn't provide me with honey? Ponder

00:27:40.460 --> 00:27:42.759
on that and we will see you next week.