Two Best Ways to Split a Beehive - With Commercial Beekeeper Seth Homer

WEBVTT

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in a world brimming with complexity few creatures

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embody harmony like the honeybee with tireless

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precision she dances from bloom to bloom each

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motion guided by millennia upon millennia of

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instinct each act in service to the whole and

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then There are the beekeepers, watchful stewards

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of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist,

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part poet, they move along their hives with the

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efficiency of mow, levy and curly, tending to

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the bees' needs as best they can comprehend,

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and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the

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Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing

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like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their

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journey. Welcome, welcome to Be Love Be Keeping

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presented by Man Lake. By the way, if you haven't

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yet, please subscribe to and follow the show,

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tell your friends about it, and click on over

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to BeLoveBekeeping .com to sign up for our free

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newsletter. Today is gonna be a whole lot of

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fun. Our guest is a commercial beekeeper who's

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going to talk with us all about splitting hives

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and his two favorite methods for doing that.

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He also has a great wild and crazy beekeeping

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story. But first there have been some crazy things

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in the news recently and I wanted to share just

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one of them. Have you ever heard of a beekeeper

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going to jail for how they were keeping bees?

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Hey, I've been following this story for the last

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three years and it's finally come to a conclusion.

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Here's the headline. Beekeeper jailed after unleashing

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swarm during eviction. So here's what happened.

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Law enforcement was trying to serve eviction

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papers on the owner of a 1 .9 million dollar

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home in Massachusetts. when a beekeeper arrived

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with a truckload of beehives and began opening

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them in the driveway. I know, sounds pretty awesome.

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Ah, but not so quick. Deputies on the scene quickly

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realized what was happening. Quote, hey, hey,

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hey, she has a truck full of bees, one deputy

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said, according to video, prompting another to

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respond. What the? In a court affidavit, it turns

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out the beekeeper said that she intended to let

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the bees forage on the lovely flowering landscape.

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Well, maybe protesting the eviction at the same

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time. But as deputies attempted to intervene,

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hives were knocked over, releasing hundreds,

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thousands of bees that repeatedly stung officers

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and sheriff staff. One person was even hospitalized.

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Others suffered stings to the face and head.

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Prosecutors said the bees were effectively used

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as a weapon. A jury agreed, convicting the woman

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of multiple misdemeanor counts, including assault

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and reckless conduct, while acquitting her of

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some more serious felony charges. She was sentenced

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to six months in county jail, though her lawyer

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said she had already spent months in custody

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and would likely serve only a short remaining

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term. The sheriff said this is unlike anything

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our team has ever experienced. The woman's lawyer

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said, She had been trying to stop the eviction

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of a friend undergoing cancer treatment, describing

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her actions as driven by concern over quote,

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the humiliation and devastation of going through

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an eviction. During the confrontation, deputies

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ultimately tackled and arrested her as bees swarmed

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the property. officials said the incident endangered

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both law enforcement and nearby residents noting

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that thousands of bees had also died during the

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chaos. All right we're not here to condone or

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condemn what happened but you should know this

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your bees can be considered a weapon and you

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are responsible for them so be smart and be responsible.

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I'd like to welcome to the show today Seth Homer

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who's coming to us from Utah and Good morning,

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Seth. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing wonderful.

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Thank you Have you ever been on one of these

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crazy podcasts before? You know, this is a first

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so I'm a little little nervous, you know, but

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a little excited same time so I'll tell you something

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that will help your nerves and that is you know

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ten times more about beekeeping than the host

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here does so Well, I don't know about that there's

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things you probably know that I don't know as

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well. So we're just here to have a good chat

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and you guys do some really great social media

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and email and stuff and had recently posted some

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step -by -step things about splitting hives and

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it's that time of the year. We're recording here

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at the very end of April 2026. This will be coming

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out probably mid -May and so I thought You know,

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this is a topic we ought to just really jump

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into and take as deep a dive as we can. So you're

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going to be on the spot for a bunch of that,

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Seth. Before we do, I'd love to hear a little

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bit about your family business and how you became

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a part of it. Where did beekeeping start with?

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Because I don't think you're multi -generational,

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you know, like 100 year beekeepers. No, we're

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not. It all started with my dad. I want to say

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13 years ago or so. My dad was just a hobbyist.

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He just wanted to get into bees. He was in a

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gardening class and kind of overheard a conversation

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about bees and so it kind of piqued his interest

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and he realized that he had some lack of... the

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buzz, you know, the sound in his cherry tree.

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And so that kind of piqued his radars, you know,

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the antennas turned off. And anyway, so he got

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a hive and he kind of just kind of just learned

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like everybody else. Back then, you know, YouTube

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was just starting. And so there was a lot of

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information, a lot of people he was watching

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knew just about as much as he did. There were

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a few beekeepers like David Burns who kind of

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was his little mentor, I guess, if you will.

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Anyway, so he just kind of grew from one hive

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and split the next year and grew. And every year

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he just split and grew a little bit more. Got

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to a point where he had bees in other people's

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backyards and he paid some rent of honey for

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them to have them there. And so he kind of started

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selling honey at the farmer's markets and kind

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of made that a little business and got to a point

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where he sent some of his hives to California

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with a commercial operation. And he joined them.

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He went with them just to see how it all worked.

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And he kind of just caught the bug and thought,

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hey, man, this is something I could probably

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do. But for his age, he's like, if I was 20 years

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younger, I'd jump in and do this. But I'm not.

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And so that's when he approached me with it.

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I honestly didn't really know a lot about bees.

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I didn't know about that world. It was totally

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new, but it was something interesting. And so

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I thought I'd give it a go. And so we went up

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and we spent a lot of time with this commercial

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operation just to kind of get my hands dirty

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and be in that environment and try to understand

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how things worked. So, and it was just super

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fascinating. I just fell in love with it. And,

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and from there, I just, you know, I wanted to,

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I wanted to do that and be a part of that, whatever

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that was. And so, bought a couple hundred hives

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together. You know, we made our first splits

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and we, we, there's a lot of trials, lots of

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failures and obviously lots of, there's a big

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learning curve, especially starting with that

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many hives to get, to get going. But it was lots

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of fun and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

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That's kind of how we started. My dad, he was

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really big on teaching and kind of sharing his,

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you know, he felt that there wasn't a lot of

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people around in the community that provided

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that education. And so he kind of started doing

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his own little education classes and from there

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he kind of just took off. So we've always had

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this. kind of this mission of just helping and

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educating others based off of our failures and

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our successes. We want everybody to have that

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success and we know that our way is not the only

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way. We tell our beekeeping students all the

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time like what we're doing is not the only path.

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There's so many different ways to keep bees but

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there's a handful of fundamentals and principles

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that are the same. How you complete and how you

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attain those principles is up to you. And so

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probably give them some direction, some guidance.

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We've now grown, we're usually close to 950 colonies

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by the peak of the summer. We've grown to that

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point, but we still have that same mission and

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we really love sharing what we know and to help

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somebody out. then awesome. It's actually been

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kind of a really cool because we have so many

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people that kind of come into your path as we

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were growing because of our challenges and the

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you know financially I mean we're scraping by.

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My dad's really good at he's a baby groomer and

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so wherever you can save money he's saving it.

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Well that brings up a question that I had do

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you guys build all your own boxes or do you buy

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them? When we first started, we would buy them

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pre -cut and I would sit in my garage during

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the off season and I would just be up there,

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get my music going, pounding away, nailing and

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gluing the boxes and all the frames and my garage

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would just be stacked full of boxes and frames.

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And we would wait until we'd try to get orders

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from our customers and wait until the temperatures

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were right. And once we hit above 50 degrees,

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we'd go out and stack our boxes up in the driveway,

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and we'd paint the tower of boxes. It felt like

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we're always a step behind. We're always playing

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catch up. The weather sometimes made it challenging.

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but at the same time, it made it a fun journey.

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Something to look back on, that was crazy that

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we were able to do all that, but we did it. Yeah,

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that's awesome. And it seems like, and just from

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my kind of outside perspective, some commercial

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beekeepers, they've got like 10 ,000 hives. Okay,

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and so they're taking them out to pollination

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They're doing their splits or doing all that

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stuff and you guys are doing those things too

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But you also have a good online presence and

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you have a store and you're making things like

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soap I just bought some the other day and salves

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and all that kind of stuff and your sharing of

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knowledge you really do And that's one great

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thing about beekeepers in general, but you guys

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really live it. I noticed on your website I'm

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looking at it on my other computer over here

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You've got a whole blog post about mite testing,

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and you've got a recipe for syrup, and for, what

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is this other thing? Honey Bee Health recipe,

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what's that? Honey Bee Healthy, it's a feeding

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stimulant. Makes the syrup a little more palatable

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for the bees, tracks them for spring buildup.

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So anyway you're sharing a lot of stuff and I

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appreciate it but I don't want to take any more

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time on that. I want to jump right into splits.

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For those in the world that are in swarming season

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right now or are coming into it soon, let's talk

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about first swarm management because there are

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some people that are just saying I'm a hobbyist.

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I've got my half dozen hives. I'm maxed out.

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I don't want more. I don't want to do splits.

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But I also don't want to lose a ton of bees to

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swarming. So what advice do you have for people

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in that situation first? Well, I think the first

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thing is they need to try to figure out what

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their goals are. Where do they want to be? And

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one of the things that we mention and teach Also

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in our classes is beekeeping is really expensive

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and it can be really an expensive hobby. And

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so there's a few different things that you can

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do to help support and sustain your little apiary.

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One of those things is you could sell your own

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bees. So obviously when you get to a point, that

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point where you're just like, I'm done growing.

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I want to stay where I'm at. Then you got to

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start making some choices. There's multiple things

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you can do. Like I said, you can pull splits,

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you can sell them. There's ways to manage your

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bees to keep them intact as far as giving them

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space to grow and build up into their colony.

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So you're not losing bees. That's a hard thing

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for me to take is people letting their bees just

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swarm because they don't know what to do and

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they don't know how to. how to manage that. I

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mean, they're freebies for somebody else, I guess,

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but it can cause problems for the neighbors.

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You know, we've had our own problems when we've,

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our first year anyway, we had to move on prematurely

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and we lost some swarms and we got into some

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neighboring homes and we had to deal with all

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that. So it can be problematic, but there are

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things that you can do to mitigate those swarms

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and splitting them and Again, a hive is just

00:15:03.309 --> 00:15:07.009
under that state. When a hive gets congested,

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they want to swarm. And in general, it's a good

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thing. It's what bees do. You're not a bad beekeeper

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if your bees want to go swarm. Don't take it

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personally. They're not leaving you. They're

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doing what nature taught them to do, which is

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reproduce and make a whole other colony. And

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yes, and it can be healthy for them. The brew

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break can be good for them and things like that.

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So, all right. Let's talk about, I mean, there's

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a lot of different ways to do splits. What's

00:15:36.710 --> 00:15:39.850
your favorite way? My favorite way, honestly,

00:15:39.889 --> 00:15:43.909
with what we're doing, I love, it's kind of a

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walk away split before we move our B's. And obviously

00:15:46.710 --> 00:15:50.889
this doesn't totally apply to all the hobbyists.

00:15:50.970 --> 00:15:53.870
But for me, I like the method where I actually

00:15:53.870 --> 00:15:56.759
will take. take your top box or second brood

00:15:56.759 --> 00:16:02.340
box and I will put an empty box on the bottom

00:16:02.340 --> 00:16:05.500
and I'll go through and I'll take all those frames

00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:09.019
from that top brood box and I'll shake them down

00:16:09.019 --> 00:16:13.080
into the bottom box. I'll do that with the whole

00:16:13.080 --> 00:16:16.340
second brood box. I know the queen's in the bottom

00:16:16.340 --> 00:16:19.919
and I'll put a queen's scooter down and then

00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:23.299
I'll put that second brood box back onto the

00:16:23.299 --> 00:16:26.659
hive. Now I can just go through, I know the queen's

00:16:26.659 --> 00:16:28.659
in the bottom, I can just go through and I can,

00:16:29.159 --> 00:16:31.220
the bees will come back up through the queen

00:16:31.220 --> 00:16:34.279
excluder, you know, populate that brood, second

00:16:34.279 --> 00:16:37.159
brood nest. And now I can just pull that box,

00:16:37.500 --> 00:16:40.100
move it to another spot. And usually when I'm

00:16:40.100 --> 00:16:43.039
doing this, we're actually doing it right before

00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:47.360
we move our bees to a new yard. And so that way

00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:50.139
they haven't oriented themselves to one location.

00:16:50.649 --> 00:16:55.029
So I can just set that hive down and I can just

00:16:55.029 --> 00:16:57.409
move it right across from each other. I know

00:16:57.409 --> 00:17:01.149
I can just put a queen in and they're good to

00:17:01.149 --> 00:17:04.190
go. I admit a pet peeve of mine is that it seems

00:17:04.190 --> 00:17:08.170
all bee hives are white. Yeah, boring old white.

00:17:08.619 --> 00:17:11.839
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00:17:43.009 --> 00:17:46.529
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00:18:07.190 --> 00:18:11.789
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00:18:11.789 --> 00:18:16.160
.com Discount code, show me the color. For me,

00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:19.460
that's a quick way. You don't really have to

00:18:19.460 --> 00:18:21.480
think about it. You don't have to know about

00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:24.019
where the queen's at. Obviously, I like to divide

00:18:24.019 --> 00:18:26.980
up the resources as much as possible. Well, you

00:18:26.980 --> 00:18:29.160
said you know the queen is in the bottom box.

00:18:29.740 --> 00:18:32.339
So you've got to figure that part out at least.

00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:34.380
If I take everything and just shake them down

00:18:34.380 --> 00:18:38.279
to the bottom. Oh, OK. Every single bee, including

00:18:38.279 --> 00:18:41.470
the queen, so you know she's in the bottom. Do

00:18:41.470 --> 00:18:43.730
you care if there's queen cells in the top or

00:18:43.730 --> 00:18:46.990
the bottom? Absolutely. Yeah, that's something

00:18:46.990 --> 00:18:50.750
usually I like to do this before we get to that

00:18:50.750 --> 00:18:53.809
point as much as possible. Obviously, you know,

00:18:53.970 --> 00:18:56.349
some eyes are a little bit quicker in their spring

00:18:56.349 --> 00:18:59.630
buildup. And so if I can catch them soon enough

00:18:59.630 --> 00:19:02.069
where they don't have queen cells, then that's

00:19:02.069 --> 00:19:05.150
ideal time. But regardless, I usually will crack

00:19:05.150 --> 00:19:07.779
the hive open. look underneath you know smoke

00:19:07.779 --> 00:19:09.579
them so I can see if there's queen cells being

00:19:09.579 --> 00:19:12.720
built if there are then absolutely I'm going

00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:16.180
through every frame and making sure that I'm

00:19:16.180 --> 00:19:19.519
not splitting them with queen cells in the hive

00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:22.279
because if they get to that point that they have

00:19:22.279 --> 00:19:25.140
queen cells sometimes you can't stop them they're

00:19:25.140 --> 00:19:28.460
in motion of swarming regardless and sometimes

00:19:28.460 --> 00:19:30.980
you still can lose them and so you just got to

00:19:30.980 --> 00:19:33.910
be really thorough if you do see queen cells.

00:19:33.970 --> 00:19:37.210
Unless you want them to raise a new queen, then

00:19:37.210 --> 00:19:40.609
that's an option too. And as a commercial beekeeper,

00:19:41.150 --> 00:19:42.769
you probably feel like you don't really have

00:19:42.769 --> 00:19:45.529
time for that. No. Because if they're raising

00:19:45.529 --> 00:19:48.789
their own queen, how long of a brood break is

00:19:48.789 --> 00:19:53.630
there going to be? Well, the month that she's

00:19:53.630 --> 00:19:59.410
gone, at least a month, five weeks, you're not

00:19:59.410 --> 00:20:02.490
going to have any new... that brood's capped

00:20:02.490 --> 00:20:06.170
from her egg to to laying you know it's about

00:20:06.170 --> 00:20:08.789
28 days and then you got another three weeks

00:20:08.789 --> 00:20:12.690
until her her new offspring her brood starts

00:20:12.690 --> 00:20:16.069
hatching out so you got a little while until

00:20:16.069 --> 00:20:19.730
you got some new things coming in. And I've done

00:20:19.730 --> 00:20:23.730
some of those true walk away splits where I will

00:20:23.730 --> 00:20:28.380
take the queen and half the bees Move them someplace

00:20:28.380 --> 00:20:31.900
make sure that the other half that are left behind

00:20:31.900 --> 00:20:34.400
Whether you were talking about a top box and

00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:38.819
a bottom box, but whichever one that is that's

00:20:38.819 --> 00:20:42.680
left behind make sure it has queen cells and

00:20:42.680 --> 00:20:45.960
They're they're gonna make a queen and hopefully

00:20:45.960 --> 00:20:49.680
she gets mated properly Yeah, but you have to

00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:53.650
realize if you do that versus taking a queen,

00:20:53.750 --> 00:20:56.569
buying a queen, however you get your queen, and

00:20:56.569 --> 00:20:59.869
put it in there and have them adopt her, you're

00:20:59.869 --> 00:21:05.430
losing six to eight weeks worth of creating honey

00:21:05.430 --> 00:21:07.589
and building up and doing everything that they

00:21:07.589 --> 00:21:11.589
do. So there's not a right way and a wrong way.

00:21:12.009 --> 00:21:14.549
There's different ways to do it, but realize

00:21:14.549 --> 00:21:17.990
what the consequences are and those aren't all

00:21:17.990 --> 00:21:20.369
negative. I don't mind it doing it that way because

00:21:20.369 --> 00:21:22.730
I'm not a commercial beekeeper. I'm not trying

00:21:22.730 --> 00:21:25.349
to make hundreds and hundreds of gallons of honey

00:21:25.349 --> 00:21:27.849
every year. And so if I feel like doing it that

00:21:27.849 --> 00:21:31.230
way, I can. And if I'm in a different situation,

00:21:31.230 --> 00:21:36.369
it doesn't make sense. So how far away does someone

00:21:36.369 --> 00:21:39.430
need to move that split? You know, I usually

00:21:39.430 --> 00:21:43.049
say at least a mile if possible. I've heard people

00:21:43.049 --> 00:21:45.950
saying you got to move it three miles. I don't

00:21:45.950 --> 00:21:49.130
think that's not that big of a deal as far as

00:21:49.130 --> 00:21:52.529
moving it around that far. But if you move it

00:21:52.529 --> 00:21:55.109
around a mile, you're usually okay. You might

00:21:55.109 --> 00:21:57.650
want to close them off, keep them in the hive.

00:21:58.049 --> 00:21:59.990
You can always put some obstruction in front

00:21:59.990 --> 00:22:01.890
of their hive. I mean, they're in a different

00:22:01.890 --> 00:22:04.589
environment anyway, so they should reorient.

00:22:05.869 --> 00:22:09.410
But with what we've done, a mile seems to work

00:22:09.410 --> 00:22:12.190
just fine. A lot of people don't have that luxury.

00:22:12.490 --> 00:22:15.829
And so I've asked that question of a lot of different

00:22:15.829 --> 00:22:17.809
people, and I get a lot of different answers.

00:22:18.529 --> 00:22:21.690
Personally, I've been okay doing it with a lot

00:22:21.690 --> 00:22:24.009
less distance than that, but I would move it

00:22:24.009 --> 00:22:28.029
further if I could. Yeah. Well, that's the distance.

00:22:29.269 --> 00:22:31.690
I mean, you can split your hive and put it right

00:22:31.690 --> 00:22:35.710
next to each other. You can make that work. There's

00:22:35.710 --> 00:22:37.609
some things I like to rotate the hive a little

00:22:37.609 --> 00:22:39.730
bit so the entrance is facing a different way.

00:22:40.210 --> 00:22:43.150
The hive that you move over to the new spot,

00:22:43.269 --> 00:22:45.650
you got to make sure that you have plenty of

00:22:45.650 --> 00:22:47.690
nurse bees in there. When you make your split,

00:22:48.349 --> 00:22:50.029
obviously all the foragers are going to fly back

00:22:50.029 --> 00:22:53.650
to the mother hive and so you got to have enough

00:22:53.650 --> 00:22:56.809
nurse bees that will stay put, take care of that

00:22:56.809 --> 00:23:00.930
brood so you don't get that off balance of bee

00:23:00.930 --> 00:23:04.490
population where one split might... kind of struggle

00:23:04.490 --> 00:23:07.930
or maybe be a lot slower because a lot of bees

00:23:07.930 --> 00:23:11.529
flew back so you definitely make a split and

00:23:11.529 --> 00:23:15.910
make that work without having to move them over

00:23:15.910 --> 00:23:19.950
a mile for sure. So let's say you make your split

00:23:19.950 --> 00:23:23.069
you've done everything right you know where the

00:23:23.069 --> 00:23:27.009
queen is you've put a new queen over here and

00:23:27.009 --> 00:23:29.289
you've done made sure there's enough nurse bees

00:23:29.289 --> 00:23:32.390
everywhere and all that kind of stuff. Now, when

00:23:32.390 --> 00:23:34.289
should you go back and check on them and make

00:23:34.289 --> 00:23:37.650
sure that you've had success here? I like to

00:23:37.650 --> 00:23:41.869
make sure within a week's time, I like to go

00:23:41.869 --> 00:23:44.349
back just to see how their bee population is

00:23:44.349 --> 00:23:47.329
doing. And you could probably go back even a

00:23:47.329 --> 00:23:49.470
little bit sooner and shake more bees over if

00:23:49.470 --> 00:23:52.289
you need to. I think a lot of that kind of sometimes

00:23:52.289 --> 00:23:56.130
depends on the weather. If it's cold, like right

00:23:56.130 --> 00:23:58.990
now, I mean, we've had this such a warm season

00:23:58.990 --> 00:24:01.099
and all of a sudden now we have got these cold

00:24:01.099 --> 00:24:04.440
spells coming in. And if you did a split before

00:24:04.440 --> 00:24:06.700
we hit our cold spell, well, I want to make sure

00:24:06.700 --> 00:24:09.319
that the brood is well taken care of and there's

00:24:09.319 --> 00:24:12.500
enough population in there. And so I'd like to

00:24:12.500 --> 00:24:15.339
go in a little bit earlier, within a few days,

00:24:15.460 --> 00:24:18.720
probably just to see if a lot of the bees stayed

00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:21.799
put. But as far as making sure, see if they're

00:24:21.799 --> 00:24:25.740
successful, that all entails whether or not you're

00:24:25.740 --> 00:24:28.180
letting them raise a new queen. If you just put

00:24:28.180 --> 00:24:31.519
in a new queen, a caged queen, well, I want to

00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:32.779
get in there a little bit earlier, make sure

00:24:32.779 --> 00:24:36.119
the queen was released. I want to make sure she's

00:24:36.119 --> 00:24:41.200
laying within a week's time. So there's not that

00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:44.460
loss of period. If something happens, and a lot

00:24:44.460 --> 00:24:48.380
of beekeepers tend to, like when you're doing

00:24:48.380 --> 00:24:51.359
something new like this, when you're doing a

00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:54.160
split or anything in your hive, it's important

00:24:54.160 --> 00:24:58.650
to get back. and make sure things work out sooner

00:24:58.650 --> 00:25:02.069
than later. It's really hard to recover from,

00:25:02.269 --> 00:25:05.650
for example, a bee package. When people introduce

00:25:05.650 --> 00:25:09.309
a bee package, you know, they tend to, sometimes

00:25:09.309 --> 00:25:12.630
they wait a little too long to go in and check

00:25:12.630 --> 00:25:15.049
to see if their queen got out or she's laying.

00:25:15.390 --> 00:25:17.369
And then, you know, two weeks pass and nothing

00:25:17.369 --> 00:25:20.029
happened or something, your queen died or whatever

00:25:20.029 --> 00:25:23.609
it is. And you just lost all that time, that

00:25:23.609 --> 00:25:26.630
buildup. of, you know, in that hive. So same

00:25:26.630 --> 00:25:29.970
thing with the split. We want to make sure things

00:25:29.970 --> 00:25:33.309
are going right. If we're raising a queen, well

00:25:33.309 --> 00:25:36.470
then we need to make a little calendar of how

00:25:36.470 --> 00:25:38.990
much time it's going to take for that queen,

00:25:39.069 --> 00:25:42.390
you know, it's capped. And so I know from her

00:25:42.390 --> 00:25:46.369
being capped, I got eight days or so until she's

00:25:46.369 --> 00:25:49.289
hatching. And then I know two weeks, you know,

00:25:49.410 --> 00:25:52.859
within 14, 16 days after that. she's laying eggs,

00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:55.880
and so you kind of have to keep track. I like

00:25:55.880 --> 00:25:59.460
to make sure you write things down. So if you

00:25:59.460 --> 00:26:03.680
do have questions, you can ask somebody, but

00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:06.500
you got to have some somewhere to fall back on

00:26:06.500 --> 00:26:08.660
and give them some information so you can make

00:26:08.660 --> 00:26:12.660
an educated guess on what's going on in the hive.

00:26:13.299 --> 00:26:15.660
That keeping track, I admit I'm not very good

00:26:15.660 --> 00:26:18.960
at it, but I know how important it is because

00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:22.240
those things that you just described, of going

00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:27.819
from a capped queen cell to the timing of her

00:26:27.819 --> 00:26:30.960
hatching, getting mated, coming back and laying

00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:34.339
eggs. If you don't keep track of the day that

00:26:34.339 --> 00:26:36.400
you saw that, the day you made the split, the

00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:39.759
day you saw the cap cell, et cetera, it's pretty

00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:42.500
hard to know if your hive is on track or not.

00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:46.039
Yeah. Yeah. And so it could be too late and then

00:26:46.039 --> 00:26:50.799
you run into a laying worker. Yeah. Yeah, are

00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:54.839
you able to tell by looking at a queen in this

00:26:54.839 --> 00:26:57.980
split hive? Let's say it was a true walkaway

00:26:57.980 --> 00:27:00.119
split and like we've been talking about they're

00:27:00.119 --> 00:27:02.559
raising their own queen Are you able to tell

00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:06.859
if that queen is a virgin or a mated queen? I

00:27:06.859 --> 00:27:10.000
usually can tell have a pretty good guess whether

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.000
she's a virgin Mated queen. Yeah, I mean they

00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:16.839
they're definitely the size of the body the way

00:27:16.839 --> 00:27:20.309
that they move is totally different. Virgin Queen,

00:27:20.609 --> 00:27:24.869
she kind of runs around with no purpose. She's

00:27:24.869 --> 00:27:28.490
a little faster and her body's a little smaller.

00:27:28.690 --> 00:27:32.609
Her abdomen has not grown and blown up. And so

00:27:32.609 --> 00:27:37.089
I can usually say I can tell between a Maided

00:27:37.089 --> 00:27:40.690
Queen and a Virgin Queen. So what does the Maided

00:27:40.690 --> 00:27:43.710
Queen look like and how does she move in contrast?

00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:46.619
Well, a maiden queen, obviously, she's going

00:27:46.619 --> 00:27:49.000
to be plump and her abdomen is going to be swollen.

00:27:49.640 --> 00:27:53.000
She moves around with more purpose. She's looking

00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:57.740
for somewhere to lay. The bees are actually attending

00:27:57.740 --> 00:28:03.059
to her or a virgin queen. Again, she's just kind

00:28:03.059 --> 00:28:07.119
of running around. Or a maiden queen, they're

00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:10.940
going to be feeding her, grooming her. She's

00:28:10.940 --> 00:28:15.279
a little slower moving. Again, she has purpose

00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:18.480
at that time. So definitely there's a distinction

00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:21.359
there. Are you familiar with some of the other

00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:23.779
splitting techniques? Can you talk to any of

00:28:23.779 --> 00:28:27.839
them? Yeah, I mean we've done obviously pulling

00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:31.099
a nuke out, just making a small split. Can you

00:28:31.099 --> 00:28:34.200
go through that in more detail? Sure. So when

00:28:34.200 --> 00:28:37.079
we're pulling splits off, just a little five

00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:40.900
frame nuke, I'm looking for When I do the split

00:28:40.900 --> 00:28:42.839
I want some food frames that usually are a couple

00:28:42.839 --> 00:28:45.759
food frames Give them some honey and some pollen

00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:49.279
or a mix of both I'm giving them two brood frames

00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:51.000
and obviously when you're doing your own split

00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:53.660
You can give them as many brood frames as you

00:28:53.660 --> 00:28:56.380
want at least I'd give them at least two two

00:28:56.380 --> 00:29:02.579
frames of brood preferably not have eggs So it's

00:29:02.579 --> 00:29:06.039
older larvae or capped brood if you give them

00:29:07.019 --> 00:29:10.819
capped brood, the hive has to do less to take

00:29:10.819 --> 00:29:14.599
care of that brood. So there's less energy, there's

00:29:14.599 --> 00:29:18.519
less food consumption, they don't have to work

00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:20.980
as hard as a small little colony to take care

00:29:20.980 --> 00:29:23.319
of that brood. So I like to try to get capped

00:29:23.319 --> 00:29:27.140
brood if possible, or if not, older brood, open

00:29:27.140 --> 00:29:29.960
brood. So two frames of brood, and then I usually

00:29:29.960 --> 00:29:32.359
give them an empty frame. This is when we're

00:29:32.359 --> 00:29:34.839
making our nukes up for our customers. This is

00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:38.579
what we like to do. And so I give them those

00:29:38.579 --> 00:29:40.740
frames and I'm pulling those bees out with them,

00:29:40.759 --> 00:29:42.319
making sure the queen's not there, making sure

00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:45.819
there's no queen cells unless you want to raise

00:29:45.819 --> 00:29:48.400
a queen. If you're wanting to raise a queen,

00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:52.380
I would suggest making sure the queen cell is

00:29:52.380 --> 00:29:56.839
almost capped. Again, it's less work for the

00:29:56.839 --> 00:29:59.640
bees to have to produce that royal jelly and

00:29:59.640 --> 00:30:03.180
make a good queen. So a strong hive can obviously

00:30:03.180 --> 00:30:07.119
make better queens. And I shake, get some nurse

00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:10.579
bees, so frames of open brood. So I take those

00:30:10.579 --> 00:30:14.140
bees and I shake those extra bees into that nuc,

00:30:14.619 --> 00:30:17.359
into that split. So there's plenty of extra nurse

00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:20.599
bees in there. And then that's it. You either

00:30:20.599 --> 00:30:23.980
add a queen or you can let them finish off that

00:30:23.980 --> 00:30:26.539
nuc they're raising. That's kind of our method.

00:30:27.579 --> 00:30:29.839
And then when we're making our splits, we'll

00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:32.559
actually put them, place them in a yard where

00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:36.720
they can... fly and forge, and we actually let

00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:39.960
our queens, our caged queens get out. We make

00:30:39.960 --> 00:30:42.160
sure that they're proven, that they're laying.

00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:44.740
So it takes a couple extra two to three weeks

00:30:44.740 --> 00:30:47.140
until they're actually prepped and ready before

00:30:47.140 --> 00:30:48.940
we hand them out to our customers. But aside

00:30:48.940 --> 00:30:52.259
from that, yeah, pulling it, making a split yourself,

00:30:52.599 --> 00:30:56.859
and that's kind of how we make those nukes. You

00:30:56.859 --> 00:31:00.059
make it all sound really easy. It's a lot of

00:31:00.059 --> 00:31:02.799
work. Nothing is as easy as it sounds like, and

00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:05.519
it's a lot of work. How many nukes are you guys

00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:08.200
creating every year? Usually just a couple hundred.

00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:12.000
Enough to satisfy me. We could probably make

00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:15.319
a lot more, but we want to make sure that we

00:31:15.319 --> 00:31:17.960
got enough for any losses that we have or any

00:31:17.960 --> 00:31:20.599
growth that we want to make. It's kind of interesting

00:31:20.599 --> 00:31:25.200
that it's way easier to make bees than it is

00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:28.910
to keep them alive. And you can make bees all

00:31:28.910 --> 00:31:32.150
day long, pulling splits. Bees are really resilient

00:31:32.150 --> 00:31:35.730
and they can grow, I mean, just off a frame of

00:31:35.730 --> 00:31:39.269
brood and a handful of bees. You know, give them

00:31:39.269 --> 00:31:41.569
a queen and they'll get going. And so you could

00:31:41.569 --> 00:31:44.710
do a lot with bees, but usually the trick is

00:31:44.710 --> 00:31:48.349
keeping them alive. That's where it's sometimes

00:31:48.349 --> 00:31:50.170
can be a little tricky. And we don't even have

00:31:50.170 --> 00:31:52.589
time to talk about Varroa and everything else

00:31:52.589 --> 00:31:56.710
today. We talk about that plenty here. Hey, last

00:31:56.710 --> 00:31:58.660
thing. And I'm sorry, I didn't warn you this

00:31:58.660 --> 00:32:01.299
ahead of time. But on this show, every guest

00:32:01.299 --> 00:32:04.759
has the opportunity to talk about a wild and

00:32:04.759 --> 00:32:07.640
crazy beekeeping story that they've had. And

00:32:07.640 --> 00:32:10.400
that can be anything just super out of the ordinary

00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:15.119
or painful or embarrassing or anything kind of

00:32:15.119 --> 00:32:17.559
crazy that makes this so fun. Can you think of

00:32:17.559 --> 00:32:24.890
something? My first year into this. I kind of

00:32:24.890 --> 00:32:27.829
volunteered to do the, you know, manning the

00:32:27.829 --> 00:32:32.529
forklift and to unload our truck of bees. At

00:32:32.529 --> 00:32:33.789
the end of our first year, we were getting them

00:32:33.789 --> 00:32:37.869
back in the spring, that's what it was. And I

00:32:37.869 --> 00:32:40.349
was unloading the hives and we're doing it at

00:32:40.349 --> 00:32:42.730
night. We're using the skid steer, so it's a

00:32:42.730 --> 00:32:45.069
little different than, you know, your standard

00:32:45.069 --> 00:32:47.630
forklifts that they had, but it's a little more

00:32:47.630 --> 00:32:53.430
bouncier. And as I was driving along and unloading,

00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:56.779
everything is so new and you're just trying to

00:32:56.779 --> 00:32:59.180
figure things out. And so, and when you're under

00:32:59.180 --> 00:33:01.740
pressure of trying to unload Bezo off of a truck,

00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:04.319
you know, your tents, your mouth, you know, I

00:33:04.319 --> 00:33:06.799
feel like I need to wear a mouth guard. And as

00:33:06.799 --> 00:33:09.660
I was driving around, the forks kind of tend

00:33:09.660 --> 00:33:12.660
to get a little closer together. And I wasn't

00:33:12.660 --> 00:33:15.220
really paying attention to that. And I went to

00:33:15.220 --> 00:33:17.140
go lift him up. And at the time I was only, I

00:33:17.140 --> 00:33:20.099
was taking all three. three pallets that are

00:33:20.099 --> 00:33:22.819
too deep high off of the truck at the same time.

00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:25.200
Now you could do that if you have the right forklift

00:33:25.200 --> 00:33:28.519
and the, you know, the machine I was using, it

00:33:28.519 --> 00:33:31.339
was not good. I should have taken, you know,

00:33:31.500 --> 00:33:34.799
two off first and then one and it's a little

00:33:34.799 --> 00:33:37.359
more manageable that way. But I took all three

00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:39.859
off and that's coming back. And because my forks

00:33:39.859 --> 00:33:44.579
were in and not spread out, it was a little topsy

00:33:44.579 --> 00:33:50.119
turvy. And so I pulled out and Silly me. I started

00:33:50.119 --> 00:33:53.359
just going and I just hit just this the bump

00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:56.839
just just enough where that thing just toppled

00:33:56.839 --> 00:34:01.920
over and I just felt so like so bad embarrassed

00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:05.299
Just I didn't know I mean I was just and then

00:34:05.299 --> 00:34:08.380
I I wasn't prepared for it I mean, I wish I had

00:34:08.380 --> 00:34:10.960
a suit at the time, but I just had a jacket and

00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:13.179
my jeans on and so but we had to get in there

00:34:13.179 --> 00:34:16.139
and Take them all up. We're getting stung. We're

00:34:16.139 --> 00:34:20.869
just getting just hammered. That was kind of

00:34:20.869 --> 00:34:24.309
an eye -opening experience knowing what not to

00:34:24.309 --> 00:34:27.130
do the next time. You know, we went through all

00:34:27.130 --> 00:34:30.130
those hives and luckily enough we didn't kill

00:34:30.130 --> 00:34:32.730
any of those queens, which I was super surprised.

00:34:33.289 --> 00:34:36.349
But that was an eye -opening experience for me.

00:34:37.090 --> 00:34:39.789
I can tell you learned from it. That's the key.

00:34:40.690 --> 00:34:44.449
You learned. Hey, so if people want to find you,

00:34:44.610 --> 00:34:48.230
it's homershoneybee .com. Yeah, homershoneybee

00:34:48.230 --> 00:34:51.489
.com. Hey, you can find us. We also have our

00:34:51.489 --> 00:34:54.010
Instagram, where we just started putting on our

00:34:54.010 --> 00:34:58.829
YouTube channel. And we're also doing a bunch

00:34:58.829 --> 00:35:02.329
of series, like we're doing more of this swarm

00:35:02.329 --> 00:35:06.429
series that's coming up. And so more videos to

00:35:06.429 --> 00:35:08.730
come. Obviously, like I said before, we love

00:35:08.730 --> 00:35:11.889
educating, we love making this content. To help

00:35:11.889 --> 00:35:14.570
whoever, it might help. All right. Appreciate

00:35:14.570 --> 00:35:17.019
you being with me today, Seth. Yeah, thanks for

00:35:17.019 --> 00:35:22.280
having me on. Thanks, Eric. Thanks again for

00:35:22.280 --> 00:35:24.960
joining us on Be Love, Be Keeping presented by

00:35:24.960 --> 00:35:27.829
Manlike. Another big thank you goes to Vita B

00:35:27.829 --> 00:35:30.929
Health for their support. Vita's Varroa Control

00:35:30.929 --> 00:35:34.550
Ranger products includes Epistan, Epigard, and

00:35:34.550 --> 00:35:38.750
now Varroxan Extended Release Oxalic Acids Trips.

00:35:38.949 --> 00:35:41.269
Hey thanks a lot guys. And if you haven't yet,

00:35:41.570 --> 00:35:43.909
please subscribe to and follow the show, tell

00:35:43.909 --> 00:35:46.650
your friends about it, and click on over to BeLoveBeKeeping

00:35:46.650 --> 00:35:50.349
.com to sign up for our free newsletter. If you

00:35:50.349 --> 00:35:53.289
have a guest suggestion, or topic you'd like

00:35:53.289 --> 00:35:56.050
discussed on the show shoot me an email eric

00:35:56.050 --> 00:35:59.429
at be love beekeeping .com and remember if you're

00:35:59.429 --> 00:36:02.469
not just in it for the honey or the money you're

00:36:02.469 --> 00:36:04.630
in it for the love see you next week