#Spicey hives make more #honey? Adjusting supers, checking a couple nucs. #honey #beekeeping

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:01]So, plans changed a little bit.

[00:00:05]I got rid of a hive and uh the cell builder uh I'd say about a quarter of the bees stayed in it and the other quarter left.

[00:00:17]Um not not 100% surprising.

[00:00:21]Um I think I I I should have picked different frames than I picked to put the bees in there. Um but it's what it is, you know, it's all just learning lessons and trying trying again.

[00:00:39]Um So, this is going to sit over here now, but I've got to go through these three nukes.

[00:00:49]Uh these two, the queens should be laying if they came back from mating, they should be laying.

[00:00:55]So, one or both of these are going to go to a bigger box today.

[00:01:02]And then this one, the queen should have went out and mated and came back, but I don't think she would be laying yet.

[00:01:10]So, I'm probably going to inspect this one, too.

[00:01:17]These two right here, uh they have a a new queen that's in them laying.

[00:01:22]They're building up. I'm not super concerned with them. They were looking good last week when I checked them.

[00:01:29]Uh but they still got to build up quite a bit before I I don't even know if they'll end up getting a super this year or not. Um they may, they may not. We'll see.

[00:01:41]This one, I had added the second super last week and I pulled a a a frame that was completed into the top. They've they're working on four four of the new frames in that box.

[00:01:55]So, they're doing really good.

[00:01:58]Uh this one they I'm I'm not sure. I need to go through it this week to to look and see if there's any new eggs or not.

[00:02:08]Um if there's not any new eggs, then I may make some nukes.

[00:02:16]And pull a couple egg frames out of the Buckfast over there.

[00:02:22]Same thing with this one. I got to look and see if there's new eggs or not.

[00:02:26]If If they have new eggs, then I'm going to leave them alone. If they don't, then again, I may I may make some new nukes.

[00:02:36]And uh pull some egg frames from the Buckfast. So, that's kind of the deal with these two. Potentially, these two are going to turn into nukes today.

[00:02:46]We'll see how it goes. I got some boxes and frames already ready.

[00:02:51]So, we got eggs, brood, probably 4-5 day old brood in this first nuke. So, that's a good sign. So, they're going to go in this eight-frame box.

[00:03:06]Then, we'll move on to the next one.

[00:03:10]So, the first nuke they had they had brood and larvae, but they also had two frames that had capped brood on it. So, that's why I went ahead and moved them to an eight-frame box.

[00:03:23]This nuke had larvae and eggs, but only like two or three-day old larvae.

[00:03:31]Plus, they still have a frame that isn't drawn out all the way.

[00:03:36]So, they're going to stay in the nuke for another week, maybe another two weeks.

[00:03:42]Um unless unless I do something with one of those boxes, and I get more frame of bees and larvae out of one of those two hives, I might move them to a box. But, for right now, they're going to stay in a box for at least the next 2 weeks.

[00:04:03]Plus, >> [clears throat] >> I got to make some more top bottom boards cuz I'm out of top and bottom boards.

[00:04:12]So, but just a note, difference between the two, this one's been back laying for probably probably 4 or 5 days more than or longer than this one has.

[00:04:26]So, they've already got capped brood.

[00:04:28]They don't Still got to inspect this one.

[00:04:32]And then we're going to peek at this one. And then I'm going to get those two over there.

[00:04:38]So, I just went through the third nuc and they they have the highest population. They are packed out. And there was another queen. So, that's three for three.

[00:04:47]Very happy with that.

[00:04:49]Uh got this one marked. I didn't actually see the other two queens, but eggs and larvae in there, I'm happy with that. I did see her. She was sneaking around the bottom of the last frame trying to hide from me, but I got her and got her marked. So, happy with that.

[00:05:06]But, they are definitely packed out.

[00:05:09]So, I think I'm actually going to move this nuc and put my mating nuc over here where this one is so that one can build up some population.

[00:05:20]And uh move on to the next one.

[00:05:26]But, I'm extremely happy with these three.

[00:05:28]They're going to need a bigger box like in the next week. They're going to need a bigger box.

[00:05:35]Uh they have a high population and uh she's got she's got one frame left to lay eggs in.

[00:05:42]There there wasn't any eggs in this third frame, but there was eggs in these two.

[00:05:46]And then she was over here on the fourth frame, probably hiding, but she's probably going to lay that up in the next couple days and then, you know, within a week and a half, those bees will be emerging and this thing's this thing's going to be blowing up.

[00:06:03]So, they're already packed in there. I found two prime cups in there, so they're obviously uh they're not happy with the living conditions.

[00:06:13]But, what I could do I could put these two boxes side by side and give them a um a super.

[00:06:28]But, I don't I don't think that's going to leave I don't think it's going to make them happy. I don't know.

[00:06:33]I might think about it and figure out what I want to do.

[00:06:37]I may try to get a bottom board built today and uh get them in a get them in another box.

[00:06:46]These guys are packed out.

[00:06:50]Both both boxes just packed.

[00:06:56]That one's full. I just had to took two frames out of there and put two new frames in.

[00:07:03]They are packed. I think I'm going to wind up splitting this box.

[00:07:08]Means I'm going to have to make a bottom board tonight cuz I don't have a bottom board, but I think I'm going to have to split this one.

[00:07:15]They're just getting too big.

[00:07:18]I don't know, I may just leave them and just go ahead and add that other honey super and see if they just turn into a super honey maker this year.

[00:07:27]It looks like they want to do, but they're just Well, I found the the new queen in this one. They did she did come back from mating. She is laying eggs. So, I didn't see eggs last week, but there's eggs this week.

[00:07:41]And um boy, I tell you what, they are [ __ ] spicy.

[00:07:45]I got stung like six times on my hands through my gloves for no reason. Just they just stung me.

[00:07:54]Twice or three, you know, two or three times in the same spot, obviously, cuz you know, once they sting you somewhere, they want to sting you there two or three more times, but they they got this whole honey super finished, so I'm going to um Man, my hand hurts.

[00:08:14]They got me really good on my hand.

[00:08:17]Um I'm going to add another honey super, and I'm going to let them keep making honey.

[00:08:25]And the first Buckfast queen that comes out of that that that cell builder over there, the first cell that I take out of there is going in this hive.

[00:08:39]This queen um she was the her So, her mother was the very first nuc that I bought.

[00:08:50]And they were spicy, but they weren't real bad.

[00:08:54]These guys, I don't know if it's I I don't know if it's just cuz they're so big or what it is, but they you pull that second box, when I started pulling frames out of that second box, they were a little bit spicy, but they weren't stinging me.

[00:09:10]I pulled that second box off, and every time I move my hand, like 40 bees would hit my hand.

[00:09:16]And then when I started pulling frames out, they started [clears throat] stinging my hands.

[00:09:22]Every time I'd pull a frame out, I'd get stung.

[00:09:25]So, definitely going to be requeening this one. I mean, the on the bright side, they are doing a lot of work. They've They've got a really I mean, all three boxes are full of bees, so they got a a big population.

[00:09:41]But, I'm telling you right now, the very first Buckfast queen that comes out of that uh cell builder is going in this hive.

[00:09:49]I I can't deal with that.

[00:09:58]So, I just finished this hive and uh they're about they're about halfway done with their super.

[00:10:07]Uh they're packed with bees.

[00:10:10]Uh I mean, they literally packed with bees.

[00:10:14]But, they're only about halfway done with that that first super.

[00:10:18]But, I did um I'm going to include some pictures.

[00:10:22]I did end up pulling some frames out of that deep.

[00:10:27]Um two more of those black frames and uh a wax sheet that they had um they had built bridge comb between it and another frame.

[00:10:43]And when I separated them, it pulled a big chunk out of that wax sheet.

[00:10:48]So, I guess you could say that's one of the downsides of the wax sheets is is they can get messed up a little more easily than the plastic foundations, but the those black Pierco frames, the solid plastic ones that I started using, I love those.

[00:11:10]But, the pictures the other two pictures that I'm going to show are of the black foundation and they're actually from those frames were from Polybee off Amazon.

[00:11:25]And they're they're a good price. You know, you would think they're a good price, but the bees do not like those frames.

[00:11:33]They draw wonky comb on them where they only draw half the frame out.

[00:11:37]And that's what the two pictures show is like basically I guess you could say bird comb or or wonky comb or whatever you want. And then the other one is only halfway drawn out on both sides.

[00:11:51]So I'm going to I got these left and then those, not that one.

[00:11:57]But I'm going to I got some checkerboarding to do in the supers. Really that's all I'm going to be doing with these six right here.

[00:12:05]They have supers. I'm just going to be moving some some frames around.

[00:12:10]If cuz I don't think they're in this box and I don't think they're in that box.

[00:12:13]So I'm going to take some frames out of this box and move over and try to do some checkerboarding to get them working on on frames.

[00:12:22]I did add another super to that one cuz that one's almost full.

[00:12:27]Uh and I replaced uh one frame in that box with a wax sheet.

[00:12:36]And then that's going to be about it for today.

[00:12:38]So what I ended up doing is I ended up The other thing is I moved these two These two nukes, they need another probably 2 weeks before they're ready to move to a box.

[00:12:50]So what I did was I moved them over here and I put my cell builder where those three nukes were sitting.

[00:12:59]So hopefully a bunch of the forager bees, and that they are going in there, I can already tell, but I want a bunch of the forager bees to go in this hive.

[00:13:09]So then either tomorrow or the next day I'll come and I'll graft some Buckfast eggs into these uh those four or eight queen cups.

[00:13:20]And then as soon as I get some queens, I'm going to requeen this one and this one and this one because all three of these have Italians.

[00:13:31]This one wasn't spicy spicy, but they weren't friendly.

[00:13:37]What did I say? They didn't sting me or nothing like like that one did. That one tore my hands up. My my whole right They kept stinging me on the back of my hand and my fingers.

[00:13:47]So, the whole back of my right hand swelled up.

[00:13:50]But, that's going to be the goal is to get everybody transitioning to Buckfast queens as soon as I can.

[00:13:58]So, I'm going to get started on these.

[00:14:00]I'm going to checkerboard some frames around and try to make it quick.

[00:14:04]I've already been out here a while. I don't want to spend the rest of the day out here.

[00:14:25]So, these guys are packed out, but this is the queen that I smashed 2 weeks ago.

[00:14:30]And I put two queen cells in there.

[00:14:33]They've emerged. Obviously, they're going to be out mating. They haven't started laying yet.

[00:14:39]So, in order to try to keep them from filling the whole brood area with with nectar, I'm going to put a super on it.

[00:14:47]And I'm going to pull one that's already been started out of here and put in there so that hopefully, they'll get up there and start working.

[00:15:00]So, they you can see they've started drawing these out.

[00:15:05]And so, I took two out of here. I put one here. I put one here, and that's all it's going to take to get them bees up there drawing the rest of these out. They got one that's already started. So, now they're going to want to move up and and start working them.

[00:15:22]That's, you know, of course the easy way to do it, but when you you you know you got to have some that are drawn in order to be able to put drawn ones in there, so that's the only downside to it.

[00:15:36]And then I just take these and checkerboard these these back in.

[00:15:44]And uh get them to keep on going.

[00:15:51]I think that's the hardest part is getting them to actually start. Once they start, it seems to be they tend to go pretty quick, you know.

[00:16:00]It's just getting them up there to start to begin with.

[00:16:03]So, that's going to be it for today. I did the same thing in these boxes.

[00:16:07]Uh this [clears throat] hive they had almost the whole box done.

[00:16:13]So, I took one out, put it here, took one out, put it here, took one out, put it here.

[00:16:18]And that way all of them will start drawing and filling the supers up.