[Tennessee's Bees LLC]

Laurel and I keep 300+ colonies. We both kept bees before we were married and struggled in the early years with consistency and having large amounts of healthy hives year after year. Here are a couple of the things we didnt know over a decade ago that we do now to maintain our beekeeping business

How we light a smoker in under 60 seconds https://youtu.be/G5T5kDWPpqY

What colonies look like in January that have low mite loads, good nutrition, and a quality queen. https://youtu.be/LkgARFcejjw

How to raise great queens with a 5 frame nuc https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbahx4WxwRgrDTg7ksIiHmkIbLz9FAIQl

How we split colonies https://youtu.be/ZfRTreQ-S9c

Pollen Patties https://youtu.be/BxBdt3llNdk

Check out our playlists of over 200 organized videos from SHB control to single brood hive management

 

[psm1212]

Kamon: You guys do a great job of education and information outreach for beekeepers. I have been subscribed to your YouTube channel for quite a while now and enjoy your work. You and Laurel provide a great service to us all and I appreciate it. Please keep up the good work.

 

[Tennessee's Bees LLC]

Thanks Psm 1212. We love the beekeeping community that has helped shape us and if we can give back a little that is the least we can do.

 

[gww]

Hey kamon, keep up the good work. Make sure to carry all your queen cells in your pockets if you run low on excitement. I am a month and thankfully 291 hives behind you. Of course my biceps are much too small to handle that many deeps anyway. Seems you have very little problem with that according to your videos.
Cheers
gww

 

[Tennessee's Bees LLC]

Hey kamon, keep up the good work. Make sure to carry all your queen cells in your pockets if you run low on excitement. I am a month and thankfully 291 hives behind you. Of course my biceps are much too small to handle that many deeps anyway. Seems you have very little problem with that according to your videos.
Cheers
gww

Well, I expect over time to switch to mediums. Another 40 years of deeps will have me in bad shape. Besides, Laurel says we are going to switch so that is that! Maybe I can talk her into letting me buy one of those bee lifting gizmos like Ian has for Christmas! Fat chance

 

[ifixoldhouses]

Great channel, I told ya, you'd be a bee star, back when you had 400 -500 subs, soon be 20,000

 

[gww]

Kamon

Besides, Laurel says we are going to switch so that is that!

It seems the monologue from an old dirty harry movie would fit here:
"A man has got to know his limitations".
Cheers
gww

 

[kramerbryan]

Love your guys channel.

 

[Tennessee's Bees LLC]

Great channel, I told ya, you'd be a bee star, back when you had 400 -500 subs, soon be 20,000

I guess you were right and so was Laurel but I just hope the videos help overall and I hope I can find the time to do a good job on them this year.

 

[e-spice]

I'll second everyone's comments. You do a great job educating a range of beekeepers from novice to advanced. And my wife loves watching those cats walking around near the bees. I have a similar beekeeping style as you - only you're way better than me. Thanks for the videos Kamon.

 

[beemandan]

I enjoyed your splitting video from last June.
I, too, believe that the only way to make a split it to make it strong. Regardless of time of season, they must be able to defend against robbers, incubate brood in cool weather, cool the nest in hot weather, forage and have enough nurse bees to support brood rearing when the queen is at her full egg laying capacity.

A couple of suggestions from an old beekeeper with a bad back.
I always take an empty deep and nuc box with me when I make my splits. Immediately after removing the hive cover I place it on the ground and put the empty deep on it. Rather than leaning frames on the side of the hive or returning them to the hive I put them into the empty deep. That way, when I am ready to move the top deep it is nearly empty…much easier on the back…. and I place it on top of the formerly empty one. When I find a frame with the queen I place it in the empty nuc box. That way there’s less chance that she ends up on the ground and I can keep her sequestered from the rest of the hive while I am juggling bees and frames in the donor hive.
Just a different approach.

 

[MattDavey]

G'day Kamon,

I have also been enjoying watching your videos on YouTube and finding them informative and entertaining. Thank you, both you and Laurel for taking the time to produce them.

If you are looking for more content for your YouTube videos, I'm wondering if you would be interested in doing a trial of OSBN (Opening the Sides of the Brood Nest)?

You could also show how bees often ignore a box of only Foundation in early Swarm Season compared with moving a couple of Drawn Combs into the new box.

I really believe if would be of great benefit to new beekeepers who need more Drawn Comb and want a Swarm Prevention method.

For example, my biggest hive this season has drawn, filled and capped 40 Deep Frames!
So they have been thriving using OSBN and I didn't push them at all. In fact I was trying to keep up with them!

It was wintered as a Single Deep. (My hives have done much better since I changed to wintering as a Single Deep. As we too have wet winters.) I haven't had any issues with hives swarming when using OSBN, as it seems to keep them in "Establishment" mode.

I don't have a lot of hives, so have been asking others to try it out as well.

Main Points:
During Swarm Season -

• Maintain at least 2 undrawn frames in every box.
• Place undrawn frames on the outer edges of the Brood Nest.
• Move honey frames up and out of the Brood Box(es).
• Start as soon as Drones are being raised.

For more details, have a look at:
http://daveybees.wikidot.com/openingthesides

 

[BernieBe]

Kamon;

I do like your videos. I'm in a very different Zone, but I learn a lot or at least question the way I do things. I was watching your queen rearing stuff and enjoyed the mini-cell-builder concept. Keep up the great work.

BernieBe

 

[Fivej]

Two thumbs up on Kamon's vids, and thanks Matthew Davey for the detailed explanation in his link. I started experimenting with OSBN last season and trying to get it to work for me in New England. J