“Me and Mel”Grant F. C. Gillard

gillard5 @ charter.netgrantgillard . weebly.com

www . slideshare . net (search “Grant Gillard”)

A Time of Reflection What kind of year did you have? A long winter, followed by a late,

cold spring Too much rain during early nectar

flow Muddy yards prevented timely

management Things evened out later, but still

rainy A wonderful late flow, but overall, a

smaller honey harvest Incredible fall flow (goldenrod) and

hives are heavy going into winter.

A Time to Make 2016 Plans!

Every year I say,

“This is going to be the year to….”

Organize My Workshop!

Paint Those Supers!

Rehab Those Old Frames!

Level Up My Hivestands!

Reality!Busy schedules, weatherFamily obligationsPlain old procrastinationBest laid plans of mice, men and beekeepers…

And time just slips away….

My Goal for 2016

To whole-heartedly embrace the revolutionary beekeeping

management practicesof Mel Disselkoen and his

OTS Queen Rearing System.

My Target: 350 hives

Introduce: A Radical Approach

Streamlines the work flowSimplifies your managementGuarantees swarm prevention Hassle-free queen rearing and

requeening, without graftingTreatment-free varroa

managementHuge expansion potentials 1:10

by fallOptions for honey production,

nuc sales, or expansion…or a combination of all

An Introduction to Mel Mel Disselkoen www.mdasplitter.com

Non-grafting queen rearing method“The International Mating Nuc, Inc.”

Frame with newly hatched larvae Cover desired larvae with .257 caliber

casings Dust flour over frame to kill rest of larvae Set frame into queenless nuc

Swarm (bait) hives

HAS Carbondale, IL 2014

“The OTS Queen Rearing System”

A Manual For Beekeepers Worldwide

$49.99(It’s only money, Grant!)

www.mdasplitter.com

AB F Conference in Anaheim

Needed reading material for the flight

My growth had stagnated around 200 hives

Needed a method of working smarter, not necessarily harder

I was looking to be a better managerThis student was ready, and the

teacher appeared

Making Mel’s System Work

Starts with overwintered colonies Need 8 frames of brood to initiate Start Date, about one week before

swarm season “normally” starts:Mel = May 1st

Grant = April 15th

Caveat: Must be able to prevent swarming

Walt Wright = “Checkerboarding”

First Move = April 15th

Perform a “reverse” split Remove queen and two frames of

brood to a nuc box (got to recognize and find queen)

**did you mark last year’s queens? “Notch” frames of open brood in the

remnant colony which is now queenless.

Leave them to make their own queen cells

The strength of the remnant produces great queens. This is Mel’s “On-The-Spot” system

Notching Frames

Notching Frames

Notching Frames

Mark the frames with notches

Why Notch?

Queen cells have to hang vertically. Notching, or scraping, creates a

vacancy below the larvae Notching specific frames helps the

beekeeper to manage the next step of allocating frames into nuc boxes, and insuring that process.

Come Back One Week Later

Choose destiny of this colony--Plan A to divide into three nucs, two frames of brood each--Plan B to keep intact to make honey

Intent is to squish all but two queen cells--Two cells in each nuc--Two cells in the remnant hive

**how many of us simply detest squishing perfectly good queen cells?

Where are we at? April 22nd

The bees know better

The bees know better

The First Move, Summary

April 15th – Make a reverse split, queen to nuc box with two frames of brood

April 22nd – Choose to make honey, or split into nucs, squish excess queen cells

May 15th – Check to insure queen was mated, then let nature take it’s course

Where are we at? May 15th

Old Queen in Nuc Reverse split made on April 15th

Does not need to be moved to a new yard

Plan on feeding (lost foragers) By May 15th, very likely ready to be

moved to a single brood box with supers

Potential to make honey is still present

Or, on May 15th, nuc can be sold as a locally-raised colony

Benefits Reverse split guarantees swarm prevention Queenless period establishes a brood

break, interrupts varroa reproduction Brood break = fewer larvae to feed, nectar

stored as honey Plan A = three nucs with new queens, one

nuc with old queen (quadruple) Plan B = a nuc with an old queen and a

colony ready to make honey with new queen (double)

A Confession My intent was to make honey, not nucs I notched multiple frames Bees made cells every where else Rain prevented me from returning, did not

squish excess queen cells Queen cells hatched, new queen took

over In some cases, I made the reverse split,

rushed for time (pending rain storm) failed to notch the frames, and queen cells were made anyway, queens hatched anyway.

Next Move = June 15th Remnant Hive = super, keep on

foraging nectar Move existing queen to a nuc Foragers will still keep on foraging Notch frames, let them make queen

cells

Three nucs = likely need to move to single brood box, perhaps a super or second brood box*

*I like to use a brood box as I may split these nucs again for more expansion

potentials

June 15th, Con’t

Old queen = time to “dispatch” her(what if she’s a really good queen?)

Notch frames Colony raises queen cells Foragers continue to forage for

nectar

Summary, June 15th

Next Move = June 22nd

Split remnant hive into two other nucs

So we have the existing queen in a nuc

We have two nucs with queen cells

We have the full size colony with queen cells and honey supers

Foragers keep bringing in nectar

Nucs, keep them growing

June 22nd , Con’t

Queenless colony (where we dispatched old queen)

Split into three nucs with queen cells Full size colony with queen cells and

supers Foragers keep on foraging for nectar

Summary, June 22nd

Next Move = July 15th

Harvest honey from remnant hive and hive that had the dispatched queen

Equalize the honey producing with the nucs.

Each of these colonies will make 4 nucs each.

**Expansion of one overwintered hive into eight nucs, ready for

overwintering**Honey produced and harvested

July 15th, Con’t

Three nucs/singles can be split in the same manner into six nucs.

With dispatched queen colony, now divided into four nucs, we have an expansion of one overwintered colony into ten nucs, ready to be overwintered.

Summary, July 15th

Mel’s Game Plan Part 1

Remove the existing queen Notch frames to encourage queen cells

Part 2 Return a week later and squish excess queen

cells, leaving only two per division Divide frames into nucs or one main hive

Part 3 Return after four weeks to insure mated queens

Downside ?

Work is streamlined, management is systematized, but you still have to keep accurate records and stay on schedule.

Bonus: Management becomes more efficient, working smarter, more hives can be managed in the same amount of time.

Most time-consuming part = find the queen

Downside ?

You have to initiate the First Move about a week prior to “normal” swarming events.

Need 8 frames of brood (Russians and Carniolans are slower to brood up).

Need to be able to find the queen (marked?)

Need for more equipment, storage of such

My Findings Nucs and splits made in April were 100%

requeened with Mel’s system.

Nucs and splits made in June were 80% requeened, but SHB totally decimated most of my nucs as they moved into July.

Rather than go crazy making nucs, I moved most of my northern hives south to make honey. Too much rain in May and June.

My Findings Random varroa mite checks via alcohol wash

in late-August ran 6 to 10 mites per ½ cup (300 bees). That fits Randy Oliver’s threshold.

When removing the queen on April 15th, I can assess if I want to make honey or split into nucs. Heavier populated colonies were selected for honey production.

Based on the number of queen cells made, I can change my mind on whether to make nucs or make honey on April 22nd.

My Findings

Mel’s schedule, and the schedule I presented, is adaptable and flexible. It can be done anytime a colony has not swarmed.

Conceivably, if a new beekeeper bought nucs or packages in April, Mel’s system could be used to make more nucs in June or July.

My Hope: A Radical Approach

Streamlines the work flowSimplifies your managementGuarantees swarm prevention Hassle-free queen rearing and

requeening, without graftingTreatment-free varroa

managementHuge expansion potentials 1:10

by fallOptions for honey production,

nuc sales, or expansion