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Tony West's Bees
United States
Приєднався 21 січ 2016
Our small farm is located in the rolling hills of southern Ohio. We produce honey, Queens and surplus bees. We focus on giving beekeepers information on basic beekeeping, equipment use and product reviews. Most of our videos are aimed at newer or smaller beekeepers. Follow along with us as we look into these amazing and misunderstood insects: Apis mellifera, the European Honeybee.
appalachianheirloomplantfarm/
www.appalachianheirloomplantfarm.com/
alwest_83@yahoo.com
appalachianheirloomplantfarm/
www.appalachianheirloomplantfarm.com/
alwest_83@yahoo.com
Fall Feeding
Take a look at three very different hives. All three now have young Queens. Summer and fall of 2024 have been exceptionally dry. Going into winter, some hives are light on food stores. Time to feed.
Filmed entirely at our farm in Winchester Ohio with a Motorola G5.
Video compiled with Shotcut.
Want to send a donation to help us on the farm? You can send any amount via PayPal:paypal.me/ahpf
#swarm #Honeybees #Beekeeping2024 #Beekeeping #Beekeeper #Honeybee #Honey
Filmed entirely at our farm in Winchester Ohio with a Motorola G5.
Video compiled with Shotcut.
Want to send a donation to help us on the farm? You can send any amount via PayPal:paypal.me/ahpf
#swarm #Honeybees #Beekeeping2024 #Beekeeping #Beekeeper #Honeybee #Honey
Переглядів: 576
Відео
Formic Pro in August
Переглядів 3553 місяці тому
The Ohio Valley had temperatures dip low enough to safely and effectively use Formic Pro. Our preferred method is to use a single strip (pad) for 10 days followed with a second pad for an additional 10 days. August is a critical time to get mite populations reduced to prevent viruses from overloading the colony. Filmed entirely at our farm in Winchester Ohio with a Motorola G5. Video compiled w...
Checking On Queen Cells
Переглядів 3474 місяці тому
This time of year, I raise young Queens for the 2025 production colonies. This gives plenty of time to evaluate their laying pattern and hive temperament before winter. Here is a quick look. Filmed entirely on our farm in Adams County, Ohio with a Motorola G. Video compiled with Shotcut. Want to send a donation to help us on the farm? You can send any amount via PayPal:paypal.me/ahpf #swarm #Ho...
Triangle Bee Escapes and Honey Harvest Spring 2024
Переглядів 6245 місяців тому
Spring 2024 was a challenge. April had a good flow followed by a wet May with 18 days of rain. Most of the Tri-State ended up with a 40% reduced honey total. Filmed entirely on our farm in Adams County, Ohio with a Motorola Z4. Video compiled with Shotcut. Want to send a donation to help us on the farm? You can send any amount via PayPal:paypal.me/ahpf #swarm #Honeybees #Beekeeping2024 #Beekeep...
🔶 New Extractor
Переглядів 5676 місяців тому
We really needed to upgrade our extractor, past time. A manual extractor is fine if you have 2 hives but we exceeded that a long time ago. Here is a first look. Filmed entirely on our farm in Adams County, Ohio with a Motorola Z4. Video compiled with Shotcut. Want to send a donation to help us on the farm? You can send any amount via PayPal:paypal.me/ahpf #swarm #Honeybees #Beekeeping2024 #Beek...
🔶 Collecting a Swarm and Re-Queening it
Переглядів 3166 місяців тому
This is a series of clips pieced together where I collected a swarm and ended up re-queening it. Filmed entirely on our farm in Adams County, Ohio with a Motorola Z4. Video compiled with Shotcut. Want to send a donation to help us on the farm? You can send any amount via PayPal:paypal.me/ahpf #swarm #Honeybees #Beekeeping2024 #Beekeeping #Beekeeper #Honeybee #Honey
🔶Transfer a NUC into a Beehive
Переглядів 6288 місяців тому
This late season 2023 NUC survived the winter and is now ready to occupy a full size 10 frame Langstroth Beehive. Filmed entirely on our farm in Adams County, Ohio with a Motorola Z4. Video compiled with Shotcut. Music "Cherokee Shuffle" Want to send a donation to help us on the farm? You can send any amount via PayPal:paypal.me/ahpf #swarm #Honeybees #Beekeeping2024 #Beekeeping #Beekeeper #Hon...
🔶 March Inspection
Переглядів 6958 місяців тому
Inspection time. Checking for active Queens, equalizing hives and adding boxes if needed. Filmed entirely on our farm in Adams County, Ohio with a Motorola Z4. Video compiled with Shotcut. Want to send a donation to help us on the farm? You can send any amount via PayPal:paypal.me/ahpf #swarm #Honeybees #Beekeeping2024 #Beekeeping #Beekeeper #Honeybee #Honey
🔶 Demaree Swarm Control Step by Step
Переглядів 37 тис.2 роки тому
🔶 Demaree Swarm Control Step by Step
🔶Early Spring Nest Management Fundamentals 🐝
Переглядів 2,5 тис.2 роки тому
🔶Early Spring Nest Management Fundamentals 🐝
Paradise Honey 🐝 Bee Box 1 Year Later Review
Переглядів 11 тис.3 роки тому
Paradise Honey 🐝 Bee Box 1 Year Later Review
I used this method this year and got 545 lbs from 7 hives. I also counted back 43 days from the start of my flow so all the new eggs had time to mature, hatch and become foragers. This gave me a boatload of bees just as my flow started.
I'm glad this worked for you. What would your average be if you did not use this method?
@tonywestsbees6042 I don't know this is my 3rd year as a bee keeper. I got the idea of counting back from start of flow from David Burns. The way it worked was to tell me when I needed to start my brood buildup. My second year I got 1 5 gal bucket of honey this year it was 10 5 gal buckets.
I'd buy a queen from that stock!
She was a very good one. All of my stock is heavy Carniolan. That Queen was a F2.
@@tonywestsbees6042 Going through your whole Demaree serious.... I'm learning a lot!
@@tonywestsbees6042 What does F2 mean?
Is in india.these type of nox? Give me contCt number
Those are made in Finland by Paradise Honey.
I’ve got a hillco 4 frame hand crank and will be upgrading to one of their powered extractors for 2025. I love them at hillco. Thanks for the video
This was the best investment I have made in years. Thanks for watching.
I just acquired a hive from a university and the bees chewed around the entrance reducer and under the lid. So I think people would want to follow your advise and paint both inside and outside.
Painting really reduces the chewing quite a bit. Thanks for watching.
is that with the new HillCo Extractor? any review after its use?
That is with the Hillco. I really like it.
I got the new HillCo E8 at the OSBA Fall Conf. Enjoyed your talk at the conf - thanks you for presenting! I can't wait to use mine next year!! I had hank crank one as well - so super excited for the motorized one! I was very impressed with the quality of the extractor - I did a little comparison video of mine vs the old cheap amazon hand crank one I had for last few years. Up to 5 hives now and this should save lot of time - I use 8 frame med boxes - so will be able to process full box at one time - vs my old 3 frame unit. Really love how the honey gate is lower vs having to tilt my old one.
I'm glad you enjoyed the presentation. So far, I'm really liking the Hillco extractor I got. It really helped speed up extraction and saves my arms. The hand cranking is fine for only a couple boxes but is too much otherwise.
Those Queen cells in the top box are sealed so this hive has swarmed thus using this as a method of swarm prevention has failed for you
This hive did not swarm. By moving the open brood away from the Queen, they think they are now Queen-less. Just moving a frame of open brood above a Queen excluder will cause this. This hive produced 175 pounds of honey in 8 weeks and still had the original Queen at the end of the season.
Surprised you didn’t inspect for Queen cells in your top brood box and that you didn’t allow that top brood box to become hopelessly Queen less before putting that Queen cell in. The fact that it may have worked was purely down to luck.
This was our first year of trying this method. There is a learning curve. We now empty this method every year, never have swarming and more than tripled our spring honey production.
In the very beginning (0:35) you say you, "pulled back some of the big ones" referring to hives that were getting too big. My question is how did you, "...pull them back"? If you removed some frames of brood, what did you do with those frames? I'm not interested in making splits or nucs. Just not sure what you did with the frames of brood when you, "pulled them back". BTY I attended your presentation at OSBA on the Demaree method. I want to try it this spring. Thanks for sharing.
For me, I pull frames of sealed brood from the bigger hives and give them to the smaller hives to even out the apiary. Unfortunately some people only have a couple hives so there is only so much you can do. I try to even out my hives in late March. By early April most years, they are booming and ready to swarm by mid to late April. Our main flow is late April thru May. Unfortunately I had to run thru the presentation pretty fast, I wanted to get to everyone's questions at the end. This works better if I have 90 minutes as I can explain the procedure a little better I feel. The class was packed and we really enjoyed the day meeting people. Try it in the spring. It's an option.
@@tonywestsbees6042 Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it. I hope to employ this technique next spring.
All is looking good. This sure was a fast season. I done all deep inspection a week and a half ago and all looked great. An wow I can home late afternoon on Saturday an found a swarm in the air . I have never had a swarm this later in the season before so I will be doing a inspection in the morning to see what is going on. Thanks for the update.
Crazy year for sure. It's hard to believe it's coming to an end. What we have done in the past two months sets up how things go in the spring. Good luck.
@@tonywestsbees6042 yes it sure does . That swarm went back in the colony the next morning an I have had that to happen quite a few times throughout the years . I lost a whole yard of bees this year where someone decided to spray there fields , garden or flowers what ever it was but ended up doing better overall than last year. So anything we get is a blessing. Thanks
Indian,ne nagaland .
Thanks for watching
Wherein can I find the queen bee any marketing field
Queens are bigger, longer and look very different than worker bees do.
I hopr to do that in this coming spring.
It works well. Good luck.
Ugh! This was me this past spring. I'm still relatively new, and it's nice to see my girls aren't the only ones who get grumpy from time to time. I've got a full suit, and they absolutely find every chink in the armor they can. LOL! Thanks for posting.
To help Prevent these things on your wrist you shoul and I'll go back to the hive and start drinking the nectar up to prevent moke your face Smoke your arms smoke your wrist smoke your hands and it prevent bees from attacking your camera Smoke camera too it really does help don't ask me why it just does They don't like the smell of smoke
That was actually comical. This was a feisty hive. I was tired from working bees all morning. The smoker went out. They did produce quite well. Thanks for watching.
WOW your girls were good an com . I opened a bunch of my colonies two days ago an they are my lunch BUT there was a storm front coming in an I know that really pisses them off but I went in anyway. Just part of it . Good to see a update from you. Thanks
This time of year, some hives can be a little "chippy" either from weather or low incoming resources. I have a couple that need re-queened as they are bad attitude all the time and I'll get that done in the coming weeks. Thanks for watching.
Been watching you for about 2 years.Love learning from you.I have been using Formic for a number of years, but I would like to know how you decide to use 2 pads vs 1 pad twice. Thanks for the videos.
I have used two pads in the past but I prefer to use a single followed in 10 days by a second single. Single pads are less disruptive to the colony, does not seem to burn open brood, does not obscure the Queen pheromones (as much). It does clean up the mites but the two pad probably does a touch better. I absolutely will not use two pads if the first three days of treatment are mid 80's or higher, specially if the hives are in full sun nor would I use two pads with older Queens. Just my experience.
Don't mean to be so critical but you opened pads to air and leaving them sit and fume out, wasting the duration on the treatment. you should not have opened the foil til ready to place the strip pad
I understand your point completely. The majority of the pads were out of the pack and installed within 15 minutes. This is common practice in commercial beekeeping, one person opens and lays the pads on the hives tops and the second person cracks the boxes and installs them. Real fast if the hive is only one or two boxes tall. Awhile back I asked Tom about this and he had no problem with this method, stating it was the length of time the pads are in the hive that is important for efficacy. I do know it's the first three days that does the biggest amount of flash kill but even at seven days, the pads are still strong with fumes. In the past, this method has cleaned the mites up pretty well and I'll be going mite washes in a couple weeks to see where they are at.
👋🏻
Thanks for the video Tony. I'm planning on doing a Demeree with all 3 of my hives this coming spring, so I very much appreciate your video. My question is - is there a point in the season where you re-configure the boxes to the more traditional 2-deeps with a super or two on top? Or is this a method by which you'll leave the Demaree configuration alone until you've harvested the honey?
I over winter in either double deeps or a deep and a super. Usually sometime in March, I move the Queen to the bottom deep and put an excluder on. From there I run as a single brood box until fall and don't remove the excluder until Late September or October. This works well for me. One thing to watch is some hives are over achievers at pollen collection and will jam up too many frames with it in April and May. There is a learning curve but it works well.
@@tonywestsbees6042 thank you! I like that approach. So during the months you're not concerned about the queen being isolated from the cluster - there's really no need for more than one deep serving as the brood chamber, therefore, a queen excluder down there can only make finding the queen easier when doing things like mite tests/treatment etc., not to mention reducing risk of rolling her.
During warm months, the nurse bees are hanging out with the Queen and brood. No isolation worries. I do have a good followup video, the 30 days later which explains things too. It's a different hive in the apiary but you get the idea.
@@tonywestsbees6042 I watched it, very helpful. Thanks again!
Thank you i need to see this I have a very weak one so I will follow your instructions and do this ..
I'm glad it is helpful
Are you raising your own queen cells?
Yes, we raise about a dozen Queens (our own cells) each year
Hi all, anybody had exp using these in really hot weather? I am in far NW Australia, temps are mid 30s -40 degrees C from October to April. Wondering how these hives do in these temps. Thanks
I was hoping someone would answer this. I have read these are used in your heat with good results. Maybe someone will still chime in.
So how do you make them eggless?
Remove the Queen. Go back into the hive 8 days later and remove all the emergency cells. At that point, the hive is hopelessly Queen-less with no way to make a Queen. The hive will then readily accept a cell you give them. The new cell will change the genetics of the hive in about 6 weeks or so.
Why no smoker?
If I remember right, I had been working hives for a couple hours and my smoker had went out. A small amount of smoke is definitely useful.
Yep this is always a good time of the year. Yes it may be a big or a light pull we are just thankful for what we get and we just work hard for the next season. I had a complete out yard killed off this year by someone spraying . We take the good with the bad an work to do better for our girls . Thanks Tony
I agree. Work with nature, not against it. Nectar is trickling in and the big hives are starting to make white wax again. We will see what develops. Thanks for watching.
That's alot of work and i bet you're enjoying every moment of it. Is there a reason for the different colors on the sections of the hive?
Absolutely love the bees. The different colors is just odd paints I had at the time. Most of my boxes are green now.
Hi Tony, Sharon Rose here. I met you and your beautiful wife in Goodwill. What an awesome video of your adventures in Bee land. Thank you.
Glad you like it
If you were to requeen the upper box could you then just add a base and remove it from the demaree into 2 hives?
You can do several things. You could remove it as a split or leave her there during the flow and add a super above her. After the flow, you can use her to re-queen the bottom box so you have a young Queen going into winter. You could also use her to re-queen a different colony. Lots of options.
@@tonywestsbees6042 how does the colony respond to being directly on top of another? Is the risk of fighting likely? Also how do the bees organise themselves to draw out the supers above and below the 2 broods? Thanks for replying to my message, I have a hive that's pretty busy and I'm half expecting to see swarm cells when I get into it on tomorrow, just wondering what my options are as supers went on not too long ago, if no cells are present I'm thinking of following this method or the 'preemptive' method. All the best.
Actually they do just fine. Queens emerging from a cell is natural for them. If she mates and comes back, she will set up housekeeping and all the bees accept her. The upper box is far enough from the bottom it works fine. Now it is a two Queen system. Be sure to have an upper entrance and use a Queen excluder wherever you do not want brood.
Looks so clear and good 👍
Most of what we pulled looked like that. Lots of Autumn Olive, Honeysuckle and some Blackberry in the mix.
A lot of new extraction equipment videos over the last few weeks. Grats, Blessed Days...
I have noticed that also.
Hi Tony i was wondering what is the name of the epoxy you used for the repair thank you
I used an automotive catalyzed body filler that had a fiber filler. Once done, sealed with a couple coats of exterior enamel paint. It worked well. Thanks for watching.
Thank you for the response
You're gonna love it. I have an older model, but still running strong.
We will be extracting Saturday. Looking forward to using it. Huge step up from what we had been using and way past time for this upgrade.
love mine enjoy
So far, I'm with you. Everyone I have talked to has nothing but praise on these. Thanks for watching.
Very nice! We will be using ours this weekend!
I saw the monster you got. NICE! I'll be pulling 800 pounds in a week or so. It was time for the upgrade.
I got the big one this week that is just like yours bruce. Took the top off the extractor to lessen the weight. Was ready to roll in about 20 mins even putting the top back on. Now I just have to wait for the nectar to dry in the hives. Getting close though in nebraska.
Good info
Thanks
After yesterdays inspection, we have a small 1 brood box hive with a new strong queen (we requeened about a month ago) that has some nice capped brood. We have a second hive that has no capped brood but we saw the Queen. We are thinking about killing that queen and moving her bees over to the small hive with the thriving queen using the newspaper method. Do we need to kill the weak queen? Do we need to make sure the top box has an exit for the bees? Thank you
I replied to this but for some reason it is not showing up. You could just drop one on the other and let the bees sort it out but I would just remove the one Queen, paper combine with one sheet of paper with slits in it. No upper entrance is required, they will be combined within a day or two. An active laying Queen is readily accepted by the bees. I would feed them =for a few days. Fed bees are happy bees.
Really cool view of the life cycle of a hive! And the requeening of a swarm. Never dawned on me you could do that.
You can do a lot with them. It's just understanding the what and how.
Thanks for sharing, exactly what I needed to know.
I'm glad it helped. Thanks for watching.
Love making bees, much more than honey.
Raising Queens is very satisfying.
Nice informative video. Wished I’d seen how you managed the frame-less flimsy honey. ..great job. I am a new beekeeper in Alvin Tx.
Thanks. It's a learning curve. I try to shaw all aspects of my apiary.
Tony, Thank you for your details of the Demaree method. it worked great for me. Please confirm when you revert the hive box order back to standard settings. 2 weeks? One week after no queen cells are found?..
I leave the relocated brood away from the bottom box for awhile, until it emerges. The brood up top will emerge and join the hive's population moving down thru the boxes. If you have a long flow, you can Demaree a second time or even a partial Demaree, 2 frames of brood. There are no definites. Lots of options.
Excellent video explaining and showing the process of the swarm that was collected.
Thanks. I appreciate the feedback.
Larv' is just the coolest cool guy hobby beek slang i ever heard
Love raising Queens!
It's my first time 'seeing the Queen. AWESOME!
Glad you liked it
I accidently marked the antena of queen bee will that affect the colony?
They may supercede the Queen before winter. Paint anywhere on her head usually effects hormones and the hive can sense this.
@@tonywestsbees6042 oh no shit...is it wrong to mark the queen?
@FUNNYCLIP885 I mark all my Queens. That way you know if there is a queen change and at a glance what the year is. Practice on Drones.
@@tonywestsbees6042 actually i m new to these all things but i really like watching them over since childhood i m not afraid of them i enjoy their company..thats why i got two hives with 6 farme full bees. Yesterday i tried to mark queens cause while inspecting i almost crushed one queen once so i didnot wanted to repeat that again but end up making blunder
@FUNNYCLIP885 it's all a learning process
How is the honey flow in this method?
Increased honey production since the population is much bigger. This year I had two hives that swarmed before I got to them and one hive that superceded the Queen. Those hives only have one surplus medium super on them right now so about 30 or so pounds extra. Those hives that I did Demaree on all have 125 pounds of surplus honey or more each. It's work but well worth it for a small scale producer.
And where they store the honey, on top box or in all the boxes??
I use a single deep box for the brood box. All the other boxes are for honey storage.
Hope you have had a great spring so far Tony!
Thanks Brandon. So far so good. Grafting a few Queens now. Honey Flow has been decent. Only lost one swarm.
Just done this for the first time and happy with the bottom box but the to BB is now full of honey. Not sure what I'm going to do with it. Keep it for winter and give it back, I guess.
That's part of the learning curve and decisions. How to move frames around moving forward. I'm glad things are working out for you.