Hi Mike, that's a really nice setup you have there. I got my first bees in 2019 and started my UA-cam journey about the same time. You seem to be doing well so far. I'm guessing you are "down under" so, the honey flow must be going on down there. I'm want to watch your flow hive saga. I do have a bit of advice for you I'll share. It's based on my experience. I've lost most of my colonies in the last two seasons. I blame that on growing faster than I can keep up. My advice would be not to grow too fast. The work can expand exponentially and it's better to stay with a few hives until you are sure you can handle more. 4-6 is probably ok on your second year but, there is till a lot to learn as you expand. Already "Blue" has some serious issues. Far too few bees and perhaps queenless. You will need to do something if it isn't going to fail. Did you check the queen cap in Green? If there isn't an egg or larva in it, wouldn't worry but, you should keep a check on it.
Thanks for the comments and advice richardhyatt-beekeeping. I love advice and it really helps me! You got it, I'm from Australia. Melbourne (southern) and just clocked 1 year of bee keeping. I can really see how it can get out of hand, and I will be staying with 4, I'd love more by 4 is about all I can manage. For the blue hive, I did post a followup video, adding a Nuc (with a queen) to boost it. It was done last Saturday and I will follow up this week on how its going. Appreciate the feedback. thanks Mike
If I can't find a queen, and need to, I set up two boxes on a bottom board with a queen excluder between the boxes. I put a frame with brood in the bottom. Then I shake the frames into the top box. The queen can't get to the bottom so, you will eventually find her as the worker and nurse bees go to the brood under the excuser. I do this to do mite checks without killing my queen. Just take a sample of nurse bees below the excluder, safely because the queen is excluded.
That's great advice and makes sense. Where I am, we currently don't have mites but they are in Australia now and heading down south slowly. They have been detected at the border. I do expected in the next 1-2 years I will be dealing with them. Thanks again. agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/pest-insects-and-mites/priority-pest-insects-and-mites/varroa-mite-of-honey-bees/varroa-mite-current-situation
Hey Mike, I didn't see it. You may have put a frame of capped brood into blue to strengthen them. Cross comb gives the ladies a chance, and they do their own thing😂 how come you are running a double brood box. More for my own curiosity.
Hello mate, your comments are gold and I like advice and guidance to be honest. For the yellow hive (going strong and a split from the low hive 6 weeks ago), and in fact all hives I am trying to grow them. I will follow the flow hive setup I have. For the yellow hive, I have the two brood boxes which I will add a Flow super on top in the next two weeks. Once the green and blue get stronger, I will double up again and add the Flow super to them as well. For me, I don't have all the extra harvesting gear, so the flow system really suits me.
@@msflt, Out of your stronger hives, I would shake the nurse bees off and place them into the blue hive and a couple of frames of honey for them or sugar syrup and pollen paddy or bee fondant. This will boost them considerably. They are your bees; the content of the video is good, mate.
Hey Mike, great video and thanks for sharing. Just a tip, your blue hive looks queen less so I would confirm that and if so do a combine with your green hive. You mentioned seeing capped brood in your other hives but no mention of eggs or larvae so I would certainly focus on looking for eggs or at least very small larvae to confirm queen presence in recent days if you can't find your queens. I would be a little concerned with your flow hive as your bottom box should be full of eggs/larvae and brood if you had a queen present and you did not mention seeing eggs or larvae in top brood box. How did you do your split? did your queen go to the yellow hive and if so were their eggs in your flow for them to make a new queen?
Appreciate the comments and guidance. I have ordered a Nuc for the blue hive, going in tomorrow !. I will surely upload that process. For the flow hive, I did see brood in the top deep but not in the bottom. I will be monitoring that closely, well spotted. With the change of adding frames (which I forgot about) it should strengthen over the next couple of weeks. Ill keep providing updates too. thanks Mike
Hi Mike, that's a really nice setup you have there. I got my first bees in 2019 and started my UA-cam journey about the same time. You seem to be doing well so far. I'm guessing you are "down under" so, the honey flow must be going on down there. I'm want to watch your flow hive saga. I do have a bit of advice for you I'll share. It's based on my experience. I've lost most of my colonies in the last two seasons. I blame that on growing faster than I can keep up. My advice would be not to grow too fast. The work can expand exponentially and it's better to stay with a few hives until you are sure you can handle more. 4-6 is probably ok on your second year but, there is till a lot to learn as you expand. Already "Blue" has some serious issues. Far too few bees and perhaps queenless. You will need to do something if it isn't going to fail. Did you check the queen cap in Green? If there isn't an egg or larva in it, wouldn't worry but, you should keep a check on it.
Thanks for the comments and advice richardhyatt-beekeeping. I love advice and it really helps me! You got it, I'm from Australia. Melbourne (southern) and just clocked 1 year of bee keeping. I can really see how it can get out of hand, and I will be staying with 4, I'd love more by 4 is about all I can manage. For the blue hive, I did post a followup video, adding a Nuc (with a queen) to boost it. It was done last Saturday and I will follow up this week on how its going. Appreciate the feedback. thanks Mike
If I can't find a queen, and need to, I set up two boxes on a bottom board with a queen excluder between the boxes. I put a frame with brood in the bottom. Then I shake the frames into the top box. The queen can't get to the bottom so, you will eventually find her as the worker and nurse bees go to the brood under the excuser. I do this to do mite checks without killing my queen. Just take a sample of nurse bees below the excluder, safely because the queen is excluded.
That's great advice and makes sense. Where I am, we currently don't have mites but they are in Australia now and heading down south slowly. They have been detected at the border. I do expected in the next 1-2 years I will be dealing with them. Thanks again.
agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/pest-insects-and-mites/priority-pest-insects-and-mites/varroa-mite-of-honey-bees/varroa-mite-current-situation
Hey Mike, I didn't see it. You may have put a frame of capped brood into blue to strengthen them. Cross comb gives the ladies a chance, and they do their own thing😂 how come you are running a double brood box. More for my own curiosity.
Hello mate, your comments are gold and I like advice and guidance to be honest. For the yellow hive (going strong and a split from the low hive 6 weeks ago), and in fact all hives I am trying to grow them. I will follow the flow hive setup I have. For the yellow hive, I have the two brood boxes which I will add a Flow super on top in the next two weeks. Once the green and blue get stronger, I will double up again and add the Flow super to them as well. For me, I don't have all the extra harvesting gear, so the flow system really suits me.
@@msflt, Out of your stronger hives, I would shake the nurse bees off and place them into the blue hive and a couple of frames of honey for them or sugar syrup and pollen paddy or bee fondant. This will boost them considerably. They are your bees; the content of the video is good, mate.
Hey Mike, great video and thanks for sharing. Just a tip, your blue hive looks queen less so I would confirm that and if so do a combine with your green hive. You mentioned seeing capped brood in your other hives but no mention of eggs or larvae so I would certainly focus on looking for eggs or at least very small larvae to confirm queen presence in recent days if you can't find your queens. I would be a little concerned with your flow hive as your bottom box should be full of eggs/larvae and brood if you had a queen present and you did not mention seeing eggs or larvae in top brood box. How did you do your split? did your queen go to the yellow hive and if so were their eggs in your flow for them to make a new queen?
Appreciate the comments and guidance. I have ordered a Nuc for the blue hive, going in tomorrow !. I will surely upload that process. For the flow hive, I did see brood in the top deep but not in the bottom. I will be monitoring that closely, well spotted. With the change of adding frames (which I forgot about) it should strengthen over the next couple of weeks. Ill keep providing updates too. thanks Mike