Backyard Beekeeping Questions and Answers Episode 252 spring is coming.
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- Опубліковано 4 кві 2024
- Today we talk about Horizontal Hives, Scout Bees, and a Queen that is laying drones on plastic foundation...
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Today's Topics are listed below:
1) Will wax moths lay eggs and the larvae eat, or be attracted to wax dipped hive equipment?
2) Have you considered using your Drone for the Solar Eclipse?
3) Growing moss on concrete for bee watering systems.
4) Regarding swarms, how long before the swarm emits do the scouts check new locations out?
5) Why is there an over abundance of drones entering my strongest hive?
6) A swarm moved into a cleaned out hive and they are making crazy comb. What's the best way to deal with that?
7) When doing a split, should I move the existing queen, or leave her in the original location?
8) It's been raining here since November. I haven't opened the hive/frames. I'm considering taking the hive indoors to check frames.
9) My queen is laying drone eggs on plastic frames and worker brood on natural comb. I'm thinking about throwing these frames away.
10) If one of the Apimaye hives had AFB or EFB, would it have to be burned, or is there another way to sanitize it?
AFB Sterilization methods approved in New Zealand
afb.org.nz/sterilising-beehiv...
This Hyssop Seed had 100% germination here, second year: (affiliate link) amzn.to/3xnfrLX
11) All beekeepers I've talked to locally tell me horizontal hives will never work and the bees will always die because they only go up, not sideways.
Thank you for watching, and for your interest in bees.
If you'd like to support a worthy cause, please consider:
hivesforheroes.org/
Hyssop Seed that works well here in PA: "affiliate link" amzn.to/3xnfrLX
Hive Alive Pollen Patties can boost your undersized colonies this spring: www.fredsfinefowl.com/hiveali... (get a discount here).
Flow Hive Enthusiasts, this is my Flow-Hive Page. You can learn more about the hives and see if they are a good fit for you: Including videos that show how to assemble your Flow Hive. www.fredsfinefowl.com/theflow... - Домашні улюбленці та дикі тварини
1) Will wax moths lay eggs and the larvae eat, or be attracted to wax dipped hive equipment? 6:01
2) Have you considered using your Drone for the Solar Eclipse? 11:56
3) Growing moss on concrete for bee watering systems. 17:40
4) Regarding swarms, how long before the swarm emits do the scouts check new locations out? 22:55
5) Why is there an over abundance of drones entering my strongest hive? 27:01
6) A swarm moved into a cleaned out hive and they are making crazy comb. What's the best way to deal with that? 30:15
7) When doing a split, should I move the existing queen, or leave her in the original location? 37:21
8) It's been raining here since November. I haven't opened the hive/frames. I'm considering taking the hive indoors to check frames. 44:30
9) My queen is laying drone eggs on plastic frames and worker brood on natural comb. I'm thinking about throwing these frames away. 57:23
10) If one of the Apimaye hives had AFB or EFB, would it have to be burned, or is there another way to sanitize it? 1:01:02
11) All beekeepers I've talked to locally tell me horizontal hives will never work and bees will always die because they only go up, not sideways. 1:11:16
Thank you Adam
Everybody check out Mr. Ed’s latest colony relocation! Beautiful!
Loved the chicken emerging at the beginning of the video. Oddly, this made my day. Thank you. :)
Glad you enjoyed it! Chickens are entertaining :)
GOT my 1st swarm today,25 feet from parent colony,right at noon, on camera,I found them at 2pm ,and in a nuc box w old comb, a sprayed with light syrup, added a ball jar on the top,and relocated at dark,smooth as silk,😊
Awesome! I hope they stick around and work out well for you :)
Note on moss; Sphagnum moss has antibiotic properties and was used as a wound dressing as late as WW I.
Was in Wyoming for the last total eclipse. The phenomenon was breathtaking. Watching the sun and moon was only a part of the enjoyment. Feeling it go cold and listening to the birds and other animals go absolutely silent was an unexpected observation. You are wise to seek solitude in nature to enhance your experience. ENJOY!
Oh, that's great! And why I don't want the drone breaking that forecast silence. I hope it works out and isn't too windy. :)
During our eclipse... Our chickens went to roost... The bees came home fast enough to beard... The light filtering through the trees cast crescent shapes that reversed on the follow through. Thank you for your sharing
Oh, that's all very interesting! Looking forward to seeing what happens around here ;)
Great Q&A , wish you and everyone including our family in Sarnia Canada the very best for great Visibility for the Eclipse, parts of the uk get a partial Eclipse but not us ☹️ have a fantastic week ahead
Great Q & A, thanks for sharing your experience. Some of us even like your dry humor. Enjoy your grandchildren.
Thanks, Joe! :)
Fred, if you change your mind and want to travel, you are more than welcome to park in our field no charge, we are in the path of totality 3m 48s, the forecast is 70’s and mostly sunny.
Thank you so much for that generous offer! I have a lot of gear to put out, so I'll just hang out here. We'll just take it as it comes. :) But I'm so glad you are in a perfect spot for the total experience :)
Thank you for sharing I learn so much and appreciate your work.
You are so welcome, and thank you :)
This March, in North Carolina, 7 out of 8 of my hives swarmed despite timely splitting and supering (silly bees!). One went directly into an available hive in front of it (it was cool to see, since I kept expecting them to bivouac first). Five others bivouacked to nearby pines and allowed themselves to be enticed into awaiting empty hives. Only one took off (30 feet up, they were well out of reach of our interventions). I'm a big fan of leaving partially drawn-out frames (no honey) in empty hives for swarms to find on their own. Last year we got 4 swarms that way. The hives are monitored, so no wax moth issues, and our success rate is really good. So good that we're stopped setting out swarm traps completely.
This January, one of my hives lost their queen. In response, the rest of the colony simply moved in with a queenright colony ten feet away. I love when bees rehome themselves so nicely! 😊
wow, you are so fortunate :) I love the self hiving swarms :)
Opened up a dead out today & it's a rough sawn box & it has a nice coat of propolis on the interior walls.
Fred, I also have a drone but no plans of flying during the eclipse. My thought is there would not be a noticeable shadow and it would slowly darken because it's not the same as a shadow made by closer clouds moving past the sun, making a distinctive shadow. Hope you hear the crickets!
I definitely want just the nature sounds, I'll keep the drones in storage on this one. :)
Our spring is here in Northern California but with the storms that keep coming thru, the flowers have not really started up very much, and the poor bees keep getting warm then cold then warm then cold again. I have not started as a beekeeper yet although I am getting my equipment together. Most of my beekeeping friends have lost some or all of their hives because of the wacky weather. (and no I am not going anywhere to view the eclipse). I just ordered 2 copies of the Maladies book, so I can share!
That's great about the books! Sorry you arn't near the eclipse.. I hope it delivers.
Really liked this episode. I have chosen Layens because of my Latitude and area of the Country towards the west compared to yours. Taller frames for upward movement and ease of removal for the lack of weight, and luckily, I don't have a reliance on having so much Langstroth gear. Learning my completely ignorant bee regs for my city is driving me crazy though!
It was 90 deg f here today. Many of us turned on our A/C this week. SE NM down to El Paso will be 80% eclipse path, and I guarantee no clouds. Where ever you go; there you are. You can laugh at me later when we have several days over 110 deg f and melt-outs occur!
Fantastic video again! Flow about to explode here in NW INDIANA I'll miss eclipse but be in my bees. 😊
Gotta get myself a battery-operated heat gun now! Great idea to use it to attach comb segments to the top of frames!
:)
Thank you Fred. There are a few people that have built the long hive from Fred's plans on the FB community.
Thanks, Kennith. The long Langstroth is working out fine here for sure :)
Caught 2 more swarms with the reacher and QPM. They combined on the same frame. Charlotte NC
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing how that worked for you :)
great job Uncle fred!!! i will be staring up at that sky on Monday!!!!! u really are the professor!!!!!! thankful
Thank you, I hope you get a nice clear view!
Hi Fred! I put bricks on that warped plastic acorn heavy waxed frame on a 70 degree day and it worked frame is straight. Thought I would let you know. Also you were right about the bees not being out because they had what they need. Got into my hivez yesterday the ones I was concerned about most had great populations and had honey left. All my other hives pretty much had no honey left. All 9 hivez had queens very healthy. I did notice the beez like sugar better than the hive alive fondant..
Oh, that's fantastic news, I'm so glad it worked out. Thank you for taking time to update me.
@FrederickDunn No thank you!
We made the wonky comb mistake, not pushing everything together and not having a full box of frames in a hive left empty as a just in case for a swarm... and the swarm moved in and did what bees do... though honestly the bees were very polite when we discovered the mess and went about correcting things. And we got some nice cut comb honey out of it.
I'm hoping that eventually we go through the list of mistakes, and having made them all, can start to not make mistakes :)
Mistakes are all beneficial if we can learn from them and make progress. :) You'll eventually dial it all in to some pretty low stress beekeeping for you and your honey bees :) Thanks for sharing.
@@FrederickDunn That was our second swarm mistake. We made another "mistake" last year by leaving too much room on top of our first swarm and forgetting an inner cover and having them build 4" of comb stuck right to the lid that we wound up with as some really awesome cut comb honey, and we're hoping to repeat THAT mistake if this year's as swarmy as last year was :)
Haven't even watched the Q&A yet but your thumbnail is fantastic and hilarious. 😂 You make me lol somewhere in every video.
👍for the video based on just the thumbnail.
:) I've received communication from people who think the Eclipse is going to kick off a "world event" (';')... ( ';')... Thank you for getting it :)
@@FrederickDunn Follow up... after watching the Q & A, your statement "You should know economically, the decisions I make with bees are terrible" needs to be on a T-shirt or coffee mug. I will be the first to purchase. You don't know how close to home that hits😂.
Thanks for the bee lessons. I always learn something.
@@mlfarm I would fail an economics class for sure! Bees and Chickens provide non-monetary returns :)
Thanks Fred, have a wonderful weekend!
Thanks, you too!
Thanks Fred, awesome information. Appreciate all the work you do to prepare for these episodes
Thank you so much :)
Hoping for the weather break Sunday night. Chomping the bit to split. This year like the last. Warm February, cold March. Feed Feed Feed. Drones are early which is good for the Queens. Unfortunately the only clear path for eclipse is in Maine ☹
Is that right? Maybe we'll get a weather break at just the right moment :)
Like the idea of working bees inside a building,and having windows(a great place to bee😊)
That's the long game for me! I have a friend who inherited a dairy farm. She has a huge barn with a hay loft. I couldn't believe she hadn't thought about using the hay loft as her apiary, and just have entrances through the wall. She does that and it's a huge success. The entrances are 12 feet from the ground, give or take, and there is a loading pully that used to be used to lower hay to the milking level. Old barns seem to be everywhere, I think many of them could be used or bee hive shelter with room to spare.
@@FrederickDunn I have a mower shed,I could do a couple hives maybe,
I had my bees killed TWO BeeWeaver queens! Followed all of your rules too, didn't have a frame isolation cage though, just a regular introduction cage. I'll try again this year but I'm going to requeen the nuc I made last year when I was trying to requeen. The queen in there lays angry bees which is why I wanted to requeen her last time.
It's the Queen Introduction Cage that will keep any queen completely safe while her pheromone gets spread around. I've never had a new Queen rejected unless there was already another queen present. I hope you get good results this time around.
@@FrederickDunn With the 2nd one I think there was a queen on a mating flight that came back and killed her. With the 1st one I had removed the queen the day prior. No clue why they rejected the new one.
I have seen the drones like that twice since I've been keeping it is pretty cool to see it
I do cut outs in Connecticut and Massachusetts, I would say I see more horizontal colonies than vertical colonies. I also use Kenyan top Bars, layens hives, along with my 5 Frame langs, I see no difference.
Southern eclipse tradition: pass out Moon Pies (a cookie-ish sweet) during the totality. LOL
Hi Fred, here in Melbourne Australia we can get our hives irradiated (gamma irradiation) just need to fit on a trucking pallet. Steritech
Yes, that's available here also, but it's expensive. Commercial operations often to that to their equipment after the season is over.
Got an invitation from my optician for a Solarcelebration on the day of the eclipse at her office. Why not?
Hi Fred, thinking of your (future) 10 hive indoor barn-style easier approach as one ages...I enjoy experimenting Flow Hives, Apimaye's, and HiveIQ setups...but a fully loaded 10 frame deep is a beast to juggle. How about a Keepers Hive with a Flow Hive super? Minimal boxes to lift, moving frames only, and we can retire/raffle off our gazillons invested in uncapping and extraction equipment? Keep beekeeping fun for seniors, by that I mean me in a few years! 😊 Jim- Florence, SC
Thanks for sharing.
Probly why we have stink bugs , because someone brought them here lol
Wax moth buffet-eewww
First!! Happy Friday Fred :) 70f here today and going to pick up my Nucs this Sunday 😁
Hope you have a great weekend and bee season! Take care Fred :)
Thanks Grayson! I hope those nucs are great stock and work out well for you :)
Have you ever had a bees build swarm cells under the slatted rack . I inspected my biggest hive 10 days apart and checked every frame both times. I found no swarm cells. Last inspection was after church Easter Sunday. Yesterday, 5 days after Easter they swarmed. I got part of them Friday ( luckily the part with the queen) and hived them. It was 38 degrees this morning but I was able to get the rest of them after it got in the 50s. I can't see how I missed swarm cells twice.
I have never had swarm cells under a slatted rack. Not saying that's impossible, but given that exposure to the entrance, I'd think it would be among the last places they would construct a queen cell. But, as always, never say never.
Good video! I have several bird baths on stands, filled with pea gravel with drippers coming from a yard hydrant, on a timer. The gravel seems to prevent mosquitoes. In Charlotte NC. In the hot summer, the timer comes on every 4 hrs for a few minutes , they can dry out quick. Seems to work well
Yes, another great point that I wish I'd made... some water movement helps the bees, and also profoundly reduces mosquito reproduction.
UPenn book is reasonable at $12 but the cheapest shipping option to Missouri was almost $12! Need to see about getting an order going on multiples with my local club I suppose.
Yes, I'd definitely try to use a Bee Club's buying power and get a bunch in.
Guys i am Quinn from the way to bee he is my grandfather we are makeing a horizontal huve thats themed ghost buster
You are not old enough to have a UA-cam Channel... (';')( ';').... and you are disclosing trade secrets! Off to bed with you and give your phone to your Mom!
Hi grandfat
I do
Will you be live on Monday like Haroldo Rivers’s Al Copon’s Vault but, less than three hour. 😂
Haha, you could have taken a longer way around the barn without the comment about eating the wax worms, lol.
:)
Heilà Mister Frederick 🤗👋
Every time I plant flower seeds for our bees. The deer consume everything. Very frustrating. Lost all our sunflowers.
That can be a huge challenge! Last year the deer were particularly bad and one doe with two fawns took out two acres of sunflowers. My only saving grace there was that I also planted cosmos and had plenty of maximillian sunflowers that they left alone.
I have heard wax moth will not infect comb that has not had brood in it. So, honey supers that have never had eggs laid in the comb cells will not be infected by wax moth- your thoughts on this??
Hmmm.. well, it's true that they target the brood and pollen areas first, but they are capable of spreading throughout the honey comb. I've even had them chew substantial crooves into the underside of the inner cover well away from the brood box. I wish wax moths did not impact stored honey comb supers, but many keepers are spending the big bucks using treatments to prevent wax moths from wrecking their honey comb frames after harvest. I don't have to treat my honey supers here, but I have the benefit of cold temps at the end of the last nectar flow, and I close of the boxes. Here's a keeper who sustained wax moth damage in his honey super ua-cam.com/video/gRU3zKBLWIs/v-deo.htmlsi=PrRnO9iW21GKC7sT
Every year I get a swarm it moves into a box every year but I have not had one yet there live through the winter I even tried to move them to see if it was the location but no good
What time of year did that occur? I hope you have better luck with that this year.
Someone told me they would buy a queen bee with 12 nurse bees and that’s how they started their colonies. This was back in the ‘70s or ‘80s. I’m not an expert by no means but I’m REALLY questioning it!!
Any thoughts or knowledge of this???
All I will say to that is... (';')( ';').... ? Always question everything.
👋 Hi Fred! Coming out of my 3rd winter. Didn't lose one of my full 7 hives. LOST 2 out of 4 nucs even with emergency food sugar and hive alive they starve. I only had enough honey to do two boxes. Next year goal for nucs is three boxes. I say goal bc I'm always short full deep honey frames
Anyway my question is how many nuc boxes do I put out for swarms, one or two?
If you're strapping the nucleus hive together for a swarm, two (5 over 5) deep nucleus boxes would be the most accepted size.
Hello Fred. Appricate your help as always. Are you concerned about the lack of genetic diversity with your stock?
Hi Michael, I'm actually not too concerned about that here. I open mate most of my bees with regionally adapted bees in my area every spring. When I buy a queen, it's a very rare occurrence. I do notice that several of my colonies are darkening quite a bit. If I implemented tight controls in breeding etc... I'd have to watch for that, but this is an open situation with several other keepers very nearby. I hope that answers your question :)
I’m always learning and so grateful for you.
Fred-one question. A couple of my hives need a little extra food to get started because we’re having some cold weather come in. Can I give them HiveAlive fondant or is it better to give them Sugar water? We are finally in the 60s every day so guessing either is fine? But what’s your opinion on what’s best? Thx
With the warmup ahead, sugar syrup would be my first choice. If a colony it too small to forage as well as keep the brood warm, I'd put Hive Alive Pollen Patties on. Even if it rains, then can still feed open larvae.
Just found your channel 😊 Thanks for sharing Sub’d 👍
Thank you for subscribing :) Welcome!
beware jack frost
He's sneaky for sure!
Didnt see the hysop amazon link,maybe i missed it😊
Oops.. I'll add that asap! :)
Fred….the link to the flowhive videos is wrong … you accidentally pasted the Hivealive link there as well
Oops... I'll fix that asap. Thank you so much!
So those cheap $1 solar eclipse glasses aren’t safe? I had my doubts about those. I’d think a welding hood would be safer than those. I think it’s 99.7 total at my home. I threw 2 oz chunks of rendered wax in all my empty hives trying to add more bee smell to attract swarms. I hope wax moths don’t eat it. I’ve heard they only want the resources that are in wax comb, not the wax itself. True or false?
Waxworms definitely ingest the beeswax comb. Inside the hive, I'd consider them omnivors. :)
@@FrederickDunn as I watched the rest of your video after my comment, you were talking about people saying horizontals don’t work 😂 I went to a beekeeper class put on by a commercial beekeeper and I showed him a picture of my horizontals and he told me and the entire class that they don’t work and my bees won’t survive. I think my bees in my horizontals do better than my regular Langstroth hives. I’ve never lost a horizontal hive and I’ve lost regular Langstroth hives. I’m amazed how people talk negatively about something they’ve never done and they think it’s gospel. Needless to say I never attended another of his classes.
Do u know if it's not a good idea to use cedar for hives? Have bees ever been found in cedar trees in the wild? Had some extra cedar laying around but it sure does have a strong cedar smell..
I have several western cedar hives, they are great for bees :)
@@FrederickDunn ok awesome! Thank u, I always thought cedar kept bugs away so I was kind of worried about it.