Backyard Beekeeping Questions and Answers Episode 173, opening feeding your own bees, or others?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- Welcome to another episode of backyard beekeeping topics.
Today we're playing catchup and combining questions/topics from the past two weeks.
If you have a question of your own you'd like to submit for consideration, please follow this link: www.fredsfinef...
If you're just joining us and want to follow the entire series, here is the playlist: • The Way To Bee Podcast
Listen to the PodCast version right here: frederickdunn....
Today's topics are as listed below:
1) Is there such a thing as too many frames of pollen? I did put a couple of pollen frames in-between some brood.
2) I noticed a yellow dot on the thorax of some of my bees. It's strikingly yellow just like a marking pen!
3) Our City has begun fogging for mosquitos due to West Nile Virus. Do I need to somehow fully close the entrance on fogging nights?
Learn more about the impact of fogging on honey bees: journals.plos....
4) Any recommendations for how you built your robbing station?
This is my robbing/feeding station: • Honey Bee Feeding Stat...
5) What is the reason some bees are grey? Could this be the winter bees?
6) I'm not sure if I should provide more space for my bees this time of year? I plan to feed dry sugar and maybe that Hive Alive patty? Pine shavings on top?
7) I tried a rapid round hive top feeder and it caused robbing right away, so now I'm open feeding. I don't know if my colonies are considered strong enough?
8) We've requeened twice with Saskatraz Queens with no success. The last queen was in her cage for 5 days and her attendants were dead. Perhaps you might be able to address this?
9) Do bees have a problem with cornstarch? Is corn starch in powdered sugar shake harmful to the bees?
10) My stronger colony came in and viciously robbed my other hive. The queen has not laid an egg in two weeks, can we save them?
11) In your experience are there more uncapped frames/cells when there is low rainfall? The honey flavor is more intense, is this also a factor of low rainfall?
12) I was inspecting my hive and the queen flew away, how was she able to fly? Not five minutes later, she returned. Now What?
13) I'm interested in building a Long Langstroth Hive, should I build it with 2 x or 3/4 plywood? I want to incorporate flow frames into the hive, what about entrance placement?
14) I have ventilation in the top of my hive but it creates condensation. Should I use burlap, or wood shavings and close the top ventilation?
This is my wintering with Flow Hives Video: www.fredsfinef...
15) Do honey bees use the last In First Out system for honey consumption?
The booklet Honey Bees And Their Maladies is available here: extension.psu.... (if it's out of stock, you can be notified when it's available again).
TODAY'S SHOUT OUT:
Please tell them that Frederick Dunn sent you :)
• Picking Up The Pieces ... please provide words of encouragement.
For winter preparations, after you've removed your honey supers, you can boost their resources while helping reduce the impact of nosema ceranae. Here is my page on Hive Alive: www.fredsfinef...
Some backyard beekeepers may be thinking about altering sugar syrup that you plan to feed your bees. Please go into that with as much information as possible. My advice has always been to provide straight sugar syrup made from water and white processed sugar. This is auxiliary or emergency feeding. Honey bees may indeed not take syrup that includes mold. I invite you to read more about altering sugar syrups here: link.springer....
1) Is there such a thing as too many frames of pollen? I did put a couple of pollen frames in-between some brood. 3:27
2) I noticed a yellow dot on the thorax of some of my bees. It's strikingly yellow just like a marking pen! 10:15
3) Our City has begun fogging for mosquitos due to West Nile Virus. Do I need to somehow fully close the entrance on fogging nights? 11:58
4) Any recommendations for how you built your robbing station? 15:39
5) What is the reason some bees are grey? Could this be the winter bees? 24:35
6) I'm not sure if I should provide more space for my bees this time of year? I plan to feed dry sugar and Hive Alive patty? Pine shavings on top? 27:31
7) I tried a rapid round hive top feeder and it caused robbing right away, now I'm open feeding. I don't know if my colonies are strong enough? 38:30
8) We've requeened twice with Saskatraz Queens with no success. The last queen was in her cage for 5 days and her attendants were dead. Perhaps you might be able to address this? 44:42
9) Do bees have a problem with cornstarch? Is corn starch in powdered sugar shake harmful to the bees? 50:30
10) My stronger colony came in and viciously robbed my other hive. The queen has not laid an egg in two weeks, can we save them? 52:43
11) In your experience are there more uncapped frames/cells when there is low rainfall? The honey flavor is more intense, is this also a factor of low rainfall? 56:02
12) I was inspecting my hive and the queen flew away, how was she able to fly? Not five minutes later, she returned. Now What? 1:00:10
13) I'm interested in building a Long Langstroth Hive, should I build it with 2 x or 3/4 plywood? I want to incorporate flow frames into the hive, what about entrance placement? 1:06:00
14) I have ventilation in the top of my hive but it creates condensation. Should I use burlap, or wood shavings and close the top ventilation? 1:16:50
15) Do honey bees use the last In First Out system for honey consumption? 1:22:23
Thank you Adam
Adam, you are a star for all that you do. Many thanks over and over
Thank you so much for the time you put into these videos. Especially all the information AND Links in the descriptions!!!
You are so welcome!
Awesome video I’m one of those newer beekeeper’s who’s had several years of failures mainly getting them through winter. So I appreciate the words of encouragement you left at the end! I feel really good so far about my hive’s as I have been working hard to get them ready for winter! My odds are a lot better this year as well. I went from three hives to nine. Three of those are 5 frame double deep nucs as resource hives and the rest are 8 frame double deeps
Resource hives are definitely a fantastic way to keep things going. Glad you're improving and your bees are doing better :)
🤗 I absolutely love it when you have the 'stump' moments. 🤪
I am enjoying this episode with my Saturday morning coffee.
Thank you so much for your videos and great teaching!
Thank you, Susan! That's very nice of you!
Mug up at the Dunn's, I've been waiting,. Good morning Fred, Everyone. Here in central NH @ 6am it's 48 F. Yesterday dipped to 44 F. Day time temps in the 70's. Fall is near. Now for the show...Thanks for answering my question, you're the go to man!
Thank you, and anytime! Yep, lower temps will be rolling in and our bees will be tested.
Great video as always, thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Thank you once again, I have learnt a lot. 🙂
You're very welcome, Joanne :)
Thanks for the info Mr Dunn,, 🇱🇨👍🏼♥️
You're welcome.
Fred, great video as always. I've heard you say a few times over these series that you use powdered sugar to track bees. Could you please pass alone how you 'dust' bees while at a feeding station, and/or in a hive if different? Thanks!!
ua-cam.com/video/EEzstMtJm1c/v-deo.html
@@FrederickDunn Thanks!!
Thank you for answering my question and yes you pronounced my name right. Just wierd they had all pollen frames by entrance. Not the brood. Seemed odd to me. I will put frames back. Thank you again.
Field bees return with pollen and they put the pollen balls into cells themselves, so they may have been in a rush. You're very welcome :)
Lots of information in this one, good stuff.
Glad you liked it!
good weekend 2 u 2
Since the Hive Alive is so thin, does there need to be the box or shim between the Better Bee inner and outer cover?
It takes up about 3/8" if it's completely flat, some of it has a thicker side that goes to 1/2" so a shim would be nice as I like to leave enough for the bees to puff-up the plastic as they glean all they can from every corner.
so much great info about queen acceptance w foreign attendants,introductions into a laying worker colony and,adding multiple brood frames to influence pheromone, queens reduced laying during dearth with little resource, that may explain why when i combined a swarm w mated queen laying into a laying worker hive,in decline,failed, and abscobded shortly after,and heat stress w a bit of beetles, was too much for them,keep learning and gambling
It's definitely not a straight forward situation. We all have so much to learn through direct observation as we hopefully make progress :)
I heard a question or remark on this or the show before, re. Vertically minded. Your answer was great on the biology of apis bees. My thought was on the same bees as feral survivors. They will colonize various spaces from trees to buildings. In buildings, floor and ceiling spaces, vertical, horizontal and angled roof line spaces. Knowing this, the long hive makes sense in either the Layens or Langstroth. Knowing this and my plan to keep bees in the Philippines, horizontal hives makes sense to me. I’m and old cranky guy at times and my staff are half as tall and a quarter the mass. Ten frame supers seems like a great pain
Fred,
I was curious to ask if you adding fruit juice pulp from live trees could be used to ease a more healthy natural PH on sugar water in feeding bees? I'm not a chemistry expert either. So its hard to figure out.
But one of the negative points of sugar water is that its PH is less disease resistant for parasite growth than natural feed. I'm curious if you could use this to balance the ph more towards more resistant against parasites, varroa, etc.
People if they are doing bees... the premise for this is probably they may be also gardening and have fruit trees also in their yards already.
Hi Noah, since the syrup is an emergency or surplus momentary resource, I wouldn't personally bother with trying to adjust the PH. Leaving them with enough of their own honey is really my target zone. I'd rather not get into trying to manipulate the sugar syrup with additives to alter the PH as I think many backyard bee keepers may over do it, or be tempted to add ingredients that "could" ultimately be harmful. It's also why I try to discourage backyard keepers from making their own invertase. This study may shed more light on that topic: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13592-020-00745-6
Can you use rain water or lake water to mix sugar syrup?
Rain water? sure! Lake water? Well, that may depend on the lake, but I don't see why not. Lakes and ponds often have quite a lot going on in suspension, but if you see bees drinking at the edge I'd take that as an endorsement :)
You talk about robbing screens. Should they be put on most hives now to head off possible robbing this time of year.
Some people do exactly that. There are two pretty good designs, one from Ceracell (color coded) and the BeeSmart Designs version. There are lots of videos where beekeepers have made their own screens. I haven't had to put them on since I've reduced entrances to match colony strength.
Hello Master 🥰🥰🥰🥰
💕🐝Thank you for addressing my question! I'm still looking for a local beekeeper group to join here in Quebec city, however I'm not French speaking (yet), so it will be tough. Would you recommend transferring bees from the flowhive to a traditional hive for winter? I have one to be delivered soon. The roof set up for flow and how the boxes don't line up is troublesome.
Flow hives are 1/4" narrower from side to side. This means the Flow roof won't rest property on standard Langstroth boxes. The brood box and bottom board are normally of 3/4" stock and I don't see a strong advantage in transferring the bees/frames from the FH to a Langstroth for winter. I would strongly consider replacing the flow-hive gabled roof with an insulated inner cover, a feeder spacer, and an insulated outter cover like a beemax or Lyson, they fit over any size hive box with a little overhang that I see as another benefit. I wish you all the best and have fun learning French :)
I asked my city people to skip my house at the alley and front. They choose to spray later as well. So far so good, 2 summers and no significant impacts.
Also, do you have an address to get the pocket guide?
The link is in the video description :)
@@FrederickDunn thank you for sharing good resources...much appreciated @
Another question, yesterday to my shock and horror I found 20 dead yellow jackets in the yellow tray of flow hive 2. There were also a few dead bees. I read up on this on the Flow Forum and apparently there is a gap somewhere they are entering at the entrance or rear. Have you had that problem? What did you do?
That's actually not a concern at all. If they can access the tray, it doesn't mean they are getting into the brood box as the aluminum barrier is between those spaces. There may be a gap at the rear of the hive where you replace the vent/non-vent back board. There are often critters in the trays that are interesting to observe. Bee parts are present on all bottom boards and also in trays, that's pretty normal. Thanks for sharing.
What do you do with the resource hive in winter?
They winter over in top form, that's one amazing aspect to those tall narrow configurations.
Fred, how can I obtain a copy of the Penn State booklet on identifying hive diseases?
extension.psu.edu/a-field-guide-to-honey-bees-and-their-maladies
@@FrederickDunn Thanks Fred, they are sold out but I gave my email to be notified when available again.
@@bradwamsley3465 Sorry about that, hopefully, they will restock soon! Glad you left your contact information. :)
@@FrederickDunn No problem, it will be worth the wait.
Hello Fred, when I see you describe things with your hands I wonder how much better your content would be if you showed pictures of what you're describing. Maybe its time you hired some help. Just a suggestion.
Thanks Thomas. I have lots of videos showing bees and their behaviors. I can't afford "help". It already takes a full day to put out a Q&A video. What specific topic were you wanting a visual on?
Fred,
Did you hear of the man in Cincinnati hospital, stung over 20,000 times by honeybees?
I did not, do you have a link to that story? I hope he's recovering ok.
The link is at our google page for our club
I just did some open feeding. I smashed a lot of choke cherries swapping bees into new hive. Which brought larger honey bees. So I set out a feeder away from hive. Then fighting started. So set up another feeder farther north from hive. That worked for rest of the day. Next day smaller bees took over both feeders. Noticed some smaller bees coming from the south and no fighting. They were all over the soda cans at camp. When I extract in July pull them and then right back in still dripping. I put out my bear bait pile and it was swarming with all kinds of bees when I set up the trail cam.
Good morning fred, I just watched your two most recent videos and I have a question/concern. Yesterday I removed a screened bottom board to put in a solid and I used your reference on the opening of the reducer 3/8 by 3 in. From the inside they have chewed the entire length of the reducer trying to open it up any thoughts on that? I thought the size you mentioned was wide enough?? Never doubt your knowledge just wish I could send you a picture to see it. Thanks in advance and thank you for all of your videos
3/8 x 3" should be plenty of opening space. Then work surfaces of entrance reducers for lots of reasons (one could be that they want a larger opening) but the material can also be part of why they chew. They scrape away surface roughness and often add propolis once they do that, I'd let it play out for a while to see how they handle that opening. What part of the country are you in? For example, in the deep south, very large feral colonies have entrances much smaller than the one I recommend. This time of year, with robbing season beginning, I wouldn't go larger. There is a greater risk, in my opinion, with a larger entrance this time of year. I'm transitioning towards year-round entrances of this size.
I made the entrance reducers out of pine. I am located 2 hours south of you Westmoreland County. I use standard Pine from a 1x6
@@danielwhiteman9120 I wouldn't change the entrance size :)
Thanks Fred , a great listen as always , have a fabulous week ahead and looking forward to the next video
Thanks for listening and I hope you also have a great week! :)
Question... 2nd year keeper. What is it called with bees only collecting nectar from one type of flower at a time? When you said that a light went off! I'm at the bottom of Alabama and we only see a handful of days below freezing. Growing season is long with many nectar producing crops available to plant in a long growing season even during our winter, cold weather crops chug right along with not problems. So with all that said I would be much better off planting a single crop verse a crop of wild flowers. Planting about 5 acre at a time and splitting up area being planted. Correct???? Your thoughts on this and what it's called on a single flower nectar correction by bees. Thanks Fred, I appreciate you and your content and watch you religiously. jp
It's referred to as floral constancy. It just means that each forager only visits one species of flower on a single flight. On subsequent flights or other bees from the same hive may be foraging on another species. I hope that helps.
Yes. Trucker. The worst is driving through a swarm on the move. Several hundred honey ladened bees now splattered on your window. I Always feel some remorse for the bugs. The yellow jackets clean it off at the next stop.
Btw, I see that Tetragonula do some resource borrowing as candied honey can be found in their honey stores on occasion. Stingless honey doesn’t crystalize like apis honey. Do you know of any colonies the cohabitate?
I do not know of any cohabitation between stingless bees.
Wow I am late getting to this latest weekly post over 4000 views in 5 or so days 15 questions answered lots of interesting topics especially for me was robbing, winter suggestions, feeding and keeping them warm. Thanks for what you do for bee keepers!
Thank you so much!
fred i accidentaly boiled sugar syrup, will that overheated syrup make bees sickly,i try to generally only use warm pre boiled water,to disolve the granules
That's touch and go... if you didn't monitor the temps you really can't be sure if you hit that critical high-temp limit. If it just reached the boiling temp and then cooled, you may still be ok. I hope you'll follow the link I provided for more information on that topic. Thanks Mark!
I would like to say that I appreciate your videos they are a help to a lot of people. I have a question about combining two hives with news paper. Do you leave an opening for the top box bees to be able to work or leave them closed up till they get through the paper? Thanks and I will wait for your answer.
I leave them closed up and they go through the paper very fast.
Merge or hang in there? I have a failing Nucleus Split, which was put together with a UK F1 Buckfast Queen. She is being superseded as we speak, my main concern is the lateness in the season and the chances of getting the supersedure Queen properly mated. Drones are still present in my main hive, but I feel that will not be feasible being already in Sept. Would you hang in there to a possible successful mating or go for the merging of the Nucleus to the main hive? I have my thoughts swaying towards a merging. What do you think? Thanks Fred, great source of information throughout your Q and Es.
Ok, this is one of those situations that could go either way. So, this is what I'd do. Since they are making supercedure cells and have a plan to "go", I'd make a small split with that valuable queen and put her with brood frames into a small nucleus hive. Then I'd let the supercedure cells produce their queens and let that play out. If that risidual original hive fails to produce a productive queen, you can now re-combine the old queen and her resources back to the original hive. It's imperfect, but does leave you with a laying queen for winter no matter which way things go. Where would I put the other nucleus hive? Right next to the one you're splitting. Please keep us posted regarding how it all goes and what you decide to do.
@@FrederickDunn Thanks Fred, will do. Late season dramas keeps you on your toes for sure.
Great video. Thanks for answering my question.
You're very welcome :)
Another great video, great teaching and beautiful bees
Glad you enjoyed it
Hello Fred. I'm an avid watcher & I appreciate all your time, experiments, information and videos you pass along. I think it's safe to say you are the reason I decided to get bees at 54 years of age. Thank you for that. My son & I are working them together and we are loving it. We're in southeast Iowa just 3 miles from the Mississippi on a small 6 acre homestead. We started with 2 Italian nucs that we picked up just south of Des Moines. Then in min July I caught a swarm, so now we have 3 hives. My set up is just as yours for the 2 nucs with the only difference being double deeps for over wintering. The class we took through the extension office for the University of Iowa were very adamant that we needed to winter with double deep boxes due to our temperatures. We don't get as much snow as your area, but we do get colder for longer periods of time. We put the swarm in a horizontal hive and they are doing well. The 2 nucs have been pretty even as far as numbers & growth from day one. Things got busy as the do, and 3 weeks went by without us getting into them. On August 27 we inspected all 3 hives (85*. The swarm is quickly catching up with the nucs thanks to Bettercomb. One of the nucs was a devastating discovery. 50% of the colony was dead on the floor so thick the entrance was almost completely blocked off. We didn't find the queen ether. We cleaned everything up put it all back together. I was so distraught I went back through them the next day , and found the queen to my delight. The only thing I can think is we have a very bad mite problem. We are rural with lots of farm land around us, but if it was pesticides I think it would have effected all 3 hives. On September 3rd we went through all 3 hives again, and everything was business as usual (brood, polon, nectar, eggs & larva). All 3 queens found and laying. We did collect a few bees that we found with deformed wings from that nuc along with some fresh dead bees we found & did an alcohol wash on 7 bees. We found 2 mites on 7 bees. I have ordered the Lorob bee oxalic acid vaporizer along with everything else needed to begin treatments. I plan on using Kamon Reynolds method of treating all 3 hives every 4 days for 21 - 25 days to cover a full brood cycle. Smack those mites hard before winter! I would appreciate your thoughts on my situation. Thanks.
This is boiled down easily based on a single statement you made " 2 mites on 7 bees " that is what I'd consider to be an infestation level. The sooner you get the OAV implemented, the better. I'm not going to give any advice that would eclipse what Kamon has convinced you to do. The most meaningful aspect would be to do a compelete count after the mite treatments have been completed. I think you're on top of things. It would have been better to start treating before now, but we can't go back. I think you're in time to save them. I wish you all the best.
@@FrederickDunn Thank you Fred. I was hoping you would think they will make it. I should have started treatment sooner I agree, but I don't have to tell you this is an expensive little hobby. Once a week my wife says "You have more bee stuff on the porch" LOL. Thanks again.
Fred you left me hanging 😆
No worries I get it , you probably get a million questions a month. I had a question about no drones in hive. But the next day after I wrote the question. I seen drones returning to hive. I'm with you on letting the bees make the decision. I had top ventilation when it was 95 degrees outside. The bees told me they didn't like it. So I don't have top ventilation. Had screen in bottom entrance for more air the bees said no.
Love your channel. Thank you for making these Q&A Videos
Oops, sorry about that. No drones are not a problem at all and it's common for starting colonies, or those that are struggling to get resources to toss all drones and not make more. Remember also that drones can show up at any hive at any time and may not be produced by that colony of bees. I've observed drones landing on hives that immediately went to stinging them. Life isn't easy for drones at the end of the year. I see evidence of drones currently being starved out in the observation hives. Eviction is next. That leaves them desparate for resources and why they land on other hives begging for food.
@@FrederickDunn I only have one hive and it was start off a 5 frame nuc in July. Reason for my missing drones. Now I know. Thank you for your reply
I have a chair beside my hive , to wacth them. It is funny you can hear a drone coming in for a landing. Sounds like a b52 compared to a worker. Learning so much here. Appreciate your channel.
Fred I know you were talking about bees possible bringing in to much pollen. My question is can you freeze bee pollen that is stored on the frame and maybe provide it to them later in the spring if they need it and put it in the hive between the brood and honey. I am running the Layens hives. New bee keeper.
Hi Russell, you "could" do that, but the bees will show a strong preference for fresh pollen they are bringing. You may waste your time and freezer space. It's something you could certainly try out and then scratch it off of your list of things to do with pollen, orrrr maybe it's something that works out? Unless you can observe the bees consuming your frozen pollen frame, you may not know if they use it, or just clean it out and dispense with the old pollen, orrr if they leave it untouched in the cells. My personal opinion on that would be to just let them use it now.
@@FrederickDunn Thank you Fred!!!
I love your channel! I don’t have bees yet but starting in the spring and you have been so helpful! I’m in Mocksville, NC. I’ve tried to watch your Q&A videos and have a question about the oxalic acid treatments in a hive. If I ordered a queen from bee weaver or another resistant line, and either a nuc or package bees - what is my order of operations? Put them in the new hive, add the new queen, wait a few days to treat since they are all new to start off with a low mute count? Or when would I treat for best practice? Also, generally how often is a hive split? Is it every year roughly? I was going to start with two flow hives and wanted to plan ahead for how fast they would increase? Thank you for the help!
Hi Helene, welcome to my channel, I'm so glad you are learning something helpful here. :) When you receive a package of bees, you will be releasing your queen within just a few days. I highly recommend treating with Oxalic Acid Vaporization on the 8th day after package receipt. That way they are getting established and all mites would still be open and the treatment can really take them down. If you treat too late, the new brood may be capped and provide safe reproductive sanctuary for those mites. If you treat up on arrival, they may associate that experience with the new queen and it could cause a disruption. I Hope that all makes sense, and I wish you all the best.
G'day Helen.
You posted this question 8 months ago, How Did you go? Did you get your bees ? Just curious how you went
Hey! I did get my bees! Thanks for checking in! We have two hives and I think they are doing well. :) We have eggs and the frames look good. I didn't take any honey this year and one feels heavier than the other but overall look great. I'm still worried about mite treatments. And I did accidentally bump the hive with the lawn mower (beginner mistake) so I need to relevel it, but so far, I'm loving every minute of being out there with them! Hope you are doing well also!@@gavinfry7176
I wonder if US bees getting smaller is in some part a result of varroa mites?
Hi Michael, it was an observation made by Dr. Thomas Seeley and dealt with feral colonies in New York near Ithaca. Since Dr. Seeley had collected specimens from all feral colonies in that forest under Cornell's control, he was able to collect recent specimens and found them to be measurably smaller. It's not a nationwide observation. He did not attribute that to varroa mite survival or the presence of varroa mites. All feral colonies investigated have varroa mites present, according to Dr. Seeley.
@@FrederickDunn Thank you for the reply. I was not stating any supported fact, more a hypothesis that would require testing. I read somewhere that physically smaller bees have a better chance of surviving with varroa mites. I cannot even state their evidence. Just was wondering out loud. Thanks
Thanks!
Wow, John! Thank you. I appreciate the support. :)
Hi Fred, excellent video again. I really liked all of your points today especially other beekeepers being closed off to new ideas/different beekeeping options and your shout out about losing their bees. I’ve experienced all of this through my beekeeping experience over the years. Some is experience some is luck. I’ll keep watching and sharing your videos, thanks again TrickyTrev 🇦🇺👍🐝🍯
Thank you Trev. :) I've done a lot of in-person interviews through the years and have always been frustrated when someone would either walk out, or make a statement rather than ask a question which would have left it open for discussion. I'm more than happy to have someone disagree, but would really enjoy the opportunity to discuss the details and reasoning behind one method or another. I think that many keepers have a habit of clinging strongly to whatever they learn first and then can be personally offended if someone offers another approach or differing information. It's always nice to see your comments.
When is the next live chat? Cheers
I'm not sure... it's hard to plan ahead on those.
@@FrederickDunn ok cool, are the Q&A videos still weekly?
Haha your new beekeeper experience video-ending summary ( 1:32:00 ) is spot on! (Freshman sophomore junior years...) I got a few frames of honey this February from my first year last year but lost the hive due to the wet-cold cycle in February. I had a monster hive (2 deeps +) going this my second year from a 3 lb starter but only grabbed one frame honey early this July then lost the whole hive and all honey due to honey bound swarming and they completely robbed themselves a week later and Im kicking myself for having watched it happen not knowing what was happening (I had actually thought I had a monster swarm come back to move in and had built a second box for them 😢). Going to try again next 3rd year and I'm going to knock them dead (I deserve it what with all the empty queen cells I found and colonys I must have contributed to mother nature). Im going to chance it still with only one 3 lb purchase next march and try to split them next April or May so I have backups, now that I have the second box anyways (😞). Great q &as thank you very much. PS I've got about a thousand bees left in hospice I just check them once a week trying to comfort them as much as possible, I wish they could leave and find another family to finish with, but they're going down with the 🚢 I guess, at least they can clean things up a bit more. Thank you for all your info I'm ready for next year I guess I'll end up doing Italians again but now there's this new race you mentioned I keep hearing about.
Thank you so much, and I'm glad you are sticking with beekeeping. Think of all you've learned.
Great video Fred!!
Quick question, I built slatted rack for both hives. Is it a little late to install them?
Also, I’ve been feeding the bees for two weeks, should I continue? I’ll be doing an inspection tomorrow (Sunday).
Not too late to add those slatted racks. If you're in a dearth and they don't have what they need on, I'd feed for sure.
Catching up on this Q&A tonight, currently harvesting our second flow hive honey super and it's only the first week of spring in Brisbane Australia. Hope all Beekeepers are having a fantastic time whereever you are. Plus no new varroa finds in NSW since the 24th of August which is fantastic news! Peace ! Leo
If they can get a handle on the varroa, I will be celebrating with you! That is definitely fantastic news.
AhHa why didn’t i think of power sugar feeding station bees, love it thanks
Glad to help :)
🛫📖🛬
Mr. Dunn,
Thank you Sir for your tireless effort to bring us the most impactful lectures.
I agree with you that everyone should hunger for knowledge.
But I've got some friends that think they do not have to learn anything else about bees and when you ask them a question, it really shows.
It is written that "fools hate knowledge"
How long ago were you at Cornell and do they now have an online study.
Did you see the inside the hive pictures of the nurse bees actually in the cell feeding the pupa on the video from the channel Inside the House?
I really wish you would do a complete lecture on Artificial Brood Breaks., (And grafting)
GOD Bless
📖🛐✈️🐆🐝🐝🐝
Hi Chuck, thank you right back for being here and watching. Grafting is a wonderful skill, but I don't do it just because I have no need for all of those extra queens. I already have more colonies than I'd like to, and having the bees produce their own queens via walk-away splits, or brood frame introduction is all I've ever needed to do. If I went full-bore commerical, I'd definitely invest in breeder queens and commence a grafting component to keep my stock strong. Are you referencing Inside The Hive TV? Or is Inside the House another bee channel? I'll have to check that out. Cornell as well as Penn State, and Florida State all have online courses. I am a relatively new Master Beekeeper, I received my Cornell University certification in 2021, it takes 15-24 months possibly longer if there are delays or issues with public health that cause in-person presentation hold-ups etc.
@@FrederickDunn
🛫📖🛬
I apologize Sir, that was a typo.
Should have read, "INSIDE THE HIVE"
The header title was;
"SECRET CAMERA REVEALS NEW HIVE BEHAVIOR"
It's only about a seven and a half minute video and this feeding occurs in the first minute and a half.
I was just blown away at this highly complex photography.
To actually see the nurse Bee inside the cell and feeding the pupa and the pupa receiving was absolutely fantastic.
Thank you for sharing the online information I'm going to do some research on them very soon.
I agree and understand everything you said about grafting but I am highly interested in the artificial brood breaks.
I am like yourself, I don't want to over expand and outrun my resources for the area that I'm in but thanks to you I have certainly rethought and explored what assistance I can lend to the bees by planting a more accommodating menu for my little girls.
Up until the cancer hit I was really into cosmos and other such beautiful wildflowers, sunflowers and flowering trees and bushes but now thanks to you I'm making a list of what I want to do come the spring thaw if GOD will allow me the time 🙏
You are responsible for me thinking about everything that blooms differently than I ever did before, even those tiny little things that I took for granted and mowed them down.
I am definitely on board in a big way for
"NO MOW MAY"
ALSO BEING CAREFUL WITH MY CLOVER;
And might even consider a little night time commando dispersal of clover seed from the air. Lol
GOD Bless you for your work and labor of love.
BTW:
My black 🐍 are having a banner year.
A neighbor from down the road brought back one of my little 2nd yr females from down the road this afternoon and he claims she was lurking by the chicken pen and their single entity duck pen.
She was way too small to do any any harm only about 4 ft but I have some beautiful specimens well over six and that's unusual for the majority of them.
Cordially&Best wishes
📖🛐🐆🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
When a colony is preparing to swarm, does the queen come out of the hive and take practice flights?
Are there other reasons why à queen comes out of the hive, takes a short flight then goes back in the hive?
Just saw this happening and never heard or read anything in it. Thank you for your video.
That could be considered part of what's known as a fire-drill. The queen, as well as much of the colony can fly out only to return again and try again on another day, or even later on the same day. One thing is for sure, when you see that, they are going to go eventually. You're ahead if you can then capture the queen and control the swarm by hiving them.
@@FrederickDunn You called it « fire drill ». The beekeeper had just made an inspection and in my opinion used a little too much smoke. There were no signs of swarming. I wondered if they were just getting rid of the smoke within the hive???
The sound made by the queen in her flight sounded like a car that was in need of going in to the garage for a motor job….🤔🤔🤔🤔
I listened to the video I your shout out. Example of the courage needed in agriculture…the Lord’s help doesn’t hurt either in such times.. I may add.
Just had to let you know how greatly i enjoyed your opening sequence of bee in pink cosmos, gorgeous
Oh thank you!