Congratulations for your excellent work. Long time i was waiting for your refined results. I am in Montreal and this year my mortality is more than 50% out of 190 hives. I must change something. Your work is really so deep in the subject ,which is so important for Canadian beekeepers who understand you. Good bless you. Thank You Todor
You have to be one of the smartest beekeeper you have so much data to support your ways I dont understand why I can’t get people to listen to your ways they won’t leave them too entrance alone
Really amazing work, Etienne--as always! Thank you for bringing this to us all. Definitely want to do top insulation and I like the idea of enclosed crawl spaces. I'm afraid mice may, too.
Got to get outside before the storm, I will watch this tonight. Thanks Etienne, you have a great presentation that I will continue to review. So much information, thanks for your efforts. Have a great day! Brice
wonderful presentation. I have learned a great deal from your videos, even though I am not in as severe of a climate as you, I am still planning to implement many of these principles with my hives this year. Thanks so much.
Great stuff, and I think beekeepers all over can benefit from this information. Regarding hive space, I understand that you probably would not want a small colony in a 10 frame box. But assuming a colony can fill and use most of space in the box, wouldn't it be fine or possibly better to have space below them to act as a dead air space while they hang out in the warm air higher up? For example, I typically overwinter in two deep 8-frame boxes. Sometimes I will leave a 3rd deep on to give more of a bumper to the cold air outside. Is this considered harmful space being below the main colony?
At 38:12 where you say 10 watts, what is the time measurement on that? Surely not 10 Wh, since that would mean 24 lb in a day and 10w is far lower than the actual wattage they generate over winter. 10 wattMonths (is that a thing?) is the closest I can figure you mean here. Great content, Etienne!
one table spoon of honey 15ml (15g) is equal 45KJ = 12.5 Wh so 454g (1 lb) / 15g x 12.5 = 378 Wh (energy in 1 lb of honey) / 7 days = 54g (or 45Wh) per day or 0.12 lbs per day which seems about right pre-brood. I adapted the metabolic rate chart in this doco, I also have the original Southwick studies - capabees.com/shared/2013/02/winteringpdf.pdf
@@etiennetardif I'll churn through that doc when I have the focus, since Etienne-class reading takes a bit of energy to get through 😉. I appreciate all the info, thanks again!
Great work! You mentioned that honey captures heat and that there is a difference between the heat capacity of honey made from sugar syrop and that made from nector! I am understanding that you said that honey made from nector has a greater capacity to keep heat than honey made from sugar syrop..?? As a consequence it would be better to leave real honey frames in the hive for winter to help with the temperature besides being a better food source for the bees..??? Did I get that correctly? Thank you!🎉
heat capacity is the same, I am likely using honey and sugar syrup honey interchangeably. sucrose honey in cold climate is typically better especially if you are unsure about your nectar/honeydew sources. If you don't have have any cleansing flights most of the winter than fall feeding with 2:1 sucrose syrup is recommended.
I have another Question. Everyone talks about the insulation of the top and the sides of the hive. My question is in the insulation of the bottom of the hive. You said you did not recommend a scream bottom board. What about insulation of the bottom. No one ever talks about it. How insulated/not insulated should the bottom be. Have you collected any data on this? Another question is if you ever thought of experimenting with a Insulated Layens horizontal hive? I use them because of wintering! I would like to have real data collected on these hives. My bees are nuts that have been left to themselves for at least three years in the wild and have not been treated. In other words, I sort of reversed the experiment if Dr Seeley..???
I advocate the use of open screen bottom boards again in cold climates where there are no cleansing (constant below freezing temperatures) where condensate would stay frozen or risk icing up bottom entrance. I make sure the screen opens into a protected cavity (no wind, or direct contact with outside cold)
Congratulations for your excellent work. Long time i was waiting for your refined results. I am in Montreal and this year my mortality is more than 50% out of 190 hives. I must change something. Your work is really so deep in the subject ,which is so important for Canadian beekeepers who understand you. Good bless you. Thank You Todor
Always happy to help!!...
Thank you Etienne for sharing this info. Looking forward to another epic beekeeping season , as we emerge from winter in a few months.
In the NYC USA area 😁
Sounds great!
You have to be one of the smartest beekeeper you have so much data to support your ways I dont understand why I can’t get people to listen to your ways they won’t leave them too entrance alone
Really amazing work, Etienne--as always! Thank you for bringing this to us all. Definitely want to do top insulation and I like the idea of enclosed crawl spaces. I'm afraid mice may, too.
1/8 hardware cloth below the colony will alleviate your fears... mice do nest in the crawl space... none have ever chewed there way through the poly.
Got to get outside before the storm, I will watch this tonight. Thanks Etienne, you have a great presentation that I will continue to review. So much information, thanks for your efforts. Have a great day! Brice
Sharing is my middle name
wonderful presentation. I have learned a great deal from your videos, even though I am not in as severe of a climate as you, I am still planning to implement many of these principles with my hives this year. Thanks so much.
My pleasure
Great talk! Thanks again 😃
It was fun speaking to another group of nordic beekeepers
Great stuff, and I think beekeepers all over can benefit from this information.
Regarding hive space, I understand that you probably would not want a small colony in a 10 frame box. But assuming a colony can fill and use most of space in the box, wouldn't it be fine or possibly better to have space below them to act as a dead air space while they hang out in the warm air higher up? For example, I typically overwinter in two deep 8-frame boxes. Sometimes I will leave a 3rd deep on to give more of a bumper to the cold air outside. Is this considered harmful space being below the main colony?
At 38:12 where you say 10 watts, what is the time measurement on that? Surely not 10 Wh, since that would mean 24 lb in a day and 10w is far lower than the actual wattage they generate over winter. 10 wattMonths (is that a thing?) is the closest I can figure you mean here. Great content, Etienne!
10W =~ 1lb of honey per week @ 20,000 bees if I remember right
one table spoon of honey 15ml (15g) is equal 45KJ = 12.5 Wh so 454g (1 lb) / 15g x 12.5 = 378 Wh (energy in 1 lb of honey) / 7 days = 54g (or 45Wh) per day or 0.12 lbs per day which seems about right pre-brood. I adapted the metabolic rate chart in this doco, I also have the original Southwick studies - capabees.com/shared/2013/02/winteringpdf.pdf
@@etiennetardif wattWeeks - got it. Thanks for clarifying!
@@etiennetardif I'll churn through that doc when I have the focus, since Etienne-class reading takes a bit of energy to get through 😉. I appreciate all the info, thanks again!
Great work! You mentioned that honey captures heat and that there is a difference between the heat capacity of honey made from sugar syrop and that made from nector! I am understanding that you said that honey made from nector has a greater capacity to keep heat than honey made from sugar syrop..?? As a consequence it would be better to leave real honey frames in the hive for winter to help with the temperature besides being a better food source for the bees..??? Did I get that correctly? Thank you!🎉
heat capacity is the same, I am likely using honey and sugar syrup honey interchangeably. sucrose honey in cold climate is typically better especially if you are unsure about your nectar/honeydew sources. If you don't have have any cleansing flights most of the winter than fall feeding with 2:1 sucrose syrup is recommended.
I have another Question.
Everyone talks about the insulation of the top and the sides of the hive. My question is in the insulation of the bottom of the hive. You said you did not recommend a scream bottom board. What about insulation of the bottom. No one ever talks about it. How insulated/not insulated should the bottom be. Have you collected any data on this?
Another question is if you ever thought of experimenting with a Insulated Layens horizontal hive? I use them because of wintering! I would like to have real data collected on these hives. My bees are nuts that have been left to themselves for at least three years in the wild and have not been treated. In other words, I sort of reversed the experiment if Dr Seeley..???
I advocate the use of open screen bottom boards again in cold climates where there are no cleansing (constant below freezing temperatures) where condensate would stay frozen or risk icing up bottom entrance. I make sure the screen opens into a protected cavity (no wind, or direct contact with outside cold)