🔶 February Hive Check
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- This winter has been mild overall with a two week cold snap in the low single digits. It's time to check their food reserves. Some hives are very light weight.
Filmed entirely on our farm in Adams County, Ohio with a Motorola Z4.
Video compiled with Shotcut.
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#Swarm #Honeybees #Beekeeping2024
#Beekeeping #Beekeeper #Honeybee #Honey
Good to see another video! Spent the day in your area visiting my Uncle in Winchester Feb 3rd 😊
I hope you enjoyed it. We had our first pollen coming in today. I hope to make more videos this year than last year.
Interesting to watch how different environments affect them. Im Northern California so quite a bit warmer, and the bees are very much showing that.
I agree. I love seeing how the bees react to different environments and times of the year. I'm seeing swarms in Texas and Alabama already. We are at least 6 to 8 weeks away up here before early swarms. Thanks for watching.
I am totally new to your channel and really like the working the hives and what your think about as you do it. Today is my first day viewing so will go back to the past uploads. I had two hives and lost one I thought was strong last spring (23) and it was a swarm away ... and it never re-queened. Likely she got it during her mating flight if they made one... I had rarely looked in the hives and will do more so this year... I want to make a second hive and if possible get honey.
Thanks. I'm glad you like them. I show what works for me, what I see as I go thru the hives and why I do certain things.
Video on all the uses of resource hives. What do you do with resource hive for winter. Do with queen. How many does one need
Sounds good. I'll see if I can put one together on this sometime this year.
Great video, they look real good. Look forward to seeing your swarm control methods in the spring. Best wishes from the UK😊
Thanks. Overall I'm happy with them. Lots of young Queens put in late last fall. Once pollen starts to flow, these will grow fast. For swarm control, I use Demaree method. Our spring flow is fairly short but can be intense. Have a great year.
Splitting. I need to make more honey hive. West Virginia
I hope you have a great season. Thanks for watching.
congrats, The last hive you showed, where they were hitting the sugar but still had honey on the outside frames, heat is the reason, all the heat is at the top, IMO, they are warmer and chose to chew on sugar than hit the honey on the outside frames.
I am in Northern Iowa, prolly the same climate, we have had good survivors, not perfect, but better than 80%. looks like you taped off your upper entrance, I did as well, I think this has improved my winter survivors rate myself, bees need condensation water to break down the sugar in the comb. I use reflectix in place of your plastic, it works great, reflecting radiant heat back to hive and does not sag with time. Good video
Thanks. Overall they look pretty good. I'm happy but will keep an eye on them. I definitely prefer closed uppers with insulation under the covers, condensing hive type.
I would like to know how to grow my number of hives the quickest. I would also like to know your input on how to make money with bees.
We can sure talk about this
I bought a Nuclear but been having trouble with other groups trying g to rob them. All months of the year since Iowa has been very warm this year. They have plenty of food with Five Alive sugar bricks along with a bee block I bought. Hopi g for the best for them. Will open hive in a day or so or the top. After all its still Feb here 2024.
Spring will be here pretty quick. Good luck with them
Your bees look good. I'm going out this afternoon to have a look at my bees. (crossing fingers)
I'm happy with most of them. I re-queened a lot late in the year and this did not help the population in some hives. I made a video last fall discussing it. Definitely check your hives.
I'd sure like to find out how someone successfully increased their honey crop. I had 10 colonies last year and only had one I could harvest from. Im 8 years in. Have yiu ever tried the Demaree method.?
I use Demaree every year on my honey production colonies. I made a step by step video on this in 2022 and linked it at the end of this video. There is a little learning curve but it works. In my area, most Beekeepers rarely get over 40-ish pounds per hive. I averaged 125-130 pounds per hive in 2022 and 100 pounds per hive in 2023. These were spring honey only numbers as I rarely get a fall crop. I believe so much in this method, I give presentations of it to many clubs. Give it a look. Thanks for watching.
ua-cam.com/video/egHj8JzAcqo/v-deo.html
May i ask what area you live in.
South Central Ohio, Adams County
What do you get for nectar in that area.
Could be like real-estate location location location lol@@jonclemons1421
Thank you for making great videos! What about making a video with advice on what not to do? I’ve stumbled upon videos where new beekeepers try to teach others about beekeeping and bee biology, but the advice they give may actually be what kills the bees. E.g. they give the bees too much space for the amount of bees in the hive, feed them one to one syrup in freezing winter, boost very week hives with uncapped brood, splitting the brood up in a way it could die from being chilled, not knowing how to use the queen excluder and teaching others how to make a Deamree without ever having done it before and all they end up with is something but a Demaree. Perhaps there’s a value to put some of the most common mistakes new beekeepers could end up doing in one video or make it a series? E.g. give some examples on when it is ok to split up the brood and when it can end up killing it. It could even be helpful to know when the timing is right to do things. I know some of it may be basic, but maybe it could be helpful to some new beekeepers. I’d happily take your advice, being fairly new to beekeeping.
Thanks for the feedback. I have covered a lot of those in the past but I can sure go over these topics again.
I'm a huge fan of Demaree. There are several sub methods to this. I did a step by step video on this a couple years ago on a big, strong hive. Took a few stings in the wrist while finishing it up. I also made a video on Spring Hive Management which is very helpful to newer Beekeepers.
Thanks for the feedback!
ua-cam.com/video/VmvaJSCD5S4/v-deo.htmlsi=jBMoD8iocKYygXIY
ua-cam.com/video/egHj8JzAcqo/v-deo.htmlsi=uyrdCh9Nu4CtMxVJ
I’ve watched all your videos and think they are great, especially the Demaree ones. Only your videos and a lecture of Keith Jardine made sense to me. Will sure try Demaree this year if any of my hives comes out of winter strong enough. Ever tried a rolling Demaree? If so, what is your opinion about it?
@hedoublehockeystick2046 Rolling Demaree can be useful in certain circumstances. One would be for those with an long nectar flow, longer than I have here. Our main flow is 6-8 weeks long, the majority coming in fast for 4 weeks. It can be useful if you have Italian bees as they brood up earlier in the year than Carniolan or Caucasian bees do. With the Italian they are ready to swarm a couple (or more) weeks earlier than my experience with Carniolan bees do thus the Italian might need done with the rolling or continued Demaree. It's all about reading the bees, manipulating them and staying one step ahead. There is a learning curve. My first year was so so with Demaree but I learned a lot. Since there, no problem at all and my honey production soared.
Looking good. Probably a week ahead of us in Fort Wayne. Put sugar bricks on 80% of my hives today. Is there some reason you make your bricks so small? I make mine in 9x12 aluminum pans and an 1 inch+ thick so they will last for awhile. I think mine would go through your small ones in less than a week. Glenn
I make big sheets and while moist I use a pizza cutter to make the bricks. That way I can add as little or as much as needed plus this size fits NUCs too.
With spring coming up soon I'm interested in swarm prevention more than anything else
I made a video on Demaree two years ago, give that a try. I linked it at the very end of this video. I use this method with great success. Thanks for watching.
ua-cam.com/video/egHj8JzAcqo/v-deo.html
Awesome video!! Thanks.
I would like to see queen rearing.
I have done some in the past, I might touch on that again this year.
What camera and tripod are you using. Great quality both near/far.
Filming is with a Motorola Z4 phone on a cheap camera tripod and a Rode shotgun mic mounted on the phone. Thanks for watching.
How do you like the poly hives?
I like them but there are two issues. Tiny ants will burrow into them and create a catacomb and obviously they are not as durable. That aside, I like them.
@tonywestsbees6042 wax moths will eat them too! Haven't noticed any ant damage so far. I'd like to try the 7 frame apimaye Nucs but man having a hard time with the price.
Do you not get condensation from using the plastic?
No. Just a tiny bit around the edges. By using polystyrene insulation under the lid, it prevents condensation above the clusters. There will be some along the edges and the bees will use that water all winter. This is referred to as a condensing hive.
You didn't give us an update on the California queens.
I will as spring approaches.