Why I Don't Worry About My Bees During The Winter (Or Try Not To Anyway)
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- In this video I chat about my mindset toward my bees during the winter, and try to stress that you not spend too much time and effort worrying about your bees survival. For the most part, in terms of your bees surviving this winter, what is done is done. It is my recommendation that instead of worrying, you try to figure out where you could have done things differently. I type all of this out because in the video I make it sound like I mean there is absolutely not a thing you can do to affect your bees in the winter. What I mean is the things that kill bees, the things you should be concerned about, those things are said and done. Do get out and scrape your hive's entrance free of dead bees. Do lift your hives up in February or March to see if they need a winter patty. Do blast your hives with oa (but don't expect it to affect this winter's survival!). Don't worry about whether they should have been in one box or two, whether you treated enough, whether it was a good idea to use the screened bottom board.
Now I realize I have to make a video about what you can do during the winter. Expect that in the coming days. Thanks for watching.
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Going on my 4th year, I finally dont worry abouy about my bees in winter. The time to worry is fall, after that there is nothing you can do about it.
Beautifully stated. This is my mindset in a nutshell.
missing your videos and insights??? Hope you are going to post some more.
Looking forward to your first video of the year. Find your videos very down to earth and informative. Thank you for everything you do!
Wonder why he hasn’t posted?
Hey Brett just wondering if all is ok and how your winter went in the U.P. We're missing you and updates with everything,also the great advice you help us with.
I just discovered this channel, wonder where they’ve been?
I agree. I just provide bees with well insulated secure hives. I like how the Canadians put them indoors for winter. If I ever get large scale that's what I would do. They have bee insurance in Canada too. The only thing I worry is hitting down state hive with an arrow while hunting. They came out of a car trunk. I need to build another Lazutin hive before June. Swarm trap does it's job as long as the reds don't move in. Got a good number frames for it. Need to build some unwelcome nail boards for it.
its been a while , i pray your season is going well!
Good to see you out an about enjoying your off time and enjoying doing just what you like to do . Keep your video’s coming when possible. Thanks
Thank you for the comment and the support, Kathy!
My first winter with my 1st hive. Left 1 honey super on and let them manage the 2 8 frame brood boxes. I got the nuc from a fella in Eaton Rapids so they are regionally native winter hearty bees. So, I'm not really worried. Hope you make more content soon
If you have enough hives you don't have to worry. Like myself if few dies it's to easy to replace them during swarm season. Until like when I first started and had 2
Here in eastern Ontario we only have 2 inches of snow this year. Bees will probably fly on Sunday it's going to be warm so I'm happy they will have a chance to clean there gut. This year is turning out to be a good year for the bees as far as I can tell. Hopefully we have another early spring. Great video as always happy winter beekeeping
Yeah I do have to admit it's nice to be able to lose a few and not be devastated.
@@BKBees yes most of the ones I lose are because of robbing early in the fall. Or sometimes they just don't make it threw the winter. But for the most part cold weather doesn't seem to bother them. It's amazing how the hive can survive as long as they have enough weight and a good healthy population of healthy bees going into winter. It really blows my mind how fast they come back from winter as well. Last year I had a hive that only had 3 frames of bees going into winter. I thought it would never survive so I was shocked when it made it. Blew my mind when it caught up with my bigger hives. Then gave me 3 honey suppers, filled its own 2deeps. Swarmed in the fall and still was huge going into winter. We didn't have a killing frost till Halloween here so the fall was something we normally would not see bees finding pollen and nectar. But winter's a good break for use beekeepers, I'm working on making new equipment. Nice to relax sit by the fire with a coffee and dream about warm summer days with bees buzzing. I hope you enjoy your winter I love watching your videos keep up the good work
I hope you had a great beekeeping season. This one was my first with bees and my second year studying bees. We're heading into winter here in Southwestern PA soon. I've done all I can to prepare for my first overwintering and your video was exactly what I needed to hear. Give Max a cookie for being such a good boy when he gets snow stuck in his paws this winter. Take care and thanks for all the vids.
Love your dog!!
More snow than we got right now. Negative temps have been nuts. Pretty confident my bees are staying cozy with the quilt boards and sugar blocks.
Hey where ya been how's it going?
Haven't seen your videos in a while. Hope you are doing ok.
You going bring some content soon??
Happy New Year Bret, Katie and Max :)
Happy New Year, JP!
Hey, Bud, whatever happened to you. You should send out something letting us know
Omg i love your dog 🥰🥰🥰
Yeah he sorta steals the show.
Where have you been ? Are you still posting videos ?
Keep up the great work Brett! Love your videos. Too bad you moved wayyyy Up North... was looking forward to visit you in Newaygo
Doing any more videos? Spring is right around the corner and was hoping for something on doing splits.
Hey I haven’t saw a video from you in a long time. You ok?
Are you going to make a new video soon
Looking forward to some new bee season content man.. Hope all is well!
I'm looking forward to it as well. It was 50 degrees here today.
@@BKBees awesome to hear! We got a week of 60s here in North central WV. I managed to get 7 of 20 colonies through my second winter. I got a couple more weeks then equalize and will split late April and then again late May to get me to 35 colonies. Will buy some mated queens this year no time to wait splitting that much!
Max is full of energy!! QUESTION if snow covers the hive entrance should you clean it off?
Yeah if it's convenient. Not a huge deal though, I've had hives sitting on the ground completely covered with snow for months and come out looking great.
@@BKBees Thanks Buddy!!
What's happened to you been 4 months , I think you have gone into hibernation. Peter 🇦🇺
Outstanding Dog Bret!! 👍
My winter worrying is limited to checking stores. I make sure I have knocked back mites in November, put quilt boxes on to control moisture, and that’s it.we had a nice warm day today and the windshield on my rig is covered with brown spots! Winter is for furniture building and cleaning up, repairing, and building equipment.
Agreed totally, Stu! I do webdev stuff in the winter for the most part,so my Spring is cramped with building/cleaning/repairing. I'll go through and check stores some time in March.
Hay man, where r u . You ok.
missing your videos where ya been,, its bee season almost,,
Brett…..What happened to you?? Are you ok?? Did you give up UA-cam?? 🤷♂️
After 6 years following, I keep looking for a new Video this season and now that it's almost over, I'm worried about how you are doing.
I'm near the end of my 5th year of beekeeping, in SE Michigan. Every year it seems like it plays out the same, no matter how I treat for mites. I lose a ton of hives in late Summer/early Fall, and then most of those hives that are alive at Christmas survive the Winter.
I have three main yards, and one was hit very hard this year, in terms of percent of hive loss in Sept/Oct, and the other two yards have very little hive loss. Same beekeeper, same methods, different result. Any ideas why one yard would fare so much worse, compared to another 1/4 mile distant? A fourth, distant yard was hit hard, but the reason is that I couldn't get out there very often to treat for mites. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I think beekeeping is a very regional thing, and would guess some of those bees got into a mite bomb. If all other things are equal the only things I can think of would be mite bomb or big difference in mite counts going into winter.
You say "no matter how you treat for mites", but that doesn't tell me how often you've been treating. Last year I treated all of my bees with OA in March and April, formic in June and August. Have you ever tried treating more? More frequently, along with mite counts to verify the efficacy?
Hey B&K wondering what happened to you? Is everything ok?
I was thinking about you and Katie after our last snowfall here, 12"
It looks like you're having fun up north. I hope all is well......
All is well, Dwayne. I'll shout at you next time I'm in Fremont. We should get coffee and chat bees.
@@BKBees
Sounds good......
Yo bearded bee man, where yo at
Let's all be as carefree as Max!
Where u at?
Hope all is well in the UP. Why no vids this year?
Down here the worry for me is how warm it is. I have the feeling I’m going to be feeding them much earlier than usual because of increased activity much earlier than usual.
We had that problem pretty frequently in the lower peninsula. Not so much that I'd end up feeding, but enough to put my bees into brood and consume mode.
hey my mothers name was Mary Ellen so I'm interested in seeing about getting some of those queens!
Hi Brett. Almost a whole season with no updates? Please tell us you are just behind on the editing. Would really like to know how the bees overwintered in the UP and production this year
Tough winter. Tough space mentally as far as bees are concerned. Down to one yard. Trying to make videos on my other channel as much as possible but it's just tough right now. Sorry about that.
I do appreciate you guys and your concern, a lot, so thank you for that.
Posting anymore videos?
Are you not doing video any more?
Where you been? Missing your videos
I miss your videos. Are you still doing them?
Max is too cute!!
How did you winter go? Been watching for an update.
Are you still into bees? Haven't seen you around since this video 5 months ago.
Love the intro. "MMAAAAX" lol
lol I thought about cutting that part out but then he runs back to me all super excited right after that so I just left it.
What ever happened to you , no videos for a long time now , Peter Australia.
What's the earliest you do splits in spring? I live in muskegon mi
Haven’t heard from you in a while, how are things going in the UP?
Het where r u man are you OK
Brett, Tim from Napoleon Bee Supply, please reach out, would like to have you give a class/meet and greet with the great bee keepers we have around here next time you are down state
Shoot me an email at brett@bkbees.com and we can chat there. Long story short, I'd love to.
Hi Brett, ive been reading about year round insulation and not sure if the cost makes it worth it. Have you considered an insulated inner cover?
No. My bees do pretty well keeping the temps just fine. I do have some crappy lids that make their job harder, but I haven't seen any deadouts that I'd contribute to lack of insulation.
My mindset on this might be different after this winter. This is our first winter with bees in the UP, so who knows. The lower peninsula though, I wouldn't even consider adding insulation. Healthy heavy bees survive.
I've noticed that when I recorded something now, my mic is disabled. So I check every time. Gets so frustrating when you go through all this and no sound.
I edited the video so I know there's sound. I think the upload must have still been processing?
Sup buddy. Hope you guys are doing well. Leaving all the details behind of doing everything right going into winter. I only have 2 colonies. A week ago it was 65° here. Went to check on them ...everyone is coming and going. Yesterday my one hive just left. Plenty of food and no pest pressure? I think it's strange that the jumped this time of year. It's gonna get cold again. Maybe 50 dead in the hive. Double brood box . Your thoughts will be greatly appreciated. Nature doing its thing? Not gonna stop me from keeping. 😁🏴☠️
There are two possibilities as to why they'd pick up and leave this early, #1 is disease. This is probably more likely, unfortunately, and is very common. At some point a colony under severe mite pressure will just get up and go, seeking refuge elsewhere. We call these mite bombs. Like I said, it's super common, and can be caused by a late season mite load increase, or a slow progression throughout the year.
The second possibility is that you're in a more temperate climate and they were swarmy. I'd be very surprised to find this to be the case unless you tell me you're from Georgia or Texas or something but I think you're from the midwest, right? If that's the case I'd put money on #1 and ask you what you did for mites this last year? What were your counts going into winter? Any signs of disease like spotty brood or deformed wings?
@@BKBees I really appreciate you taking the time to respond!! I'm in Maryland. I treated them 7 days apart for 3 weeks in June and August with ox acid. Then at the end of September when the temperature would allow with the quick straps for a week. I have never seen a mite here after any treatment...screen bb with an indicator board. I know there here but I've never seen one. I want to thank you again for responding. I'm going to replace them with a pack in 2 weeks. I know ...well I think I know it's not serious like foul brood or anything like that...boxes are clean...no diarrhea . Just learning. THANKS BUDDY 😁👍🏴☠️
@@pirateprospecting707 Sounds like you did a good job. Sometimes OA can be less than fully effective though, especially when there's lots of brood. I'd advise to try to either mix in a formic or apivar treatment sometime next year, or to do mite counts each month from July to winter.
I'm glad you're getting more bees to fill the space, just based on the fact that you're trying to figure out what went wrong you're leaps and bounds ahead of most new beeks I come across.
It's a very interesting and challenging process. As you very well know you can ask 10 beekeepers there opinion on something and get 31 answers 😉. The colonie in question still had capped and uncapped honey and were not getting robbed out? I think you where right..they just left a couple at a time because they had a virus. Bee suicide. It looked like normal activity to me. Bret I appreciate your very informative videos. Please keep up the great work 👍🏴☠️🏴☠️
@@pirateprospecting707 I do have to add for anyone reading and for my sanity, my second option doesn't even make sense. In a swarmy situation they leave tons of bees and brood and cells. Don't even know why I suggested that as a possibility. Either way, I think you're on the right track. Good luck, keep the questions coming.
Which company is the best to buy the plastic foundation from
You're probably too busy now to do videos. But you can catch up in the off season if that's the case. Right now is probably the best time to be working them.
We having some weird weather it is light warm flowers are blooming 2 months early bee or flying then calling for it to be in the 20s ain't nothing you can do about it but it has been crazy warm the whole winter one more month to go things should start leveling out if it keeps up we will have early swarms are dead bees. LOL beekeeping right
Yeah that kind of weather always seemed to affect me in the lower peninsula. We'd have Maples blooming in February or January because of some 45 degree days, bees flying and brooding up, it definitely presents a challenge. Not sure the straight 10 degrees until April is better, but at least it's more predictable.
Could you some day create a video about the history of mr. Langstroth...🐝
Such a cool idea. I might do that on the other channel though...
Thank you...🐝
How do you ventilate for the winter in your singles?
I don't. I mean, they have wide open entrances on the bottom, and some of them have upper entrances, but some of them don't. I've not seen a big difference in survival rate based on the ventilation aspect. To be honest though I don't think I have any straight singles going through the winter this year. They all got a honey box added in September, so they're two boxes tall at this point. That was my effort at supplementing them for the longer winter they'll experience here in the UP.
The bees are either going to make it, Or they arent. It's in Mother Nature's hands now
Exactly.
I'm curious if you think some sugar is better than others for bees?
Sugar is processed with sulfur dioxide. And some think this could affect the bees somehow. I don't know if this is true or not. And not going to make an issue on it, other than to collect knowledge; we still would have to feed bees sometimes anyway. So maybe we don't have much choice, especially since sugar can get expensive if you get choosy.
But its something to see what you think.
...
Since some of the apiaries you are at, using, etc, do have bear issues... is your dog an actual security safe guard for yourself also? Maybe he won't fight the bear exactly but maybe an early warning system?
I'm not concerned with sulfur in the sugar. The refinement process is really effective, sulfur is a part of that process, and what it produces is a nearly pure sucrose. More than 99% pure, and the majority of that 1% leftover is residual plant solids. Bees come into contact with sulfur in different forms all of the time, I'm much more concerned with them accessing it in an agricultural sense than I am of the minuscule amount that might be remaining in the sugar that I feed them twice a year.
I don't have a preference toward the source of sugar if the metric I'm using is the bees' satisfaction, I do prefer beet sugar when I consider environmental impact and expense. My ambivalence here is once again a result of that incredibly effective refinement process. If it's white table sugar, you can assume it's sucrose.
3 years ago, over the course of about 3 weeks, I chased a bear away from our hives on 4 separate incidents. One of those times was a bit nuts, I was waiting on the side of our shed about 100 yards away from our hives looking toward the road, which is where the bear had been coming from, but this time he came from the woods and therefore was on the other side of the shed than I was. When I heard him I ran around the shed yelling and smashing a rake into the ground and I basically cornered him against the side of the shed. Luckily he ran off (and he ran off the other 3 times as well)... So, to answer your question, I'm not too afraid of a black bear as long as I don't corner it or get between a momma and her cubs. My bees are behind electric fences for when I'm not there, but when I'm around I'm not concerned too much.
:O Wow. I can see why beekeepers like having dogs now more also.
Thanks for the reply.
@@BKBees so another thing I wanted to ask you.
I'm curious if you think colonies of bees in the wilds will have a higher success rate of survival and overwintering than bees kept close to cities?
An example; one time you mentioned telling a neighbor you wouldn't have 40 colonies in your backyard lol. Um, maybe I worded it wrong. But you know when you start out most of us are using our backyards.
But I'm curious what the difference of survival rate is for bees kept nowhere near cities in beekeeper control, compared to near cities. (Assuming no bear intervention).
@@noahriding5780 Mites would get on top of those bee trees real quick, so we have to talk about this taking the mites out of the equation. After that the question is more what is each colony near? The woodsy colony could be pined in and therefore would have a hard time thriving, whereas the city colony could be like my Fremont, Michigan yard and have access to lots of shrubs and flowering trees and roadside weeds, producing lots of honey. You can also have the inverse, where the woodsy colony has tons of everything, and the city bees are in a cement desert. Everything's regional when it comes to bees.
B&K you said in this video that you were excited to make more beekeeping videos, then you never made another bee video after this one. Maybe you're taking a break and 2024 will be the year you begin making bee videos again.
Caleb sent me. Sub'd & Belled.
0:32 🎧
Can't hear you Brett, or is it just me?
Must have been still processing...
His ears are too much!
Out of business? All your bees dead?