Shout out to Benjamin Donaldson for the suggestion to color code the beeyard map. Awesome idea! Also, if anyone has a strategy for feeding syrup so close to a flow, I'd love ideas! (I'm referring to my question at 6:11 in the video.) Thanks!
@@AIM54A Pretty sure they feed the pollen to their larvae (which is why they keep it on the brood frames), but the adult bees eat honey (or sugar or sugar syrup). But don't quote me on it. 😬
My advice would be to not put on supers until right before the flow starts and feed if needed before then. I said it in my other post but I don't try to harvest from the spring flow. In my opinion it is to small to get a decent harvest. I leave anything they collect in the spring for them to eat and to use to build comb.
I think the Russian Hive is behaving quite normal. That is where Drones are usually laid. They Queen knows there is lots of resources out there and in the hive. Also swarm season is right around the corner, this is normal for a hive to make lots of drones. My hives are full of them now, I just split them the other day. I think she will find another place to lay more drones. You are correct about the feeding. Right choice that good stuff is starting to come in.
Dude, your production value is nuts. The hive grid, the slowmo shots - pure magnificence. I got no clue what you're working as, but you definitely got a lil Stanley Kubrick in your blood.
I just try to get a little better each time. (With everything, actually!) I appreciate the kind words. Every video I've ever edited is on this channel. If you want to cringe a little, sort by "oldest" and see the evolution. Have a great day.
I just stumbled upon your channel a couple of days ago, and liked what I saw. After watching a couple of select videos. I decided that I like your style and your information a lot. So I've started at the beginning, and am watching ALL of your videos, even if I think that I might not be interested in the content. So far, I'm not disappointed. Thanks for your effort. Doug
"..I don't wanna have russian drones flying through my beeyard"..lol.. sounds reasonable, as I wouldn't like bees with american foulbrood flying through mine..
Hey, I see you're using plastic and regular frames out of wax. I'm thinking about using plastic frames as well. It would be really nice if you could talk about the two frames in your next video and state your own opinion on what you like the most and why.
Awww, that bee that was checking you out was so cute! Maybe you smelled familiar. Bees do end up recognizing their keepers and even learning their habits, and are then way more chill when the person comes around. It’s not the same thing as with, say, a dog, obviously, but that fact still gives me the warm fuzzies
@@vinofarm Lol, nahhh, it was definitely bee-ing your friend. That is my very scientific opinion as a biologist in training. :P (Really tho, I'm sure you're right, and they may play a role in keeper recognition)
Hi Jim, same thing here in Italy with this crazy weather: one day is summer, the next is back to winter (temperature wise). But the flowers have already been blossoming for a while, here, so I'm in a different position. Dandelions have come and gone, fruit trees as well. I'm waiting for the acacias to do their thing, if and when the rain gives us some respite... Nonetheless, I have fed 1:1 syrup to the 3-deep-brood-chamber super-family monster hive you've seen on my Instagram feed. It took them a whole 2 days to suck up 5 litres of it! Then I removed it and supered them with my Flow Frames 3 days ago. They haven't even looked at them, as the weather has gone South again. My suggestion would be to watch the weather forecast, and base your decision on how much 1:1 syrup to feed them on that, in order to time te feeding so they have used the syrup by the time the flow comes and you can super them. Yes, they will move some of that syrup around and possibly mix it with nectar, so you'll possibly get a mixture of nectar and syrup in your honey, but depending on how much syrup you feed them and te intensity of the flow, the percentage of it in the honey could be really low. Hey, it's not poison, and as someone has pointed out it has been enriched with bee enzymes in the meanwhile, so it just won't have the smell of honey, but the other properties will still be there. But I'm 2 years behind you in the learning curve, so giving you lectures while I should only be learning might be a bit preposterous of me
We are on the very edge of apple trees opening. Three weeks later than normal. Dandelions have been UP for weeks, but with the cold and rain, they have been CLOSED more than they've been open. This weekend is the first time we will hit 70F (21C) all year and it should continue all next week. So the Third week of May will feel like the first week usually feels. I think we are finally on the way. (Even though it's raining all morning today!)
Russians were brought to the US and North America because they are more resistant to varroa. I noted that there was no varroa found in the brood comb - this is why many want the Russian traits. I think this is desirable trait you might want to keep?
I really appreciate how you don't overreact. great problem solving. I friend of mine just started her hive in Wisconsin. I completely freaked out when she announced she had received her 'nuc!' I knew what was happening! I immediately linked her to your channel.
Any queen can lay fertile or unfertilized eggs at will, depending on the size of the cell - Any queen mated with mature drones can hold sufficient sperm to lay about one million eggs - I exchange my queens, in my production hives, between 12 & 15 months as that sperm will be used up in high honey production - If queens are let to supersede or swarm, between 3 to 6 months honey production can be lost, or longer - depending on flora supply & time of year
Completely agree with you on the Russian drone situation - if that was a honey frame she wouldn't have any choice but to lay drones in it, not a problem. As for sugar in your supers, don't feed when you have supers on the hives. Let them store the sugar water in the brood boxes, they may move some up into the super later but if they are hungry they will eat it before that happens.
Dual queen hive name idea: Rory and Lorelai (gilmore girls reference and I just like the name!), but now theres only one, so call it Rory coz the story will keep going with her. That or some other famous duo of names with the younger being the one thats stuck around.
Having up to 20% of drones is normal in a hive. By the time summer comes there will be less drones. If you put the drone frame above a queen excluder then the bees will fill the drone cells with honey either after the drones hatch or after they clean the drone cells if you decide to freeze the frame.
I had the exact same thing going in one of my hives. She went up into an old honey frame and laid an entire frame of drones. I also did away with it, mostly based on mite control. However, that hive went queenless about a week later, I'm not sure if I injured her at some point in the inspection or if she really was old enough to get superseded.
OK so question with a question, your solution to feeding when it will be too cold for syrup was dry sugar. Can't you give them that? Which they eat and don't store. Also there are different kinds of sugar. Is one better for the bees than another?
Patrick Edgington Generally, the best sugar for the bees is pure granulated cane sugar. Or pure honey, of course. Dry sugar has been offered as a suggestion, but they actually DO mix it with water and create a liquid syrup they can store. So there is a chance they would mix it into super frames. Very light syrup in small amounts seems to be the best practice. Thanks!
How hard would it be to edit an inspection into a grid of 18 or 20 photos? Look at entire colony in one shot per box. It'd be a heck of a tool. Sit back and count brood etc. You're very close to being advanced beekeeping now.
I lost a hive to a drone laying queen last month. Drone eggs were being laid in worker cells, getting drawn out super far to make up for the smaller cell. There were emergency cells all over the patch of drone brood. At the same time the cluster was dwindling down. Queens weren't available yet, so I pinched the queen and dumped the remaining workers into a recently installed package. I'll be doing some splits and introducing locally raised queens.
You are right to remove the large celled drone comb. To combat mites you'd want comb to be as small as possible. Worker size can vary by some millimeters length without any issues, for that the size a cell could vary minimally in width. A minimal change in width of cell has a much larger impact on length and weight of a bee. The bigger the bee the longer the pupae is in the cell. The mites need 14 days from egg to laying eggs. That's why they prefer dronecomb because then they are safe for 21 days and have loads of mites in cell when it opens up. Small workers can hatch after closing their cell as early as 12 days while bigger workers can take as long as 16 days. So as far as the mite problem goes you'd rather want smaller workers and thus smaller cell size. It doesn't prevent it completely but it does prevent a big exponential explosion in mighty mite count. Yes bigger bees can carry more and stuff like that, but with smaller cells 1 frame can create way more bees and bee population can grow faster because of faster time from egg to bee. Somewhere there is an optimum :)
13:13 finally answers the question I've had stuck in my head: Do all of the bees move out of the way when you stack the hive or close the lid? Guess not 🐝
No. If you're extremely careful it is possible to not crush bees when putting the hive back together. It's very difficult though. If you're running lots of hives eventually you get tired and get sloppy. Them boxes get heavy.
What about a hive you need or think should be fed put food coloring in it so you will have a hue to distinguish between syrup and honey? I've never done it myself what are your thoughts?
I've heard of that. I haven't tried it, but it makes sense. I think we're over the hump now. This video was shot a week ago and things are warming up this weekend. Apples should be opening wide on Saturday/Sunday.
Food coloring may be safe for humans but could have bad effects on bees. Any documentation that it is safe for bees or that there is no reaction with nectar or honey? Interested in adding additional chemicals into a hive that a comb could absorb? If it is not on the list that the FDA allows, than a inspector can make problems if you use it. Gosh folks, use your brain....., it is amazing that people follow other people without using their brain. Besides, bees move nectar, syrup and honey around all the time, especially when nectar flows and brood-rearing is going on. It would be hard to tell if the comb gets stained with food color if you have sugar water in it or if they used the sugar water to feed the brood and refilled the cell with nectar or honey. Bees usually stick the syrup or nectar in any cell they can when the honeyflow nectar is on and then at night when the forager stop bringing nectar in , the bees will put it in the proper location. So sugar syrup and nectar could be mixed when the bees moving it around.....so either one could have coloring to it. You should only feed enough sugar water to feed the brood or the bees, not for the bees to store it.
19:25 What do you do with a frame like that? Do you render the wax? Do you let the bees clean it all up and let them keep the wax? Do you scrape the whole think and throw the wax with the brood?
We have one Russian hive that does awesome with production and surviving the winter but they are aggressive. We tried to re-queen but they made their own and killed the new one we put in. Not sure if I should try to re-queen again or not?
I was hoping to hear you give me a shout out for being correct last week LoL . My hives that have some solid drone brood frames when there's a heavy nectar flow will pull drone brood out and back fill with nectar!
I got my Russian bees about the same time as you got yours. Upon inspection last month I noticed the same thing as you have, lots of drone and the bees had got to be mean. They would attack you the minute they saw you, previously the have been gentle, not now. I figured it was queen time, purchased a new Russian queen at Kelley Bees, found the old put her in a cage. I noticed she just did not look queenly. Evidently I was right, the queen died about a hour later. She was not big as she use to be and I believe she had quit emitting her phermone that keeps order to the hive. No phermone, bees get mean. After a few days with the new queen, bees were back being pretty much normal behavior and eggs everywhere. I have replaced just about all queens in my 30 hives after this. Noticed how much calmer they all are. Bees behavior completely controlled by the Queen. Mean bees, sporatic laying, and lots of drone equals time to requee.
I have 2 Russian hives and they both have done what yours have. I have been told that its a tactic to attract the varroa mites to the drones and away from the worker brood should you have them. Mine are also kinda Hot and Pissy, but man...they really put up the nectar. I have 3 Italian hives and they are much calmer, but also have some drone action, just not on the level that the Russians have. I put just straight sugar out for them before our flow started. Here where I live in Kentucky, our flow started last month, so I brushed what they didn't consume off the frames and they cleaned it out of the hives. Love the videos, keep em coming! Best to you and your family.
Interesting... my Russians build their nest and come to a complete halt on nectar. They ignored a super for 5 months last summer. It wasn't until the fall flow that they decided to use it.
@@vinofarm Mine are the first out in the spring, and right now have filled one honey super already and are ready for another. The Italians I have will surpass them later, but in the beginning, they always seem to be first. The aggressive behavior is what turns me off. 2 Days ago I had set a honey super off to the side to check on the bottom box and they managed to climb up my pants leg and sting me pretty good. I always end up stung around them. Don't get me wrong, I love my bees, but I am going to replace them with Italians when the time comes. I've heard of a "Newish" strain coming from Northern California, That are supposed to bee very hygienic. I'm afraid that they could also be more aggressive, I do not know that for sure though.
great observation about the Russian hive. Upon further review, big cells, good call. I seen a guy color his syrup so he knew where it was. I dont know if I like that idea or not. Your flow should have started by now, 5/17 and you recorded 5/11. man that was a cold spell, my girls didnt come out for 2 days. Nice and cold in MA this year. Good luck great video.
My first spring, I didn't feed. The pear trees were just beginning to bloom. Henbit and Dandelion was blooming. I went to check my one hive and there was a pile of bees and larvae on the ground. They were starving and they were cannibalizing the brood. I always feed in the early spring now.
Could you ad food coloring to the syrup? I remember seeing a cut out video where the bees had been eating a lot of melted Popsicles from a nearby cafeteria, and the honey was rainbow colored because of the food coloring. If the syrup was colored blue, it should show up in the honey produced by the syrup.
I've kept the pollen substitute feeder stocked and they are still taking it. The problem isn't where to feed syrup, it's that they're going to put it in the frames I would be harvesting. At this rate, most of it would be consumed, so it's not too much of an issue, but I just wanted to get feedback about what works for others in that situation. Thanks.
Glen Copeland Tadas are usually saved for newly mated queens’ first eggs or other special occasions. There hopefully will be a lot of tadas and happy jigs this summer.
But if 5000 hatch in 5 days, each, if sucks 40 mg to start work immediately(what she does), you can put 200 grams upon, so 900 g mass/to/mass. Exclusive: heating, flight.
Hey great vids. Did you ever think of stapling coroplast on the inside of the top cover to eliminate mold growing there during winter? Just a suggestion.
I agree, it is a common sense approach. If you provide plastic foundations, there are separate type frames for worker cells and drone cells, right? Plastic drone frames may be green in color. My understanding is the queen will lay the type of egg according to cell size. I cut out excessive amounts of drone cells (on wax foundations or natural wax frames) and the workers usually build worker cells (mid-Spring) in replacements for rebuild. Absolutely admire your informative and innovative videos! Keep up the great work. I am using a lot of your ideas and theories.
@@vinofarm there are three types of lavendar i believe spanish is the early flowering, english is middle then french is last. Dont know if that helps but it would extend the flowering season for your bees. Also buddhlia is also good butni have found it very difficult to get rid of and it does spread easily at times. Also heathers, firethorne, maytrees are good with lots of flowers, thyme and rosemary should also survive where you are.
601salsa Buddelia does not survive our winters. I’ve tried 5 or 6 times. It always dies. Same with Lavender. However, I’m trying a new variety called Phenomenal that is supposed to survive in our zone. We will see. If it works, it should be a good summer nectar source. Rosemary is totally NOT winter hardy here, but oregano, mint and things in that family do well.
@@vinofarm cool learn something every day... i really hope it all goes well and ps i love the rock water feature for the bees that is something i have got to try. Have you seen about horizontal hives?
If they feel like they need drones they build and lay drones, it's what they do in the wild there's nothing wrong with that. The langs we provide and foundations dont have drone cells but hives need drones so they do it anyway they can. Also question, it seems you have a big beautiful property, is there a reason you put all your hives so close? Just read some tom seeley research about distance between hives which was pretty cool and alarming seeing as most of us pack all our hives so close.
Culling drone brood is great for varroa management! Her pattern looks great still too. It is spring! so of course mating is in their sights, drone brood is very common atm of course in healthy quantities. In regards to your flow, if the hive is strong, and they are low on stores, steal a frame of honey from a hive that has plenty. you are right in not wanting to mix syrup etc. But its common for beeks to have honey frames on hand for this purpose. Also single hive management allows feeding before a flow, as they wont put it in a super where you dont want it.
I've already shifted all my honey frames around the bee yard over the last few weeks. I was right on schedule and everything looked fine but then Spring decided to delay by about 3 weeks and the bees have been pent up between cold weather and rain. I think we're over the hump now. Thanks for the tips!
@@vinofarm No problem! It's not a bad idea to keep 1 frame of honey for each of hive you have in a freezer in the fall for the spring in case some are low/no stores. That's typically advice for a backyard beek with fewer hives but something to consider too. Thanks for keeping up with the videos, cheers!
I feel like the Russians are preparing to swarm. Drones are needed for mating season but you could be correct in your assumption of her laying cells that happened to be drone cells. Maybe you could try a Saskatraz queen if you must change her out. Love the videos!
So why do you not put a queen excluder on Balboa if she's got all that laying space below and was already down there? Wasn't sure why some are excluded and some are not.
I have 4 double brood box hives. My hope was they would be my monster hives. I wanted to see how strong I could build them to see what they're capable of. My other hives I'm doing a single deep brood box as an experiment to see how that works. Then I'll compare the two.
Yeah she seems ok, better indicator of a weak queen is a poor brood pattern, not necessarily a lot of drones but too many drones isn't normal either so it seemed a cause for concern. One piece of a frame of drone brood isn't too abnormal though, I agree with your diagnosis. It didn't seem like there was much brood in there though compared to the other hives, maybe it was all young and we couldn't see it on camera though. As far as feeding, you can mix the sugar syrup weaker so they are more likely to eat it as they need it rather than store it. When a flow starts they'll likely not touch the syrup anyway. I'd always give hungry bees food as a precedent though.
I don't feed harversters anyway, just nuclei. And J & B Homeliving is right. Exchanging frames through hives is risky, even if you test for foulbrood, nosema. and many more...you eather rush and push or find out more about bees
Hello well I just found this video it is a lot late on making a comment on it but I like getting my two cents in there 😁. I agree on the different thing you are doing. It looks like you are trying to have all double brood boxes an that is great but on some of them I was thinking I may have moved the queen down for now at this time an maybe try to get honey started above with the flow just around the corner just on the smaller hives but there again you try to build your brood. That Russia queen with the hive getting a little hot ya it may be sooner than later to change her out I think . I like watching your video’s you talk out your ideas an it gets my brain working also about what I think I would do in your setups . I think you an I think a lot alike . Also if you have a uncapping fork they work great on those drone cell checking for mites . Slide it in sideways an lift up to pull the bees out to check for mites . I am in NC . Keep your video’s coming when possible. Thanks
Fewer than 5 crocus flowered and about 20 grape hyacinth. (Out of 1000 each.) On the other hand, the daffodils, tulips, and allium are all growing just fine.
Queen rearing has not even crossed my mind. I'm still trying to figure out the basics. I'm definitely getting better at overwintering, I've started to understand splits and I am hopefully going to experience my first real spring flow over the next few weeks. Once I get the yearly rhythm down I may look into it. Right now, I really enjoy the walk away splits and watching the hives self-queen.
I'm only experienced with Italians, Russians and Carniolans. The Italians are awesome, but the Carnis are really impressing me lately. I look forward to trying others soon.
Will you use your Flow Hives this year for honey? Im curious about your findings with using it. if you do, make sure to use a excluder, I saw 1 video that someone didn't thinking the queen wouldn't lay in it, and she did!
I know its already been said. But any hive you are pulling a flow out of you should not be feeding. So basically if you are feeding a first year hive package, it needs to be done internally. So the other bees will not get into it and take it back to honey supers you are harvesting. Honey supers you are going to harvest for people = do not feed them syrup. Period.
I wouldn't destroyed all of those drones, maybe this was the first time they were going to make new queen cup cells and this just made them take longer to recover a new queen in the making.
We can RE-QUEEN on demand. But also let aunty swarm. Whatever we people do, it was wrong or right or both. Today I nearly suffocated one new green one Bucky in slightly wetted sugar-cake in my pocket. I had to let her be cleaned in supers-bees and nurse-bees directly from queenright and very nasty colony. An hour later she moved normally and was clean. I hope she will still be there in a week. So to save a requeening queen i had to set up a new hive which was not intended. Maybe the nasty bigger "unit" would have torn her apart...
Sourdough is on the back burner for now. I just never got around to filming again. The bread videos are really labor intensive to shoot and take over the house for entire weekends. It's tough with a family. I shot all the original ones in a marathon session when my family was out of town for a week. I have lists of videos I want to make, but with family, house and 'farm' tasks, work, etc... this youtube thing is still just a hobby. The videos that are most difficult to shoot and edit always take the back seat. As far as what I DID upload, I kind of reached the goal I originally had, which was to teach the very basics of how to bake a sourdough loaf with absolutely no experience and inspire people to actually try it. As for more elaborate baking... there are literally hundreds of other great videos on youtube these days on sourdough alone. I appreciate you watching!
I think you absolutely at least for me made that a reality because I did try my hand at making sourdough bread because of your videos. Yes there are a ton out there, but if I'm being honest I really just loved yours because of the way you presented yourself and the way you speak and made it so attainable. Love your channel and what your doing here best of luck with everything. Also I tried planting garlic last year I'm starting to see sprouts! (lower connecticut) thanks for the inspiration♡
My first bees were Russians. Not what I expected in bees. They were mean, and really didn't build comb all that well. They even chased me 180ft to the road. 50ft from the hive they would start dive bombing me. I ended up losing the hives. 2 went queenless and I couldn't get a new queen. The other, just seemed to leave. Hand full of dead bees, but other than that just gone.
I figured that out but it's good to hear that it's a common suggestion. I gave them all a quart of light syrup last week in the middle of a cold, rainy snap. A full gallon seemed like too much.
Vino Farm I also think you are on the right track regarding your drone issue. Big cells usually means drone cells. Hope your flow comes soon. On the other side of the world so we are getting ready for winter. Nowhere near your winters though. Just had to pinch a queen last weekend as she was a certain drone layer. New queen too....sad.
Interesting thought. Hives that need a little food, but you don't want to feed sugar water yet because a flow is about to start. Go to the yard with lots of sugar water in spray bottles. open a box, spray the water on the top of the frames and the bees, do that in each box that has a lot of bees. Its a quick feed for the bees, nothing to store. If you don't have the flow starting very soon though you will be doing that every other day to keep them fed, which would be a bummer.
I think the simple solution (which I just learned tonight!) is to feed a lighter syrup that they are not inspired to store. They'll just consume it as needed until the flow starts. Your idea is good but a lot more labor intensive.
@@vinofarm Yes. Its an idea best kept in a back pocket for emergency feed while you go back to the house to get what is needed for a real feed. Say, after capturing a swarm, or after an inspection showing desperate matters. Or to distract bees while you do something but don't have a smoker. And you should credit Frederick Dunn, its not my idea. I was so busy sharing I forgot to credit him, which was not my intention.
Looks like all is great! You made a great choice with the drone frame. Feeding I would not unless you have no honey in there at all. If your dandelions are opening you should be good.
Dandelions started two weeks ago, but it's been in the 30s at night and alternating rain and cold days. The dandelions have been puckered up all day for a week. THis week we're finally back to warmer times, but when this was shot we were 2 weeks behind on everything.
Great channel, very informative. I have a question for your bee community that I am finding it hard to get an answer to, is it ok to burn the inside of new hives a little with a gas torch,? I blackened three boxes and then wiped them clean with a wet cloth and I blackened one frame as well. Any ideas about this?
People usually don't do anything to the insides of their hives. They decorate and seal the outside, but leave the inside untreated. Not sure if burning it would be harmful, but also not sure it would benefit much.
Some people are doing it when they expect a disease inside the hive. But it does not make sense. In order to kill bacteria and spores you need to keep 240F for 90 minutes. A short burn of the hive or frame will do nothing except to char the inside which makes it harder to clean.
J & B Homeliving, yes although here in Australia we find a lot of hives in burnt out hollow logs in the bush, I thought the carbon might be attractive to bees as it is sterile clean and very insulative, I will experiment.👍
@@sipplix Very good points. I can see where such log could burn long and hot enough to kill living things. Maybe a burned log provides a bigger cavity and the charcoal can be easy removed by bees to increase the cavity even more. Do the bees leave the charcoal/char intact?
@Vino Farm this frame position (second position from side) is used by European bees for drones. I guess, they will try to have drones again at this position.
When you replace the Russians, do you consider a Buckfast queen ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckfast_bee ) ? Also, out of curiosity, how old are you ? It's hard to guess due to your ever-changing beard. About the (temporary) naming of your hives: You could just number them until they survived their first winter. On a side note: It puzzles me that your queen CoRNELIA is not a CaRNEoLIAn queen but italian.
@@julie4178 I do 2-3 hundred grafts a season, Never had an issue, I dilute with 50% demineralised water. But at the end of the day, It does not matter. As the bees will remove it and replace it with their own, I only use it to keep the larvae moist as the Jelly is more sticky than just water....
Hmmm....ya know for whatever reason that the ladies have pulled that out to be drone sized cells. Maybe it's time to just take the comb completely off that frame and let them redraw it out. I don't think you want to add it to another box only to get another frame of drones. Bees are lazy! They will clean it up, but why bother with new construction on a perfectly good drone cell! Ooo I see you colored painted some entrances! :D PS from the last video "so much poop"! It's been tickling the back of my head with a flag. If it's since cleared up, it's probably nothing, but bees pooping so much on their hives is indicative of a sickness no? I can't even remember which disease right now....nosema maybe. However, it had been cold and having a bit of that isn't unusual after being cooped up either. Anyone else remember? Maybe my brains is malfunctioning 😝 PPS loved the intro shot with the bees flying around!!!
18:06 Yeah, it's a shame. But the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. Def don't want to start the year without knowing of an infestation.
I personally don't like using foundationless frames because of the drones. It seems I always get way more drones on foundationless frames. I also don't try to get a harvest from dandelions and apples. I let the bees have that little flow for themselves to start storing away and to build comb with. Near my house the early spring flow is long enough to get a harvest out of. Maybe you have a lot more dandelions and apple trees near you but in my 4 years I haven't seen a big enough flow to even consider it. My first harvestable flow is mid June to mid July.
I've never experienced the spring flow. This is the first time I've had really strong hives at this time of year. Still learning how these next couple months work with strong hives. I'm usually feeding right into June.
Vino Farm I’m in Palmer and it’s my experience that when the dandelions and apples are starting to bloom is when I stop feeding. I generally only give them a little at a time so I can control how much syrup they get and I only give it to hives that need it. I’m trying to get hives to expand and draw any comb that they will. This is also the time that I do splits to replace any winter loses or to stop swarming. I will usually put supers on at the beginning of June to get the summer flow. I then harvest those frames mid July and give them a little syrup as needed. At that time I will treat with oxalic acid for 3 weeks while there is no supers. Mid August I put supers back on for goldenrod. I harvest that early to mid September and then treat with oxalic again and feed until they stop taking it. This has worked well for me for 4 years. It may or may not work for you. I think that the important thing is finding what works best for you and do that. Even though we live close together there are subtle differences which effect things.
@@BLachance75 Your calendar is similar to what I'm thinking. We don't have a summer flow, but everything else is almost the same. Just the timing is a bit later. I was all ready to stop worrying about feeding when the dandelions poked up, but then we got two weeks of rain and cold and the hives emptied out. That was my dilemma. The 'flow' was sort of sitting there but they couldn't get it. We finally have warm weather now. (for the moment.)
Vino Farm yeah all of the dandelions around me are gone. I guess that means I have to mow the lawn now. My bees did get on them for a few days but it didn’t last as long as I would’ve hoped. Hopefully the weather is turning for the better. I’m sick of it raining on my days off.
Does it really matter if they're eating sugar, syrup, or nectar? I though it all became honey out the other end. I imagine it would be lighter in color but wouldn't it still be honey?
Honey isn't bee poop, it's when they eat nectar, regurgitate it let their enzymes do their work, and evaporate water from it. I'm pretty sure the bees eat the honey (or sugar or sugar syrup), while they feed the pollen to their larvae. 😊
@@PetWessman That is true, I spoke a bit of turn. I was thinking at the other end of the process :) Though it is that enzymatic process that makes me curious. ifixoldhouses mentioned it was mostly sucrose but that is one form along with a few others, of sugar found in nectar. From what I can find nectar is natures sugar water with a few other bits in. so it /seems/ to my minds eye that sugar, syrup, or fondant mixed with magic bee enzymes would still yield honey of a different flavor than wild gathered honey.
@@terrynitro5330 - they're a hardy breed from Saskatchewan, now being bred in Northern California. In my limited experience, so far, the hives have been they're more mild mannered than Russians, but not quite as chill as Carniolans. However, they're more robust to winter and have resistance to varroa mites. Here's some additional information: www.saskatraz.com/
That's why i comment, I know you are going to question my answer and do your own research. That is what people need to do more of. Ask 10 different bee keepers the same question and get 10 different answers. But i don't think there is a bee keeper out there that has more experience catching swarms on a hay rake than me. Lol
Ha ha. I've never even SEEN a swarm. They just don't really happen here. Or if they do it's really rare to catch one. Someday I'll experience that magic.
So, around the 15min mark you flipped boxes to force the Queen to travel up, into the lower box. I'm curious if anyone has used a spacer piece to mount the mouse guard to, so that all the boxes sat on top would be interchangeable no matter what. This could be a neat little hack for those medium boxes, since they're already adding onto them when you put them into a super/deep. Medium Box + Mouse Guard Spacer = Deep Box? Just maybe not with the Russians, since they make crazy comb all over the place
Whatever box is on bottom sits on the bottom board and there is a space that appears below the box for the entrance. My mouse guards sit on the face of the boxes so moving them is not too difficult.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #30 ДВА В ОДНОМ [Один человек]• Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nrXy15orKhY/mqdefault.jpg)
Shout out to Benjamin Donaldson for the suggestion to color code the beeyard map. Awesome idea! Also, if anyone has a strategy for feeding syrup so close to a flow, I'd love ideas! (I'm referring to my question at 6:11 in the video.) Thanks!
Can you just feed them pollen until the flow? If they don't take the pollen then they're probably getting what they need somewhere else.
I have a great run from my Carnies....
@@AIM54A Pretty sure they feed the pollen to their larvae (which is why they keep it on the brood frames), but the adult bees eat honey (or sugar or sugar syrup). But don't quote me on it. 😬
@@julie4178 This is good to know.
My advice would be to not put on supers until right before the flow starts and feed if needed before then. I said it in my other post but I don't try to harvest from the spring flow. In my opinion it is to small to get a decent harvest. I leave anything they collect in the spring for them to eat and to use to build comb.
I think the Russian Hive is behaving quite normal. That is where Drones are usually laid. They Queen knows there is lots of resources out there and in the hive. Also swarm season is right around the corner, this is normal for a hive to make lots of drones. My hives are full of them now, I just split them the other day. I think she will find another place to lay more drones. You are correct about the feeding. Right choice that good stuff is starting to come in.
Dude, your production value is nuts. The hive grid, the slowmo shots - pure magnificence. I got no clue what you're working as, but you definitely got a lil Stanley Kubrick in your blood.
I just try to get a little better each time. (With everything, actually!) I appreciate the kind words. Every video I've ever edited is on this channel. If you want to cringe a little, sort by "oldest" and see the evolution. Have a great day.
I just stumbled upon your channel a couple of days ago, and liked what I saw. After watching a couple of select videos. I decided that I like your style and your information a lot. So I've started at the beginning, and am watching ALL of your videos, even if I think that I might not be interested in the content. So far, I'm not disappointed. Thanks for your effort. Doug
DOUG VOGT Welcome. Thanks for stopping by!
You can feed them with dry sugar, as they wont store it in the cells - but only consume it.
"..I don't wanna have russian drones flying through my beeyard"..lol.. sounds reasonable,
as I wouldn't like bees with american foulbrood flying through mine..
"Frame of Drones." 😁:snort!:
real talk, this channel helps with my anxiety so much, it’s so calming to listen to and it’s super interesting
"Russians doing russian things" hahahahaha you're videos are amazing!!! Thank you for all the work you do!
Hey,
I see you're using plastic and regular frames out of wax. I'm thinking about using plastic frames as well. It would be really nice if you could talk about the two frames in your next video and state your own opinion on what you like the most and why.
Awww, that bee that was checking you out was so cute! Maybe you smelled familiar. Bees do end up recognizing their keepers and even learning their habits, and are then way more chill when the person comes around. It’s not the same thing as with, say, a dog, obviously, but that fact still gives me the warm fuzzies
Either than or I was covered in pheremones after opening 6 hives!
@@vinofarm Lol, nahhh, it was definitely bee-ing your friend. That is my very scientific opinion as a biologist in training. :P
(Really tho, I'm sure you're right, and they may play a role in keeper recognition)
@@vinofarm The bee might have been after your sweat. They like water with minerals and salt.
Hi Jim,
same thing here in Italy with this crazy weather: one day is summer, the next is back to winter (temperature wise). But the flowers have already been blossoming for a while, here, so I'm in a different position. Dandelions have come and gone, fruit trees as well. I'm waiting for the acacias to do their thing, if and when the rain gives us some respite...
Nonetheless, I have fed 1:1 syrup to the 3-deep-brood-chamber super-family monster hive you've seen on my Instagram feed. It took them a whole 2 days to suck up 5 litres of it! Then I removed it and supered them with my Flow Frames 3 days ago. They haven't even looked at them, as the weather has gone South again.
My suggestion would be to watch the weather forecast, and base your decision on how much 1:1 syrup to feed them on that, in order to time te feeding so they have used the syrup by the time the flow comes and you can super them.
Yes, they will move some of that syrup around and possibly mix it with nectar, so you'll possibly get a mixture of nectar and syrup in your honey, but depending on how much syrup you feed them and te intensity of the flow, the percentage of it in the honey could be really low. Hey, it's not poison, and as someone has pointed out it has been enriched with bee enzymes in the meanwhile, so it just won't have the smell of honey, but the other properties will still be there.
But I'm 2 years behind you in the learning curve, so giving you lectures while I should only be learning might be a bit preposterous of me
We are on the very edge of apple trees opening. Three weeks later than normal. Dandelions have been UP for weeks, but with the cold and rain, they have been CLOSED more than they've been open. This weekend is the first time we will hit 70F (21C) all year and it should continue all next week. So the Third week of May will feel like the first week usually feels. I think we are finally on the way. (Even though it's raining all morning today!)
By removing the drone frame you actually reduce a lot the varroa mites population of the hive. Good choice! Cheers from Italy.
Russians were brought to the US and North America because they are more resistant to varroa. I noted that there was no varroa found in the brood comb - this is why many want the Russian traits. I think this is desirable trait you might want to keep?
I really appreciate how you don't overreact. great problem solving. I friend of mine just started her hive in Wisconsin. I completely freaked out when she announced she had received her 'nuc!' I knew what was happening! I immediately linked her to your channel.
Any queen can lay fertile or unfertilized eggs at will, depending on the size of the cell -
Any queen mated with mature drones can hold sufficient sperm to lay about one million eggs -
I exchange my queens, in my production hives, between 12 & 15 months as that sperm will be used up in high honey production -
If queens are let to supersede or swarm, between 3 to 6 months honey production can be lost, or longer - depending on flora supply & time of year
I love watching your videos when I'm stuck in hospital. Thank you for providing me with entertainment in something I am interested in.
Tatiana Addison Glad to have you watching. I hope you’re well.
Suggestion for the dual-queen hive: Pisces
Completely agree with you on the Russian drone situation - if that was a honey frame she wouldn't have any choice but to lay drones in it, not a problem. As for sugar in your supers, don't feed when you have supers on the hives. Let them store the sugar water in the brood boxes, they may move some up into the super later but if they are hungry they will eat it before that happens.
Russian or not, I’m getting a bit of a soft spot for Queen Drago in her old age.
Dual queen hive name idea:
Rory and Lorelai (gilmore girls reference and I just like the name!), but now theres only one, so call it Rory coz the story will keep going with her.
That or some other famous duo of names with the younger being the one thats stuck around.
Having up to 20% of drones is normal in a hive.
By the time summer comes there will be less drones.
If you put the drone frame above a queen excluder then the bees will fill the drone cells with honey either after the drones hatch or after they clean the drone cells if you decide to freeze the frame.
I had the exact same thing going in one of my hives. She went up into an old honey frame and laid an entire frame of drones. I also did away with it, mostly based on mite control. However, that hive went queenless about a week later, I'm not sure if I injured her at some point in the inspection or if she really was old enough to get superseded.
OK so question with a question, your solution to feeding when it will be too cold for syrup was dry sugar. Can't you give them that? Which they eat and don't store. Also there are different kinds of sugar. Is one better for the bees than another?
Patrick Edgington Generally, the best sugar for the bees is pure granulated cane sugar. Or pure honey, of course. Dry sugar has been offered as a suggestion, but they actually DO mix it with water and create a liquid syrup they can store. So there is a chance they would mix it into super frames. Very light syrup in small amounts seems to be the best practice. Thanks!
That first shot was awesome. Great frame. Cinematography-wise, but the hive frames are cool too.
That shot is one of my top Instagram posts ever. It was a magic moment. Thanks!
How hard would it be to edit an inspection into a grid of 18 or 20 photos? Look at entire colony in one shot per box.
It'd be a heck of a tool. Sit back and count brood etc.
You're very close to being advanced beekeeping now.
That would be a lot of editing and production. It would look cool, though!
I lost a hive to a drone laying queen last month. Drone eggs were being laid in worker cells, getting drawn out super far to make up for the smaller cell. There were emergency cells all over the patch of drone brood. At the same time the cluster was dwindling down. Queens weren't available yet, so I pinched the queen and dumped the remaining workers into a recently installed package. I'll be doing some splits and introducing locally raised queens.
You are right to remove the large celled drone comb. To combat mites you'd want comb to be as small as possible. Worker size can vary by some millimeters length without any issues, for that the size a cell could vary minimally in width. A minimal change in width of cell has a much larger impact on length and weight of a bee. The bigger the bee the longer the pupae is in the cell. The mites need 14 days from egg to laying eggs. That's why they prefer dronecomb because then they are safe for 21 days and have loads of mites in cell when it opens up. Small workers can hatch after closing their cell as early as 12 days while bigger workers can take as long as 16 days. So as far as the mite problem goes you'd rather want smaller workers and thus smaller cell size. It doesn't prevent it completely but it does prevent a big exponential explosion in mighty mite count.
Yes bigger bees can carry more and stuff like that, but with smaller cells 1 frame can create way more bees and bee population can grow faster because of faster time from egg to bee. Somewhere there is an optimum :)
Thanks for the info.
I saw another bee keeper add brood comb and queen started laying worker brood again. IDK but it's a try.
13:13 finally answers the question I've had stuck in my head: Do all of the bees move out of the way when you stack the hive or close the lid? Guess not 🐝
No. If you're extremely careful it is possible to not crush bees when putting the hive back together.
It's very difficult though. If you're running lots of hives eventually you get tired and get sloppy. Them boxes get heavy.
What about a hive you need or think should be fed put food coloring in it so you will have a hue to distinguish between syrup and honey? I've never done it myself what are your thoughts?
I've heard of that. I haven't tried it, but it makes sense. I think we're over the hump now. This video was shot a week ago and things are warming up this weekend. Apples should be opening wide on Saturday/Sunday.
That idea is too good to be new. But I have never heard it before! Brilliant!
Food coloring may be safe for humans but could have bad effects on bees.
Any documentation that it is safe for bees or that there is no reaction with nectar or honey?
Interested in adding additional chemicals into a hive that a comb could absorb?
If it is not on the list that the FDA allows, than a inspector can make problems if you use it.
Gosh folks, use your brain....., it is amazing that people follow other people without using their brain.
Besides, bees move nectar, syrup and honey around all the time, especially when nectar flows and brood-rearing is going on. It would be hard to tell if the comb gets stained with food color if you have sugar water in it or if they used the sugar water to feed the brood and refilled the cell with nectar or honey. Bees usually stick the syrup or nectar in any cell they can when the honeyflow nectar is on and then at night when the forager stop bringing nectar in , the bees will put it in the proper location. So sugar syrup and nectar could be mixed when the bees moving it around.....so either one could have coloring to it.
You should only feed enough sugar water to feed the brood or the bees, not for the bees to store it.
Thank you for the insight.
@@FloryJohann
I've never seen the list you mention, good to know. Thanks for engaging brain!
19:25 What do you do with a frame like that? Do you render the wax? Do you let the bees clean it all up and let them keep the wax? Do you scrape the whole think and throw the wax with the brood?
Put on honey supers asap. You have to think 2 weeks ahead of them. Getting hot soon. Put the wacky frame on the outside, they will fill it with honey.
I'll be adding this weekend. First 70ºF day of the month might happen! We're so far behind.
The last part is oddly satisfying in a gross kinda way. Poor bees though. Lol
We have one Russian hive that does awesome with production and surviving the winter but they are aggressive. We tried to re-queen but they made their own and killed the new one we put in. Not sure if I should try to re-queen again or not?
I was hoping to hear you give me a shout out for being correct last week LoL . My hives that have some solid drone brood frames when there's a heavy nectar flow will pull drone brood out and back fill with nectar!
Thanks for sticking up for the Russian Queen!
I'm glad she's doing great!
I'm addicted to your bee keeping videos. Keep up your excellent work
I got my Russian bees about the same time as you got yours. Upon inspection last month I noticed the same thing as you have, lots of drone and the bees had got to be mean. They would attack you the minute they saw you, previously the have been gentle, not now. I figured it was queen time, purchased a new Russian queen at Kelley Bees, found the old put her in a cage. I noticed she just did not look queenly. Evidently I was right, the queen died about a hour later. She was not big as she use to be and I believe she had quit emitting her phermone that keeps order to the hive. No phermone, bees get mean. After a few days with the new queen, bees were back being pretty much normal behavior and eggs everywhere. I have replaced just about all queens in my 30 hives after this. Noticed how much calmer they all are. Bees behavior completely controlled by the Queen. Mean bees, sporatic laying, and lots of drone equals time to requee.
I have 2 Russian hives and they both have done what yours have. I have been told that its a tactic to attract the varroa mites to the drones and away from the worker brood should you have them. Mine are also kinda Hot and Pissy, but man...they really put up the nectar. I have 3 Italian hives and they are much calmer, but also have some drone action, just not on the level that the Russians have. I put just straight sugar out for them before our flow started. Here where I live in Kentucky, our flow started last month, so I brushed what they didn't consume off the frames and they cleaned it out of the hives. Love the videos, keep em coming! Best to you and your family.
Interesting... my Russians build their nest and come to a complete halt on nectar. They ignored a super for 5 months last summer. It wasn't until the fall flow that they decided to use it.
@@vinofarm Mine are the first out in the spring, and right now have filled one honey super already and are ready for another. The Italians I have will surpass them later, but in the beginning, they always seem to be first. The aggressive behavior is what turns me off. 2 Days ago I had set a honey super off to the side to check on the bottom box and they managed to climb up my pants leg and sting me pretty good. I always end up stung around them. Don't get me wrong, I love my bees, but I am going to replace them with Italians when the time comes. I've heard of a "Newish" strain coming from Northern California, That are supposed to bee very hygienic. I'm afraid that they could also be more aggressive, I do not know that for sure though.
great observation about the Russian hive. Upon further review, big cells, good call. I seen a guy color his syrup so he knew where it was. I dont know if I like that idea or not. Your flow should have started by now, 5/17 and you recorded 5/11. man that was a cold spell, my girls didnt come out for 2 days. Nice and cold in MA this year. Good luck great video.
My first spring, I didn't feed. The pear trees were just beginning to bloom. Henbit and Dandelion was blooming. I went to check my one hive and there was a pile of bees and larvae on the ground. They were starving and they were cannibalizing the brood. I always feed in the early spring now.
what do you do with that frame? Clean it and reuse, adding a starter panel, toss it, or burn it???
I think the Russian quee is just fine! The frame was idd just a drone frame.
Could you ad food coloring to the syrup? I remember seeing a cut out video where the bees had been eating a lot of melted Popsicles from a nearby cafeteria, and the honey was rainbow colored because of the food coloring. If the syrup was colored blue, it should show up in the honey produced by the syrup.
the opening was cool
While waiting for the nectar flow have you considered a free feed system placed away from the hives? Maybe feed pollen replacement in a feeder.
I've kept the pollen substitute feeder stocked and they are still taking it. The problem isn't where to feed syrup, it's that they're going to put it in the frames I would be harvesting. At this rate, most of it would be consumed, so it's not too much of an issue, but I just wanted to get feedback about what works for others in that situation. Thanks.
Totally understand that, bees keep you on your toes that's for sure!
at 8:41 there was no Ta Da, I miss that
Glen Copeland Tadas are usually saved for newly mated queens’ first eggs or other special occasions. There hopefully will be a lot of tadas and happy jigs this summer.
@@vinofarm Looking forward to it
But if 5000 hatch in 5 days, each, if sucks 40 mg to start work immediately(what she does), you can put 200 grams upon, so 900 g mass/to/mass. Exclusive: heating, flight.
Hey great vids. Did you ever think of stapling coroplast on the inside of the top cover to eliminate mold growing there during winter? Just a suggestion.
As far as im concered you are the only UA-camr that really knows what they are doing.
What did you do / are planning to do with the drone brood? Melt down the wax?
I agree, it is a common sense approach. If you provide plastic foundations, there are separate type frames for worker cells and drone cells, right? Plastic drone frames may be green in color. My understanding is the queen will lay the type of egg according to cell size. I cut out excessive amounts of drone cells (on wax foundations or natural wax frames) and the workers usually build worker cells (mid-Spring) in replacements for rebuild.
Absolutely admire your informative and innovative videos! Keep up the great work. I am using a lot of your ideas and theories.
Ever considered planting a lavendar farm around your bee hives?
601salsa I have 200 new lavender plants that I will be planting soon.
@@vinofarm there are three types of lavendar i believe spanish is the early flowering, english is middle then french is last. Dont know if that helps but it would extend the flowering season for your bees. Also buddhlia is also good butni have found it very difficult to get rid of and it does spread easily at times. Also heathers, firethorne, maytrees are good with lots of flowers, thyme and rosemary should also survive where you are.
601salsa Buddelia does not survive our winters. I’ve tried 5 or 6 times. It always dies. Same with Lavender. However, I’m trying a new variety called Phenomenal that is supposed to survive in our zone. We will see. If it works, it should be a good summer nectar source. Rosemary is totally NOT winter hardy here, but oregano, mint and things in that family do well.
@@vinofarm cool learn something every day... i really hope it all goes well and ps i love the rock water feature for the bees that is something i have got to try. Have you seen about horizontal hives?
@@vinofarm I grow Phenomenal Lavender. It does really well up north.
If they feel like they need drones they build and lay drones, it's what they do in the wild there's nothing wrong with that. The langs we provide and foundations dont have drone cells but hives need drones so they do it anyway they can. Also question, it seems you have a big beautiful property, is there a reason you put all your hives so close? Just read some tom seeley research about distance between hives which was pretty cool and alarming seeing as most of us pack all our hives so close.
Culling drone brood is great for varroa management! Her pattern looks great still too. It is spring! so of course mating is in their sights, drone brood is very common atm of course in healthy quantities.
In regards to your flow, if the hive is strong, and they are low on stores, steal a frame of honey from a hive that has plenty. you are right in not wanting to mix syrup etc. But its common for beeks to have honey frames on hand for this purpose. Also single hive management allows feeding before a flow, as they wont put it in a super where you dont want it.
I've already shifted all my honey frames around the bee yard over the last few weeks. I was right on schedule and everything looked fine but then Spring decided to delay by about 3 weeks and the bees have been pent up between cold weather and rain. I think we're over the hump now. Thanks for the tips!
@@vinofarm No problem! It's not a bad idea to keep 1 frame of honey for each of hive you have in a freezer in the fall for the spring in case some are low/no stores. That's typically advice for a backyard beek with fewer hives but something to consider too. Thanks for keeping up with the videos, cheers!
Can I ask. That frame of drones at the end. Is it possible or indeed worthwhile trying to recover the wax from that frame?
Usually not worth the hassle. It's pretty messy.
I feel like the Russians are preparing to swarm. Drones are needed for mating season but you could be correct in your assumption of her laying cells that happened to be drone cells. Maybe you could try a Saskatraz queen if you must change her out. Love the videos!
So why do you not put a queen excluder on Balboa if she's got all that laying space below and was already down there? Wasn't sure why some are excluded and some are not.
I have 4 double brood box hives. My hope was they would be my monster hives. I wanted to see how strong I could build them to see what they're capable of. My other hives I'm doing a single deep brood box as an experiment to see how that works. Then I'll compare the two.
Hey Vino, i got my frames, boxes and Russian bees on the way. Never been a bee keeper but watch you alot. Any advice? Haha
I love this channel , this is my favorite bee channel . I’m surprised he doesn’t have more followers , it’s such a fun channel .
Yeah she seems ok, better indicator of a weak queen is a poor brood pattern, not necessarily a lot of drones but too many drones isn't normal either so it seemed a cause for concern. One piece of a frame of drone brood isn't too abnormal though, I agree with your diagnosis. It didn't seem like there was much brood in there though compared to the other hives, maybe it was all young and we couldn't see it on camera though.
As far as feeding, you can mix the sugar syrup weaker so they are more likely to eat it as they need it rather than store it. When a flow starts they'll likely not touch the syrup anyway. I'd always give hungry bees food as a precedent though.
I hadn't thought of using lighter syrup. "Queen Bee" mentioned that above as well. Another learning moment in the comments!
I don't feed harversters anyway, just nuclei.
And J & B Homeliving is right. Exchanging frames through hives is risky, even if you test for foulbrood, nosema. and many more...you eather rush and push or find out more about bees
you are confussing the guard bees when you keep switching top and bottom boxes
You channel has sucked me into beekeeping it is so cool to learn as you learn and see the bees work and live
Hello well I just found this video it is a lot late on making a comment on it but I like getting my two cents in there 😁. I agree on the different thing you are doing. It looks like you are trying to have all double brood boxes an that is great but on some of them I was thinking I may have moved the queen down for now at this time an maybe try to get honey started above with the flow just around the corner just on the smaller hives but there again you try to build your brood. That Russia queen with the hive getting a little hot ya it may be sooner than later to change her out I think . I like watching your video’s you talk out your ideas an it gets my brain working also about what I think I would do in your setups . I think you an I think a lot alike . Also if you have a uncapping fork they work great on those drone cell checking for mites . Slide it in sideways an lift up to pull the bees out to check for mites . I am in NC . Keep your video’s coming when possible. Thanks
did any of your crocuses and other flowers bloom? I know you said you saw a few shoots earlier
Fewer than 5 crocus flowered and about 20 grape hyacinth. (Out of 1000 each.) On the other hand, the daffodils, tulips, and allium are all growing just fine.
@@vinofarm oh no, I'm sorry about the crocus and the grape hyacinth :(. Was it because it had been so wet and cold?
Have you ever thought of trying queen rearing maybe just as an experiment and making a video about it? Love your channel!
Queen rearing has not even crossed my mind. I'm still trying to figure out the basics. I'm definitely getting better at overwintering, I've started to understand splits and I am hopefully going to experience my first real spring flow over the next few weeks. Once I get the yearly rhythm down I may look into it. Right now, I really enjoy the walk away splits and watching the hives self-queen.
What is your favourite bee to keep? I like my buckfasts. I have carnolians but both of those hives are pretty aggressive.
I'm only experienced with Italians, Russians and Carniolans. The Italians are awesome, but the Carnis are really impressing me lately. I look forward to trying others soon.
Is your frame of drones gonna be burnt into ashes using the command dracarys?
What are your plans with that old drone comb? I don't think you can really melt down comb that has been laid in
I left it out and the birds gobbled up the pupae. It's pretty destroyed now.
The worst part about being here so early is I don't get to read the comments talking about that huge drone frame.
Slippery Orca Too bad you’re not allowed to come back after you’ve watched the video once. There’s 318 comments now!
Will you use your Flow Hives this year for honey? Im curious about your findings with using it. if you do, make sure to use a excluder, I saw 1 video that someone didn't thinking the queen wouldn't lay in it, and she did!
Stay tuned. There has not been an opportunity yet, but this weekend, it might happen.
I know its already been said. But any hive you are pulling a flow out of you should not be feeding.
So basically if you are feeding a first year hive package, it needs to be done internally. So the other bees will not get into it and take it back to honey supers you are harvesting.
Honey supers you are going to harvest for people = do not feed them syrup. Period.
I wouldn't destroyed all of those drones, maybe this was the first time they were going to make new queen cup cells and this just made them take longer to recover a new queen in the making.
the waggle dancer, He's a Travolta
Is nector for honey production always stored in drone sized cells?
No, they store honey in different types of cells. Mostly regular 'worker size' but if there are drone size, they will use those, too.
We can RE-QUEEN on demand. But also let aunty swarm.
Whatever we people do, it was wrong or right or both.
Today I nearly suffocated one new green one Bucky in slightly wetted sugar-cake in my pocket.
I had to let her be cleaned in supers-bees and nurse-bees directly from queenright and very nasty colony. An hour later she moved normally and was clean. I hope she will still be there in a week.
So to save a requeening queen i had to set up a new hive which was not intended. Maybe the nasty bigger "unit" would have torn her apart...
I absolutely love your bee videos will you be revisiting sour dough or bread making in the near future?
Sourdough is on the back burner for now. I just never got around to filming again. The bread videos are really labor intensive to shoot and take over the house for entire weekends. It's tough with a family. I shot all the original ones in a marathon session when my family was out of town for a week. I have lists of videos I want to make, but with family, house and 'farm' tasks, work, etc... this youtube thing is still just a hobby. The videos that are most difficult to shoot and edit always take the back seat. As far as what I DID upload, I kind of reached the goal I originally had, which was to teach the very basics of how to bake a sourdough loaf with absolutely no experience and inspire people to actually try it. As for more elaborate baking... there are literally hundreds of other great videos on youtube these days on sourdough alone. I appreciate you watching!
I think you absolutely at least for me made that a reality because I did try my hand at making sourdough bread because of your videos. Yes there are a ton out there, but if I'm being honest I really just loved yours because of the way you presented yourself and the way you speak and made it so attainable.
Love your channel and what your doing here best of luck with everything.
Also I tried planting garlic last year I'm starting to see sprouts! (lower connecticut) thanks for the inspiration♡
@@IssaTejeda ❤️❤️❤️
My first bees were Russians. Not what I expected in bees. They were mean, and really didn't build comb all that well. They even chased me 180ft to the road. 50ft from the hive they would start dive bombing me. I ended up losing the hives. 2 went queenless and I couldn't get a new queen. The other, just seemed to leave. Hand full of dead bees, but other than that just gone.
Might I suggest looking into a Saskatraz queen. Of our 10 or so hives, 6 are Saskatraz. We really like them.
They are on my list of queens I want to try.
Vino Farm Not sure where you can get them outside of Lappe’s
Consider rationing your syrup. Say enough for them to take down in a day or two. Once the flow starts they should stop taking syrup.
I figured that out but it's good to hear that it's a common suggestion. I gave them all a quart of light syrup last week in the middle of a cold, rainy snap. A full gallon seemed like too much.
Vino Farm I also think you are on the right track regarding your drone issue. Big cells usually means drone cells. Hope your flow comes soon. On the other side of the world so we are getting ready for winter. Nowhere near your winters though. Just had to pinch a queen last weekend as she was a certain drone layer. New queen too....sad.
Interesting thought. Hives that need a little food, but you don't want to feed sugar water yet because a flow is about to start. Go to the yard with lots of sugar water in spray bottles. open a box, spray the water on the top of the frames and the bees, do that in each box that has a lot of bees. Its a quick feed for the bees, nothing to store. If you don't have the flow starting very soon though you will be doing that every other day to keep them fed, which would be a bummer.
I think the simple solution (which I just learned tonight!) is to feed a lighter syrup that they are not inspired to store. They'll just consume it as needed until the flow starts. Your idea is good but a lot more labor intensive.
@@vinofarm
Yes. Its an idea best kept in a back pocket for emergency feed while you go back to the house to get what is needed for a real feed. Say, after capturing a swarm, or after an inspection showing desperate matters. Or to distract bees while you do something but don't have a smoker. And you should credit Frederick Dunn, its not my idea. I was so busy sharing I forgot to credit him, which was not my intention.
@@vinofarm When you feed lighter syrup it encourages them to build comb normally.
Have you ever thought of trying a Buckfast queen. My queen is amazing, loads of honey and very chilled.
Looks like all is great! You made a great choice with the drone frame. Feeding I would not unless you have no honey in there at all. If your dandelions are opening you should be good.
Dandelions started two weeks ago, but it's been in the 30s at night and alternating rain and cold days. The dandelions have been puckered up all day for a week. THis week we're finally back to warmer times, but when this was shot we were 2 weeks behind on everything.
Great channel, very informative. I have a question for your bee community that I am finding it hard to get an answer to, is it ok to burn the inside of new hives a little with a gas torch,? I blackened three boxes and then wiped them clean with a wet cloth and I blackened one frame as well. Any ideas about this?
People usually don't do anything to the insides of their hives. They decorate and seal the outside, but leave the inside untreated. Not sure if burning it would be harmful, but also not sure it would benefit much.
thanks, i will look into it some more🐝
Some people are doing it when they expect a disease inside the hive.
But it does not make sense.
In order to kill bacteria and spores you need to keep 240F for 90 minutes.
A short burn of the hive or frame will do nothing except to char the inside which makes it harder to clean.
J & B Homeliving, yes although here in Australia we find a lot of hives in burnt out hollow logs in the bush, I thought the carbon might be attractive to bees as it is sterile clean and very insulative, I will experiment.👍
@@sipplix
Very good points. I can see where such log could burn long and hot enough to kill living things.
Maybe a burned log provides a bigger cavity and the charcoal can be easy removed by bees to increase the cavity even more.
Do the bees leave the charcoal/char intact?
Do you keep notes on your hives? How do keep up with it all?
I record my inspections and post them to youtube.
Fancy
The hives look great, is it finally the time to give the Flow super a try?
Yes.
The drone pupa should be a good source of protein for chickens you may have.
No chickens, but the local birds ate well that night.
@Vino Farm this frame position (second position from side) is used by European bees for drones. I guess, they will try to have drones again at this position.
That will be interesting to see!
It sucks when you cant get your queen to go down...
When you replace the Russians, do you consider a Buckfast queen ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckfast_bee ) ? Also, out of curiosity, how old are you ? It's hard to guess due to your ever-changing beard. About the (temporary) naming of your hives: You could just number them until they survived their first winter. On a side note: It puzzles me that your queen CoRNELIA is not a CaRNEoLIAn queen but italian.
Nice opening!
Save the royal jelly from the drone cells for grafting later.....
This was a week ago and the birds had a feast on that frame. Maybe next time.
@@julie4178 any links please Queen Bee ?
@@julie4178
I do 2-3 hundred grafts a season,
Never had an issue,
I dilute with 50% demineralised water.
But at the end of the day,
It does not matter.
As the bees will remove it and replace it with their own,
I only use it to keep the larvae moist as the Jelly is more sticky than just water....
Hmmm....ya know for whatever reason that the ladies have pulled that out to be drone sized cells. Maybe it's time to just take the comb completely off that frame and let them redraw it out. I don't think you want to add it to another box only to get another frame of drones. Bees are lazy! They will clean it up, but why bother with new construction on a perfectly good drone cell!
Ooo I see you colored painted some entrances! :D
PS from the last video "so much poop"! It's been tickling the back of my head with a flag. If it's since cleared up, it's probably nothing, but bees pooping so much on their hives is indicative of a sickness no? I can't even remember which disease right now....nosema maybe. However, it had been cold and having a bit of that isn't unusual after being cooped up either. Anyone else remember? Maybe my brains is malfunctioning 😝
PPS loved the intro shot with the bees flying around!!!
Nosema, you are right.
18:06 Yeah, it's a shame. But the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. Def don't want to start the year without knowing of an infestation.
I personally don't like using foundationless frames because of the drones. It seems I always get way more drones on foundationless frames. I also don't try to get a harvest from dandelions and apples. I let the bees have that little flow for themselves to start storing away and to build comb with. Near my house the early spring flow is long enough to get a harvest out of. Maybe you have a lot more dandelions and apple trees near you but in my 4 years I haven't seen a big enough flow to even consider it. My first harvestable flow is mid June to mid July.
I've never experienced the spring flow. This is the first time I've had really strong hives at this time of year. Still learning how these next couple months work with strong hives. I'm usually feeding right into June.
Vino Farm I’m in Palmer and it’s my experience that when the dandelions and apples are starting to bloom is when I stop feeding. I generally only give them a little at a time so I can control how much syrup they get and I only give it to hives that need it. I’m trying to get hives to expand and draw any comb that they will. This is also the time that I do splits to replace any winter loses or to stop swarming.
I will usually put supers on at the beginning of June to get the summer flow. I then harvest those frames mid July and give them a little syrup as needed. At that time I will treat with oxalic acid for 3 weeks while there is no supers. Mid August I put supers back on for goldenrod. I harvest that early to mid September and then treat with oxalic again and feed until they stop taking it.
This has worked well for me for 4 years. It may or may not work for you. I think that the important thing is finding what works best for you and do that. Even though we live close together there are subtle differences which effect things.
@@BLachance75 Your calendar is similar to what I'm thinking. We don't have a summer flow, but everything else is almost the same. Just the timing is a bit later. I was all ready to stop worrying about feeding when the dandelions poked up, but then we got two weeks of rain and cold and the hives emptied out. That was my dilemma. The 'flow' was sort of sitting there but they couldn't get it. We finally have warm weather now. (for the moment.)
Vino Farm yeah all of the dandelions around me are gone. I guess that means I have to mow the lawn now. My bees did get on them for a few days but it didn’t last as long as I would’ve hoped.
Hopefully the weather is turning for the better. I’m sick of it raining on my days off.
Does it really matter if they're eating sugar, syrup, or nectar? I though it all became honey out the other end. I imagine it would be lighter in color but wouldn't it still be honey?
@ifixoldhouses Agreed !
Honey isn't bee poop, it's when they eat nectar, regurgitate it let their enzymes do their work, and evaporate water from it. I'm pretty sure the bees eat the honey (or sugar or sugar syrup), while they feed the pollen to their larvae. 😊
@@PetWessman Correct in fact the have a seperate honey "stomach"
@@PetWessman That is true, I spoke a bit of turn. I was thinking at the other end of the process :) Though it is that enzymatic process that makes me curious. ifixoldhouses mentioned it was mostly sucrose but that is one form along with a few others, of sugar found in nectar. From what I can find nectar is natures sugar water with a few other bits in. so it /seems/ to my minds eye that sugar, syrup, or fondant mixed with magic bee enzymes would still yield honey of a different flavor than wild gathered honey.
Just chiming in to say "Great answers!'
Have you thought about maybe a Saskatraz queen for the Russian replacement? Might do well in your climate.
They are on the list.
You should try the Saskatraz honey bees. I've got two hives of those in Minnesota. Your videos are greatly appreciated!
What are the traits of Saskatraz bees you are recommending?
@@terrynitro5330 - they're a hardy breed from Saskatchewan, now being bred in Northern California. In my limited experience, so far, the hives have been they're more mild mannered than Russians, but not quite as chill as Carniolans. However, they're more robust to winter and have resistance to varroa mites.
Here's some additional information: www.saskatraz.com/
That's why i comment, I know you are going to question my answer and do your own research. That is what people need to do more of. Ask 10 different bee keepers the same question and get 10 different answers. But i don't think there is a bee keeper out there that has more experience catching swarms on a hay rake than me. Lol
Ha ha. I've never even SEEN a swarm. They just don't really happen here. Or if they do it's really rare to catch one. Someday I'll experience that magic.
More like ask 10 beekeepers and get 15 answers.
So, around the 15min mark you flipped boxes to force the Queen to travel up, into the lower box.
I'm curious if anyone has used a spacer piece to mount the mouse guard to, so that all the boxes sat on top would be interchangeable no matter what.
This could be a neat little hack for those medium boxes, since they're already adding onto them when you put them into a super/deep.
Medium Box + Mouse Guard Spacer = Deep Box?
Just maybe not with the Russians, since they make crazy comb all over the place
Whatever box is on bottom sits on the bottom board and there is a space that appears below the box for the entrance. My mouse guards sit on the face of the boxes so moving them is not too difficult.