I respect, admire, and applaud you for sharing this horrible experience with all of us. You are not a failure and you shouldn't feel ashamed by this. Personally, I think MORE of you BECAUSE this happened. Keep your chin up and remember that there are a lot of us out here that are cheering for you and really want for you to be successful!! Keep us updated!
I had the same experience as you last year. I lost my hives because we had a late spring and I was not feeding or watching my bees and they just swarmed until the boxes were empty. I totally understand your frustration and anger. Chalk it up as a very tough lesson to learn. I was so frustrated that I gave up beekeeping last year, but came to my senses over the winter. I caught 4 swarms this year, have split them to 7 and working on more splits. I am determined to do better for the bees going forward.
It takes a lot to admit our mistakes. It is not easy to put yourself out there for the world to critique either. Looks to me like you are owning it and that says a lot about you. We are all learning. Keep it up. Good video.
Thank you for your honesty. And sorry this happened to you. I realize this has happened to the best of us all at some point. I was a beekeeper with my grandfather, and then with my father all the way up into college. Then I had to leave my bees behind yet I'm restarting with two hives this April, 2021. I live in NYC so am very lucky. There is next to zero pesticide use in this city an all of our pollen sources are organic. So here is my advice since you asked. First, i'm a natural beekeeper and always like to encourage backyard beekeeper to do the same simply because we are not commercial beekeepers. Natural beekeeping is spreading like wildfire, and for good reason--its works. And not only does if work, you are not adding chemicals inside the hive that one way or another, weaken the bees immune system. I also would follow your own advise and start back with like five hive, master it and enjoy it. If we get into this to help the bees, then there will be no need to go large scale. I also would suggest trying to catch all swarms, which will be nature and feral bees. And more your hive yard further away from your road to the misquito truck does not get to it. Oh, and forgive yourself. The bees do.
I enjoyed listening to you, I have lost numerous hives, not dead just disappeared, absconded, I had the same reaction after the last one, I’m back at it also, today I moved a huge swarm from my trap to a hive , catch a few swarms , hang in there , you’re heading in the right direction, these bees are a frustrating bunch !! But honey is awesome
This is my 3rd year. Late last fall we had 60 mph winds and blew the lids of all 7 hives. All double deeps. And it rained all night at near freezing temps. I put it all back together and spring came and I had 1strong hive left. I pulled the queen in one split and split the other twice. I bought 1 package and an extra queen and split it. So far I have caught 3 swarms. All the drawn frames and honey helped me get started again. Don't give up. We need beekeepers.
Hey David, I'm terribly sorry for your misery. Just posting this video has helped me understand that I am not alone in my feeling with this bipolar relationship I have with beekeeping. Your reflections are brutally honest and on point. You have provided us all with valuable insight into the follies of early spring beekeeping. I too have had a year like yours and I have found a path towards success and resiliency within my apiary. I wish you the absolute best.
thank you, I appreciate your honesty. You're not alone. keep on beekeeping on. where would we bee if the wright brothers gave up. I too lost my only 3 hives 2019. I am starting this year with 3 nucs and have joined a beginner beekeeping class to get back to the basics. I too love beekeeping and want to bee the best bee steward I can bee. prayers and blessings to ya.
Sorry to hear about your Loss! Really feel for you bro. So much work... The day to day wins and losses are hard sometimes, but what im learning right now is, just think bigger in every way, so the losses dont hit so hard. If you want 25, make 40. There will at least always be the nature factor wich brings unwanted results. Just today i asked myself: where are some of the high quality queens i introduced some days ago? Wtf happened?😅 To learn from professionals always helps me a lot as well, to reach new levels. So, hope you get your hives filled up again soon. BeekeeperGreetings from Germany, Flo✌🙂
I watched a video on Anna Kra channel and her dad has 30 years experience and he lost all his hives this year. I just have one hive and it had pollen going in in April. I inspected in May and it had no queen so I'm trying to requeen it. Hopefully you will have success at catching some swarms with those empty boxes. Screw the bottom board on some of those hives and turn them into bait boxes and start hanging them in trees. I had a hive abscond in my second year and it left lots of honey but I had a bad mite problem with lots of bees with deformed wings. I thought that using essential oils and oxalic acid treat would be enough but they just left in late fall. I'm also finishing up on building a layens hive which has larger frames so the bees have more access to honey.
What is your pest management? Do you treat for mites? Do you have small hive beetles? You mentioned harvesting honey every year. How much stores do you leave for your bees for winter? Where are you located? How do you prep your hives for overwintering?
You still have your swarm season right ?You have an abundance of used hives and old brood comb .I'd be setting as many swarm traps safely ( So they don't get stolen ) and use the wild genetics that have survived your seasons on their own. I'd be building up from them .I can understand how upset you'd be . Hi from Australia. Thanks for sharing .
In the spring of 2019 I lost 9 of 10 hives due to bad timing of surgeries and my not being able to care for them. I bought 4 packages and caught swarms and did cut outs. I went into winter with 9 hives, 8 of which survived this spring. With swarms, splits and cut outs I have 16. I now realized i have too many, but could easily have 24 by fall. Still thinking what direction to go. All this is to say you can recover.
I just installed my first NUC and have done several months of research to prepare myself, i can understand all your emotions. Im 2 days in and if i lost them i would feel the same you do know. My excitement, nervousness, unsureness, all those emotions are driving me to excel and do the best i can. Remember your goal and why you started 5 years ago. As a new keeper i appreciate your honesty and that you posted this because i hadnt really thought about losing everything. I have a friend that got me going, he started 3 years ago and now has 30 hives. But he has had set backs as well, major ones like you. I would say use this to do better, to educate, go back to when you first started and set a new goal. Im thankful i found this video and will be subscribing, looking forward to following along.
I would ask 2 questions. 1. Did you find large numbers of bee dead at or near the hive entrance? 2. Did you actually feed the bees in March during that inspection? With no bees at the entrance, the town spraying is not likely the issue. For the last 5 years you have had bees, the town sprays every year. The most likely cause is starvation. Bee flight in early March would indicate they were looking for food but that does not mean there was enough of the correct material to sustain your hives. We all lose hives, myself included. In almost 100 percent of the cases, we are the cause.
Sorry to hear about your hive losses bro. I can relate. Beekeeping is not a destination, it is a journey. Keep the beekeeping passion, them bees need us bro🤙GOD bless bro!
With all that equipment I would not quit, I have someone in my province that lost all it 25 hives, yeah! that magic number... He decided to convert into all long Langstroth hives here in cold New-Brunswick Canada. At least you have with the equipment you can re-use :) Don't stop, even now if you see a lot of bees dead in the cell liking the last drop on their end, it would be lack of food. Next, build project my friend is swarm boxes since you say theirs a lot of bees in your area. :) Keep the videos coming.
As first year beekeepers, I really appreciate your honesty and openness about what happened. I realize that hive loss is a part of beekeeping, but I know I would be very upset, will be very upset when we lose a hive. We started out this year with two hives one is thriving and the other one is barely hanging on. So we've already dealt with some struggles, so I feel like I can empathize a little bit. Thanks for sharing.
I appreciate you being real so that others and I may learn. I hope you can zero in on a few ways to ensure the bees pull through in any struggle, don't be too hard on yourself this seems to be a pretty common story in bee keeping.
All hives lost mid March thru April and a warmer than usual winter I think they ran out of food. Even if you had high mite counts not sure you would of lost them all. I have 32 hives and was feeding most of them by the 1st of March. If I hadn't checked till mid April I know I would have lost around 70% of them. As of now I've lost three.
Wow, sorry for your loss. Your story sounds like ours. We have had bees for 7 years and have lost a few hives along the way. We have not purchased any new bees and so we have made many splits Last year was our best year for honey. This spring we had 3 (out of 12 hives) alive. They had all since died. We are starting again and are buying 4 nucs. Hope to go into the winter with 10-12 strong hives
I live In Michigan and last winter was warmer than normal and this spring was colder than normal. My bees went through a lot more honey then normal. Early spring I had to more dry suger on them to get though the springtime.
Sorry brother move on and keep doing what u love . I think that time period and knowing what a mild winter we had especially here in NC my bees were active most of the winter they very easily ran out of food . Put out all your swarm boxes and good luck to u thanks for the sad but honest vid it will definitely be a eye opener for many of us .
Its hard when you have a passion and things dont work for the best but i can see your not a quitter. Every place has different micro climates.ive worked with bees for 43 years now and the last 2 and 1/2 decade's have made it hard to manage bees ,mites ,hive beetles,lack of flora.dry summers wet winters.The weather this year is horrible .I think you have a good head on your shoulders that you can get back up and running.good luck !!!🐝safe and keep your smoker lit! Konrad
Sorry for your lose. Things happen. Just some thoughts. Honey that is robbed out has jagged rips on the comb and would be evident. Starved bees often have bees with their body inside the cells and should still be evident. A mild spring increased starvation this year. If you had a high mite count you will see lots of white spots on the brood comb. Now you do have a great asset and that is all that drawn comb. It will help your new hives expand. Wish I had some drawn comb. Micheal Palmer said that he weighs his hive late in the year and targets 150 plus lbs for his hives. Mine was over 160 this year and I had 40-50 lbs left over (not a lot of bees). Get going and remember it's fun and it's a hobby. Not many hobbies make money.
Hey it's my second year, but I have been researching beekeeping non-stop. I understand your frustration and it appears that you already know what your mistake was of not doing forensics immediately to determine why you suffered your loss. So not knowing your seasons, I am not sure about my first guess. 1.) But bees can starve quickly when they start building up for spring and there is no nectar around and no stores in the hive. In my area you leave a medium super on for winter and in late winter =Jan/Feb you check the bees honey supply and feed if necessary. Or just feed to stimulate egg laying. 2.) My second guess which moves to #1 if you do not treat for mites is varroa distructor. That can kill colonies at about the time yours died too. 3.) Not sure about the mosquito spray, could be. 4.) Did you have a lot of dead bees in your hives? Are there heads stuck in your comb like they are looking for food? 5.) Also you could look for wax moth infestation that could have driven the bees to abscond if their numbers were low. I hope you post video two of you cleaning the hives up and see if you find any evidence. Many things could have happened, my life saver has been my local bee clubs calendar of what you should be doing each month during you beekeeping season. Just make sure you follow that guide while leaving flexibility for your own art of beekeeping since elements (weather) change and the calendar is a guide. Keep beekeeping the bees need you
Don't listen to any criticism, just learn from mistakes and positive comments meant to help and keep going. Main reasons bees die Varroa mites, starvation, weak colonies attacked by pest (hive beatles, wax moths) and disease. AFB, EFB, etc. Where are you located? That would definitely help in a diagnosisi.
I maybe a bit late but I have a similar experience of losing it all. I have lost all my 153 hives due to neonicotinoids that a neighboring farm sprayed on his corn field without me(obviously) knowing about it. Anyway, you mentioned that you want to start anew with 1-2 hives....I say start with 4. Yes 4, and if I'm gonna explain here on why..it would take me a lot of pages to write on the reasons. But to make it short, you'll have a bit of a buffer if some hives fail, it's a bit manageable, and you can easily get to 8-12 hives within 16 months if you do the math and did everything perfectly.
Last year was my first year. I had two hives. One appeared to have absconded. The 2nd seemed great going into winter. By mid-October I noticed it was being robbed out by yellow jackets. Both hives lost. So I doubled down and bought 3 nucs for this year. I've already accepted this won't be a great year - it's been a very rainy, cold Spring. But if I can at least keep them going into next year, I'll be improving. I won't keep throwing away money, but this is a hobby for me, so I'm willing to keep trying. I also ride horses, and you know what they say about getting back up on the horse.
1st year beekeeper here and I don't want to experience any of this myself .. I'm starting with 3 colonies .. I hope I can expand from that .. thanks for sharing I'm sure I probably would have had a similar reaction if it were me to lose everything after giving so much time and effort for as many years as you have vested !! .. good luck in your future trials
Great video! Hang in there sir. You will be back in bee business soon. This is my issue, I am in my second year of bee keeping. My frustration is my bees keep absconding and i feel it is my fault in which it is but I keep learning what not to do. May you bee blessed today.
Start again, you have drawn comb and new boxes, the future is bright, take note of issues and don’t walk off in anger, scratch your head in genuine investigative interest to learn, resolve and move forward, to easy. PS. Continue the fight to see pesticides removed from use in our major cities. Paris and Toronto are pesticide free now.👍😎🐝
I also lost all my hives. Just like you I was angry. I also abandoned my hives for awhile. I had all the same emotions. I thought, ok I'm gonna take hiatus, I've got a lot going on and have some health issues too. I should say I'm retired but I'm also in the food business so I am spread pretty thin. I to strived for 25 hives, so I completely get it. I have three food trucks ( 2 are trailers ). To say the least I'm not sure I have time for all of this, especially to do it right ! It does take a huge commitment to keep bees. I also am in the process of putting up a dedicated building for my bee supplies and equipment. I done have answers but I'm not quitting either. Good luck my friend.
Don't look at it as if you lost all your bees. Think of it as you are a first year bee keeper who apprenticed with someone else for 5 years. Think of it as a fresh start. I am sure if you look back you can think of so many things you would have done different. You also have lots of hardware ready to go at a moments notice! You have lots of DRAWN COMB!!!! That is hugely valuable and something you can't just buy at the store! I would put some of your dead-out hive out as swarm traps and see if you can catch some wild bees. The bees around me here in KY have been strangely swarmy this year and seem hell bent on swarming. Swarming season seems to be running a bit late here in my area, so I am sure you still have that chance too! With no bees now you can rethink your bee yard! Put it where you want it or change your layout....you don't have to worry about bees going back to where you used to have the hive. And you have been given the gift of TIME. Right now it is all I can do to keep up with my bees right now so planning has gone out the window. You have time to plan your future strategy without the craziness of spring hive craziness. In some ways I envy you.....you have a clean break here, you can reset and do it right from a clean slate!
Salvage the equipment quickly and get back on the horse. I have felt the same embarrassment you're feeling. I just try to do better. This is also my fifth year, but my result was, fort the first year, my hives survived. The learning curve has been steep!!
Hey man, I definitely feel your pain! We went into this winter with 7, came out with 2. A non-beekeeper won't get it, but I totally get it. Put those traps back out, catch bees, split aggressively. Have you looked into OTS splits per Mel Disselkoen? A great way to multiple your hives.
If you can catch 3 or 4, feed them, and then around the Summer solstice do an OTS type split for increase, and triple or quadruple what you have, and you're back to say 9-16 hives right there! I do agree with the commenter that suggested having 2 and 5 frame nucs. I move my OTS splits into 2 framers, and then up to 5s when mated and ready.
Sounds like you’re climbing back on the horse. First, get all that drawn comb protected. Second, order packages and/or nucs & set some swarm traps. Don’t know what your weather was like but I had a dismal fall flow and a very warm winter. I had to feed August-February. March was warm with a lot of bee buildup. April was cold and rainy/snowy and I nearly lost three colonies to starvation. It’s been a tough fall-winter-spring to navigate.
I’m having a hard time believing a man that seems to love beekeeping didn’t check his hives for food stores over the winter. I’m peeking in mine every two weeks all winter. I’m feeding all winter. I’m subscribing to your channel to see how it goes. I’m full of advice so expect plenty. And so you know, I’ve only been keeping bees for four years. I bought two packages then and no bees since then. Today I have twenty six hives and I’m selling nucs to keep the apiary from getting bigger. Hope I can help.
My first reaction would have been identical to yours. After a think about it, I'd probably go into each hive and inspect carefully. Check for mites, mice and lack of food. If the bees have disappeared, have a look around for signs of skunk. These can destroy a hive in a matter of nights. Most importantly, start over. I would!!!
semangat bro... keep spirit.... everyday is about learning something new... experience is the best teacher... don't quit beekeeping bro, tetap semangat dan terus belajar. lets bait other swarm, or is it late to bait swarm bee? keep spirit on.... don't give up on beekeeping...
I have lost hives to spray before. Other beekeeper friends of mine have lost hives to "mosquito" spraying. I checked with county office and they gave me the name of the spray that they used. I looked it up and it plainly says highly toxic to honeybees and fish. I requested they don't spray on my street and the dispatcher said she would tell the sprayer truck not to. So far no problems. One suggestion (I need to do this myself), an outyard away from your property where you can keep other hives to make up for losses. Here's a lot of good info: www.parkerbees.com/ Look at his info on expansion model beeping.
Just a new beekeeper. Starting my 3ed year but my thought would be to find a farmer or person with land in the country who wants bee but doesn’t want to invest time. Give them some honey and you can grow your bees in out yards. Just a thought. 🐝
I listened to your full recount, and I'm sure I might have reacted the same way, however, if I could make a couple of suggestions, ., First, to expand your hive numbers as you mentioned, I think you need 2 frame queen rearing nuc's to raise your queens, and secondly you need 5 frame nucs. You can split your 12 into 24 with the addition of 12 nuc boxes, and you can grow your nucs 4 boxes high and split again using just 3 frames to start each new nuc. That way you keep your initial 12 and add as many more as you like all along the way. and my 3rd suggestion would be to watch Dave, at Barnyard Bees on UA-cam. I hope you get a new start and able to utilize all your equipment. Tom .
Well 4 years ago my bro was in your shoes..like wise I spent that whole winter building new hives for us an was an extremely frigid cold winter that year.. spring came an you seen tons of cleansing flights.. but we both knew they had plenty of stores to live on.. in a matter of 2 weeks?? All were dead except a nuke box. It was heart breaking an defeating.. bro threw an total melt down.. losing 1,2 even 3 hives happens but losing all?? Not possible.. bro walked away an tossed his hands up an "" thousands of dollars of investment"" he was done... But to me their had to be a reason... I spent the money out of my pocket an took pictures of each hive an a sample of bees from each an sent them in to be examined autopsied to find out what had killed the super strong hives... The report can back an?? Basically they starved to death..Now that being said!! Because the hives were bigger we decided "not " to take much of the honey off coz of splitting the hives next spring...Now bear in mind these bees had survived on ( far less ) stores in previous winter's. So running out of food was the farthest of our thoughts...but the report said due the the unnormal harsh winter temps the bees ate double the amount an when spring came?? They had exhausted their stores by spring... Not saying that's what happened to your hives but had I not sent them in?? We would of never knew.. bro sold out over 10 grand of equipment and hives and supplies for a mirror 4 thousand... But that nuke?? It survived (( barely )) but constantly checking an feeding I was able to build it back up but bro got out an I keep going 4 hives is all I keep. I do sell off the splits. But 4 keeps me in all the honey that I need an I find while working 4 hives I have plenty of time to devote to them .. where with the 54 hives?? Was not enough time even with both of us. So I know first hand what you went through.. but if I might quote my late father's words.. son life is full of down an very few up we get knocked down you pick yourself up brush yourself off an start all over again... You are NOT a bad bee keeper.... Losing hives is part of bee keeping it happens even to the best of the bee keepers.. you can not control the environment. You can not see the future. An as to the bloody vampire spray?? Insecticide is insecticide it has one purpose and one purpose only Kill.. This much I do know, bees will put up their stores an it can contain tainted insecticide lace food.. living around mega farms herbicide and insecticide use is done heavy here.. so it is a possibility.. when they did an aerial application last year in a county over Frome me they suggested any beekeeper within a 10 mi radius of the spray zone lock their bees up for at least 72 hours....(again ) not saying the insecticide killed your hives BUT... Their is were a sample might of showed light on what killed the hives... But in closing you can not blame yourself coz you have no way of knowing what happened... Don't give up I know it breaks your heart to lose your girls but it will make you a better bee keeper in the end!! Raising bees is like rolling the dice... You never know what will roll up! You got knocked down so get up an dust yourself off an start over.. but I do agree with you on keeping the hive numbers down to what you can devote unlimited time to them.... Joe
If you believe the insecticide is species specific then you have been suckered. You are right about not looking at the evidence immediately. You did lose valuable information. I lost 2 of 14 due to starvation even though there was honey in the hive. They clustered on west side while the honey was on the east. These were my weakest hives and my first year. But now I will rearrange my frames slightly next year to take advantage on what I saw. Good luck on rebuild!
I would be totally crying if I lost ALL my hives. I have had 1 year that I got knocked down to 2 hives... But I built back up. Do you wanna sell your extra equipment.
Dude. I would imagine you have a lot of drawn comb left over. I'm a full time beekeeper, if i were you i would buy 6 packages and 6 queens. split the package and install into 12 hives. feed them and baby them. Just my opinion.
Hey man it happens confermaition the faril bee population is down in some places do to to warm of a winter ,mite load, viris load , late Frost, and human action to control early population of mosquitos but the good news is those areas this happens to will be Heather bee population in the years to come. Now I know this because I have access to a bout one mile of woods where I have been studying how many firal bee are in my area for future bee apiray . Forty percent didn't make it but the sixty percent that did is more health than I have seen in a long time. Mother nature she keeps it real , good or bad she has the say not us . And happen the same way thirty years ago the same way to my area whin voramite first showed up I been studying wild bee population versence as a side hobby to better understand how to take care of my bee's and the wild population of bee's it hard to sperate the two . What I have done is to swarm trap and not intsrduse bee's from out side my county that has really helped me better local bee health and has helped the other poylinators as well it's crazy but mother nature know what she is doing and I'm just trying to to help.
The bureaucrats statement he assumed people had looked at it is an arrogant stance. It’s probably reasonable to ask to have your yard skipped. You will lose foragers. But at least your hives won’t be directly sprayed. It’s an insecticide probably kills everything Assuming makes an ass out of u and me
So wait ✋ you had a dozen hives and lost them and your a beekeeper and you didn't find out why ! All 12 ! You at least owed it to the bees to find out why 😡
I respect, admire, and applaud you for sharing this horrible experience with all of us. You are not a failure and you shouldn't feel ashamed by this. Personally, I think MORE of you BECAUSE this happened. Keep your chin up and remember that there are a lot of us out here that are cheering for you and really want for you to be successful!! Keep us updated!
I had the same experience as you last year. I lost my hives because we had a late spring and I was not feeding or watching my bees and they just swarmed until the boxes were empty. I totally understand your frustration and anger. Chalk it up as a very tough lesson to learn.
I was so frustrated that I gave up beekeeping last year, but came to my senses over the winter. I caught 4 swarms this year, have split them to 7 and working on more splits. I am determined to do better for the bees going forward.
It takes a lot to admit our mistakes. It is not easy to put yourself out there for the world to critique either. Looks to me like you are owning it and that says a lot about you.
We are all learning. Keep it up. Good video.
Thank you! Always trying to get better and bring the Beekeeping UA-cam nation along with me!
Thank you for your honesty. And sorry this happened to you. I realize this has happened to the best of us all at some point. I was a beekeeper with my grandfather, and then with my father all the way up into college. Then I had to leave my bees behind yet I'm restarting with two hives this April, 2021.
I live in NYC so am very lucky. There is next to zero pesticide use in this city an all of our pollen sources are organic. So here is my advice since you asked. First, i'm a natural beekeeper and always like to encourage backyard beekeeper to do the same simply because we are not commercial beekeepers. Natural beekeeping is spreading like wildfire, and for good reason--its works. And not only does if work, you are not adding chemicals inside the hive that one way or another, weaken the bees immune system. I also would follow your own advise and start back with like five hive, master it and enjoy it. If we get into this to help the bees, then there will be no need to go large scale. I also would suggest trying to catch all swarms, which will be nature and feral bees. And more your hive yard further away from your road to the misquito truck does not get to it. Oh, and forgive yourself. The bees do.
I enjoyed listening to you, I have lost numerous hives, not dead just disappeared, absconded, I had the same reaction after the last one, I’m back at it also, today I moved a huge swarm from my trap to a hive , catch a few swarms , hang in there , you’re heading in the right direction, these bees are a frustrating bunch !! But honey is awesome
This is my 3rd year. Late last fall we had 60 mph winds and blew the lids of all 7 hives. All double deeps. And it rained all night at near freezing temps. I put it all back together and spring came and I had 1strong hive left. I pulled the queen in one split and split the other twice. I bought 1 package and an extra queen and split it. So far I have caught 3 swarms. All the drawn frames and honey helped me get started again. Don't give up. We need beekeepers.
Hey David, I'm terribly sorry for your misery. Just posting this video has helped me understand that I am not alone in my feeling with this bipolar relationship I have with beekeeping. Your reflections are brutally honest and on point. You have provided us all with valuable insight into the follies of early spring beekeeping. I too have had a year like yours and I have found a path towards success and resiliency within my apiary. I wish you the absolute best.
thank you, I appreciate your honesty. You're not alone. keep on beekeeping on. where would we bee if the wright brothers gave up. I too lost my only 3 hives 2019. I am starting this year with 3 nucs and have joined a beginner beekeeping class to get back to the basics. I too love beekeeping and want to bee the best bee steward I can bee. prayers and blessings to ya.
Sorry to hear about your Loss! Really feel for you bro. So much work... The day to day wins and losses are hard sometimes, but what im learning right now is, just think bigger in every way, so the losses dont hit so hard. If you want 25, make 40. There will at least always be the nature factor wich brings unwanted results. Just today i asked myself: where are some of the high quality queens i introduced some days ago? Wtf happened?😅 To learn from professionals always helps me a lot as well, to reach new levels. So, hope you get your hives filled up again soon. BeekeeperGreetings from Germany, Flo✌🙂
Learning to ask the right questions and being willing to learn. You got this beekeeping thing going in the right direction now.
I watched a video on Anna Kra channel and her dad has 30 years experience and he lost all his hives this year. I just have one hive and it had pollen going in in April. I inspected in May and it had no queen so I'm trying to requeen it. Hopefully you will have success at catching some swarms with those empty boxes. Screw the bottom board on some of those hives and turn them into bait boxes and start hanging them in trees. I had a hive abscond in my second year and it left lots of honey but I had a bad mite problem with lots of bees with deformed wings. I thought that using essential oils and oxalic acid treat would be enough but they just left in late fall. I'm also finishing up on building a layens hive which has larger frames so the bees have more access to honey.
What is your pest management? Do you treat for mites? Do you have small hive beetles? You mentioned harvesting honey every year. How much stores do you leave for your bees for winter? Where are you located? How do you prep your hives for overwintering?
You still have your swarm season right ?You have an abundance of used hives and old brood comb .I'd be setting as many swarm traps safely ( So they don't get stolen ) and use the wild genetics that have survived your seasons on their own. I'd be building up from them .I can understand how upset you'd be . Hi from Australia. Thanks for sharing .
100% agree. He can easily make up half his loss by swarm trapping.
In the spring of 2019 I lost 9 of 10 hives due to bad timing of surgeries and my not being able to care for them. I bought 4 packages and caught swarms and did cut outs. I went into winter with 9 hives, 8 of which survived this spring. With swarms, splits and cut outs I have 16. I now realized i have too many, but could easily have 24 by fall. Still thinking what direction to go. All this is to say you can recover.
I just installed my first NUC and have done several months of research to prepare myself, i can understand all your emotions. Im 2 days in and if i lost them i would feel the same you do know. My excitement, nervousness, unsureness, all those emotions are driving me to excel and do the best i can. Remember your goal and why you started 5 years ago. As a new keeper i appreciate your honesty and that you posted this because i hadnt really thought about losing everything. I have a friend that got me going, he started 3 years ago and now has 30 hives. But he has had set backs as well, major ones like you. I would say use this to do better, to educate, go back to when you first started and set a new goal. Im thankful i found this video and will be subscribing, looking forward to following along.
Sorry to hear I think it’s great you’re not giving up can’t wait to see you rebuild
I would ask 2 questions.
1. Did you find large numbers of bee dead at or near the hive entrance?
2. Did you actually feed the bees in March during that inspection?
With no bees at the entrance, the town spraying is not likely the issue. For the last 5 years you have had bees, the town sprays every year.
The most likely cause is starvation. Bee flight in early March would indicate they were looking for food but that does not mean there was enough of the correct material to sustain your hives.
We all lose hives, myself included. In almost 100 percent of the cases, we are the cause.
Sorry to hear about your hive losses bro. I can relate. Beekeeping is not a destination, it is a journey. Keep the beekeeping passion, them bees need us bro🤙GOD bless bro!
A very painful, honest and courageous video. Thank you for sharing.
With all that equipment I would not quit, I have someone in my province that lost all it 25 hives, yeah! that magic number... He decided to convert into all long Langstroth hives here in cold New-Brunswick Canada. At least you have with the equipment you can re-use :) Don't stop, even now if you see a lot of bees dead in the cell liking the last drop on their end, it would be lack of food. Next, build project my friend is swarm boxes since you say theirs a lot of bees in your area. :) Keep the videos coming.
Lift your head up and keep going it happens to the best of us .
As first year beekeepers, I really appreciate your honesty and openness about what happened. I realize that hive loss is a part of beekeeping, but I know I would be very upset, will be very upset when we lose a hive. We started out this year with two hives one is thriving and the other one is barely hanging on. So we've already dealt with some struggles, so I feel like I can empathize a little bit. Thanks for sharing.
I appreciate you being real so that others and I may learn. I hope you can zero in on a few ways to ensure the bees pull through in any struggle, don't be too hard on yourself this seems to be a pretty common story in bee keeping.
All hives lost mid March thru April and a warmer than usual winter I think they ran out of food. Even if you had high mite counts not sure you would of lost them all. I have 32 hives and was feeding most of them by the 1st of March. If I hadn't checked till mid April I know I would have lost around 70% of them. As of now I've lost three.
Wow, sorry for your loss. Your story sounds like ours. We have had bees for 7 years and have lost a few hives along the way. We have not purchased any new bees and so we have made many splits Last year was our best year for honey. This spring we had 3 (out of 12 hives) alive. They had all since died. We are starting again and are buying 4 nucs. Hope to go into the winter with 10-12 strong hives
I live In Michigan and last winter was warmer than normal and this spring was colder than normal. My bees went through a lot more honey then normal. Early spring I had to more dry suger on them to get though the springtime.
I am not a beekeeper myself but I can completely understand how you felt, I would have been a sobbing mess for days.
Sorry brother move on and keep doing what u love . I think that time period and knowing what a mild winter we had especially here in NC my bees were active most of the winter they very easily ran out of food . Put out all your swarm boxes and good luck to u thanks for the sad but honest vid it will definitely be a eye opener for many of us .
Its hard when you have a passion and things dont work for the best but i can see your not a quitter. Every place has different micro climates.ive worked with bees for 43 years now and the last 2 and 1/2 decade's have made it hard to manage bees ,mites ,hive beetles,lack of flora.dry summers wet winters.The weather this year is horrible .I think you have a good head on your shoulders that you can get back up and running.good luck !!!🐝safe and keep your smoker lit!
Konrad
Sorry for your lose. Things happen. Just some thoughts. Honey that is robbed out has jagged rips on the comb and would be evident. Starved bees often have bees with their body inside the cells and should still be evident. A mild spring increased starvation this year. If you had a high mite count you will see lots of white spots on the brood comb. Now you do have a great asset and that is all that drawn comb. It will help your new hives expand. Wish I had some drawn comb. Micheal Palmer said that he weighs his hive late in the year and targets 150 plus lbs for his hives. Mine was over 160 this year and I had 40-50 lbs left over (not a lot of bees). Get going and remember it's fun and it's a hobby. Not many hobbies make money.
I agree... the comb can be evident, lets check it
Hey it's my second year, but I have been researching beekeeping non-stop. I understand your frustration and it appears that you already know what your mistake was of not doing forensics immediately to determine why you suffered your loss. So not knowing your seasons, I am not sure about my first guess.
1.) But bees can starve quickly when they start building up for spring and there is no nectar around and no stores in the hive. In my area you leave a medium super on for winter and in late winter =Jan/Feb you check the bees honey supply and feed if necessary. Or just feed to stimulate egg laying.
2.) My second guess which moves to #1 if you do not treat for mites is varroa distructor. That can kill colonies at about the time yours died too.
3.) Not sure about the mosquito spray, could be.
4.) Did you have a lot of dead bees in your hives? Are there heads stuck in your comb like they are looking for food?
5.) Also you could look for wax moth infestation that could have driven the bees to abscond if their numbers were low.
I hope you post video two of you cleaning the hives up and see if you find any evidence. Many things could have happened, my life saver has been my local bee clubs calendar of what you should be doing each month during you beekeeping season. Just make sure you follow that guide while leaving flexibility for your own art of beekeeping since elements (weather) change and the calendar is a guide.
Keep beekeeping the bees need you
Don't listen to any criticism, just learn from mistakes and positive comments meant to help and keep going. Main reasons bees die Varroa mites, starvation, weak colonies attacked by pest (hive beatles, wax moths) and disease. AFB, EFB, etc.
Where are you located? That would definitely help in a diagnosisi.
I maybe a bit late but I have a similar experience of losing it all. I have lost all my 153 hives due to neonicotinoids that a neighboring farm sprayed on his corn field without me(obviously) knowing about it. Anyway, you mentioned that you want to start anew with 1-2 hives....I say start with 4. Yes 4, and if I'm gonna explain here on why..it would take me a lot of pages to write on the reasons. But to make it short, you'll have a bit of a buffer if some hives fail, it's a bit manageable, and you can easily get to 8-12 hives within 16 months if you do the math and did everything perfectly.
Last year was my first year. I had two hives. One appeared to have absconded. The 2nd seemed great going into winter. By mid-October I noticed it was being robbed out by yellow jackets. Both hives lost.
So I doubled down and bought 3 nucs for this year. I've already accepted this won't be a great year - it's been a very rainy, cold Spring. But if I can at least keep them going into next year, I'll be improving.
I won't keep throwing away money, but this is a hobby for me, so I'm willing to keep trying. I also ride horses, and you know what they say about getting back up on the horse.
1st year beekeeper here and I don't want to experience any of this myself .. I'm starting with 3 colonies .. I hope I can expand from that .. thanks for sharing I'm sure I probably would have had a similar reaction if it were me to lose everything after giving so much time and effort for as many years as you have vested !! .. good luck in your future trials
Great video! Hang in there sir. You will be back in bee business soon. This is my issue, I am in my second year of bee keeping. My frustration is my bees keep absconding and i feel it is my fault in which it is but I keep learning what not to do.
May you bee blessed today.
Start again, you have drawn comb and new boxes, the future is bright, take note of issues and don’t walk off in anger, scratch your head in genuine investigative interest to learn, resolve and move forward, to easy. PS. Continue the fight to see pesticides removed from use in our major cities. Paris and Toronto are pesticide free now.👍😎🐝
I noticed you mentioned nothing about mite control at all... what was your integrated pest management (ipm) schedule?
I also lost all my hives. Just like you I was angry. I also abandoned my hives for awhile. I had all the same emotions. I thought, ok I'm gonna take hiatus, I've got a lot going on and have some health issues too. I should say I'm retired but I'm also in the food business so I am spread pretty thin. I to strived for 25 hives, so I completely get it. I have three food trucks ( 2 are trailers ). To say the least I'm not sure I have time for all of this, especially to do it right ! It does take a huge commitment to keep bees. I also am in the process of putting up a dedicated building for my bee supplies and equipment. I done have answers but I'm not quitting either. Good luck my friend.
Don't look at it as if you lost all your bees. Think of it as you are a first year bee keeper who apprenticed with someone else for 5 years. Think of it as a fresh start. I am sure if you look back you can think of so many things you would have done different. You also have lots of hardware ready to go at a moments notice! You have lots of DRAWN COMB!!!! That is hugely valuable and something you can't just buy at the store! I would put some of your dead-out hive out as swarm traps and see if you can catch some wild bees. The bees around me here in KY have been strangely swarmy this year and seem hell bent on swarming. Swarming season seems to be running a bit late here in my area, so I am sure you still have that chance too! With no bees now you can rethink your bee yard! Put it where you want it or change your layout....you don't have to worry about bees going back to where you used to have the hive. And you have been given the gift of TIME. Right now it is all I can do to keep up with my bees right now so planning has gone out the window. You have time to plan your future strategy without the craziness of spring hive craziness. In some ways I envy you.....you have a clean break here, you can reset and do it right from a clean slate!
Salvage the equipment quickly and get back on the horse. I have felt the same embarrassment you're feeling. I just try to do better. This is also my fifth year, but my result was, fort the first year, my hives survived. The learning curve has been steep!!
Hey man, I definitely feel your pain! We went into this winter with 7, came out with 2. A non-beekeeper won't get it, but I totally get it. Put those traps back out, catch bees, split aggressively. Have you looked into OTS splits per Mel Disselkoen? A great way to multiple your hives.
If you can catch 3 or 4, feed them, and then around the Summer solstice do an OTS type split for increase, and triple or quadruple what you have, and you're back to say 9-16 hives right there! I do agree with the commenter that suggested having 2 and 5 frame nucs. I move my OTS splits into 2 framers, and then up to 5s when mated and ready.
👍👍Thanks for useful tips and detailed information.
Sounds like you’re climbing back on the horse. First, get all that drawn comb protected. Second, order packages and/or nucs & set some swarm traps. Don’t know what your weather was like but I had a dismal fall flow and a very warm winter. I had to feed August-February. March was warm with a lot of bee buildup. April was cold and rainy/snowy and I nearly lost three colonies to starvation. It’s been a tough fall-winter-spring to navigate.
I’m having a hard time believing a man that seems to love beekeeping didn’t check his hives for food stores over the winter. I’m peeking in mine every two weeks all winter. I’m feeding all winter. I’m subscribing to your channel to see how it goes. I’m full of advice so expect plenty. And so you know, I’ve only been keeping bees for four years. I bought two packages then and no bees since then. Today I have twenty six hives and I’m selling nucs to keep the apiary from getting bigger. Hope I can help.
My first reaction would have been identical to yours. After a think about it, I'd probably go into each hive and inspect carefully. Check for mites, mice and lack of food. If the bees have disappeared, have a look around for signs of skunk. These can destroy a hive in a matter of nights.
Most importantly, start over. I would!!!
Its just farming and it has its ups and downs sooooooo just keep at it like the rest of us till you go broke.
semangat bro... keep spirit.... everyday is about learning something new... experience is the best teacher... don't quit beekeeping bro, tetap semangat dan terus belajar. lets bait other swarm, or is it late to bait swarm bee? keep spirit on.... don't give up on beekeeping...
I have lost hives to spray before. Other beekeeper friends of mine have lost hives to "mosquito" spraying. I checked with county office and they gave me the name of the spray that they used. I looked it up and it plainly says highly toxic to honeybees and fish. I requested they don't spray on my street and the dispatcher said she would tell the sprayer truck not to. So far no problems. One suggestion (I need to do this myself), an outyard away from your property where you can keep other hives to make up for losses. Here's a lot of good info: www.parkerbees.com/
Look at his info on expansion model beeping.
What have temps been like before the dead outs? Was their good ventilation in hives? The dead bees, were they dead inside hive or on the ground?
Just a new beekeeper. Starting my 3ed year but my thought would be to find a farmer or person with land in the country who wants bee but doesn’t want to invest time. Give them some honey and you can grow your bees in out yards. Just a thought. 🐝
First thing I would do is salvage my equipment or other insects will move in and ruin everything. Regards from NC
I listened to your full recount, and I'm sure I might have reacted the same way, however, if I could make a couple of suggestions, ., First, to expand your hive numbers as you mentioned, I think you need 2 frame queen rearing nuc's to raise your queens, and secondly you need 5 frame nucs. You can split your 12 into 24 with the addition of 12 nuc boxes, and you can grow your nucs 4 boxes high and split again using just 3 frames to start each new nuc. That way you keep your initial 12 and add as many more as you like all along the way. and my 3rd suggestion would be to watch Dave, at Barnyard Bees on UA-cam. I hope you get a new start and able to utilize all your equipment. Tom
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Chin up and continue forward. Call a fellow beekeeper in your area which is?
I lost all 3 hives about the same way its sad so i got 4 new hives this year and moving forward
Well 4 years ago my bro was in your shoes..like wise I spent that whole winter building new hives for us an was an extremely frigid cold winter that year.. spring came an you seen tons of cleansing flights.. but we both knew they had plenty of stores to live on.. in a matter of 2 weeks?? All were dead except a nuke box. It was heart breaking an defeating.. bro threw an total melt down.. losing 1,2 even 3 hives happens but losing all?? Not possible.. bro walked away an tossed his hands up an "" thousands of dollars of investment"" he was done... But to me their had to be a reason... I spent the money out of my pocket an took pictures of each hive an a sample of bees from each an sent them in to be examined autopsied to find out what had killed the super strong hives... The report can back an?? Basically they starved to death..Now that being said!! Because the hives were bigger we decided "not " to take much of the honey off coz of splitting the hives next spring...Now bear in mind these bees had survived on ( far less ) stores in previous winter's. So running out of food was the farthest of our thoughts...but the report said due the the unnormal harsh winter temps the bees ate double the amount an when spring came?? They had exhausted their stores by spring... Not saying that's what happened to your hives but had I not sent them in?? We would of never knew.. bro sold out over 10 grand of equipment and hives and supplies for a mirror 4 thousand... But that nuke?? It survived (( barely )) but constantly checking an feeding I was able to build it back up but bro got out an I keep going 4 hives is all I keep. I do sell off the splits. But 4 keeps me in all the honey that I need an I find while working 4 hives I have plenty of time to devote to them .. where with the 54 hives?? Was not enough time even with both of us. So I know first hand what you went through.. but if I might quote my late father's words.. son life is full of down an very few up we get knocked down you pick yourself up brush yourself off an start all over again... You are NOT a bad bee keeper.... Losing hives is part of bee keeping it happens even to the best of the bee keepers.. you can not control the environment. You can not see the future. An as to the bloody vampire spray?? Insecticide is insecticide it has one purpose and one purpose only Kill.. This much I do know, bees will put up their stores an it can contain tainted insecticide lace food.. living around mega farms herbicide and insecticide use is done heavy here.. so it is a possibility.. when they did an aerial application last year in a county over Frome me they suggested any beekeeper within a 10 mi radius of the spray zone lock their bees up for at least 72 hours....(again ) not saying the insecticide killed your hives BUT... Their is were a sample might of showed light on what killed the hives... But in closing you can not blame yourself coz you have no way of knowing what happened... Don't give up I know it breaks your heart to lose your girls but it will make you a better bee keeper in the end!! Raising bees is like rolling the dice... You never know what will roll up! You got knocked down so get up an dust yourself off an start over.. but I do agree with you on keeping the hive numbers down to what you can devote unlimited time to them.... Joe
If you believe the insecticide is species specific then you have been suckered. You are right about not looking at the evidence immediately. You did lose valuable information. I lost 2 of 14 due to starvation even though there was honey in the hive. They clustered on west side while the honey was on the east. These were my weakest hives and my first year. But now I will rearrange my frames slightly next year to take advantage on what I saw. Good luck on rebuild!
I would be totally crying if I lost ALL my hives. I have had 1 year that I got knocked down to 2 hives... But I built back up. Do you wanna sell your extra equipment.
🤣. “Do you wanna sell your equipment” that got me rolling.
Get the swarm traps out asap
Dude. I would imagine you have a lot of drawn comb left over. I'm a full time beekeeper, if i were you i would buy 6 packages and 6 queens. split the package and install into 12 hives. feed them and baby them. Just my opinion.
Hey man it happens confermaition the faril bee population is down in some places do to to warm of a winter ,mite load, viris load , late Frost, and human action to control early population of mosquitos but the good news is those areas this happens to will be Heather bee population in the years to come. Now I know this because I have access to a bout one mile of woods where I have been studying how many firal bee are in my area for future bee apiray . Forty percent didn't make it but the sixty percent that did is more health than I have seen in a long time. Mother nature she keeps it real , good or bad she has the say not us . And happen the same way thirty years ago the same way to my area whin voramite first showed up I been studying wild bee population versence as a side hobby to better understand how to take care of my bee's and the wild population of bee's it hard to sperate the two . What I have done is to swarm trap and not intsrduse bee's from out side my county that has really helped me better local bee health and has helped the other poylinators as well it's crazy but mother nature know what she is doing and I'm just trying to to help.
I feel your pain but you win some and loose some-check out Barnyard Bees -They have a lot of videos and start small
The bureaucrats statement he assumed people had looked at it is an arrogant stance. It’s probably reasonable to ask to have your yard skipped. You will lose foragers. But at least your hives won’t be directly sprayed. It’s an insecticide probably kills everything
Assuming makes an ass out of u and me
They're just bugs. Sorry but that's the truth. Your equipment still has value so try and find some swarms and do a removal or two.
So wait ✋ you had a dozen hives and lost them and your a beekeeper and you didn't find out why ! All 12 ! You at least owed it to the bees to find out why 😡
Any 5g instillation in your area?
Really?