❸ Roof top hive Update! Did the split survive? Mite check on survivor bees!
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- S03E31 Checking in on the Rooftop Hive to see if the split took. We did a mite check to see if we needed to do any mite treatments going into fall.
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I love watching your videos because of your attitude. You're always very positive about things even when they don't go as planned. And, the fact that you acknowledge that it is an opportunity to learn and adapt for next time really is a huge skill to apply to anything in life. It's really fantastic and refreshing to watch 😊
@katrinahill43 Thanks so much for your comment! I really enjoy reading comments like that. We do our best to move forward from failures and see it as a learning experience. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I am a new bee keeper with a first hive. I have learned so much by watching your videos! So very grateful for your diligence and attention to detail. I am looking forward to your other videos and learning from you. God bless!
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.
We can learn a lot from you and have because you are very detailed. Thanks a bunch for posting all of this!❤
@@BrianGenX75 no problem, thank you for watching and taking the time to comment!
That is actually really cool, I like the roof top idea it's a great use of utilized space.👍
Thanks for commenting DC! I think this is a great space for where these hives are located.
Timing is everything when it comes to stopping robbing. You could try narrowing the entrance down to about one inch immediately after the honey flow and I also install robbing guards as well. It seems to stop robbing bees from finding the entrance and they tend to give up after a while. The hive bees have no trouble getting round the robbing screen and finding the small entrance, guard bees have an easier job too.
Great points thanks for taking the time to comment!
Is there more about these bees
ua-cam.com/video/52HZ6zg4Ie0/v-deo.html I have put out one more video on them and we did get in them one time after this. The last time I had a chance to look at them (but not inspect them) they were both alive. If I am able to get in them again I'll be sure to share. Thanks for watching!
Hi Brian thank you for sharing another great video! You can try varroa testing using sugar powder instead of alcohol..
I have read about that but never tried it. I may have to give that a try! Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment.
Don't use sugar powder, results are less accurate and it will kill the bees also, just a lot slower.
As a new beekeeper with one hive, I'm fascinated - thank you for sharing. I'm in England, and I'm about to get my bees ready for winter. I have one brood box, with queen excluder on and 2 supers... do I remove the queen excluder before the weather gets really cold?
Yes, you should remove the queen excluder before it gets cold. If the cluster moves up to find more stores and the queen can not get through the queen excluder they could leave her behind where she could get too cold and die. Good question! I hope your hive does well through winter! Thanks for watching and commenting.
A shame they did not make it but you gave them the oppertunity as for the no mites shows that left alone for years bees manage just fine as this is the hibe thst no one looked at for years.
We did our best! I think the hive swarmed enough that there were several brood breaks to help them fight the mites on their own. We also have several great Russian queen breeders near us so we may be indirectly benefiting from their breeding efforts.
I am surprised that you only wear latex gloves. I'd be bundled up like an Eskimo.
I can feel the edges of the frames and any bees I may be about to pinch. I really like them and the bees don't seem to think they are skin so they do not sting them unless I accidentally press on one too much when moving the frames around. I like that I can discard them and not have propolis on everything when I finish too. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!
I was worried splitting those hives at that time was going to cause this
Yes, I was hopeful but we can't get it right every time. We did our best and we will work on splitting them in the spring when our chances should be better. Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment!
@@BrianCooper901 no matter what we think we know the bee's have a mind of they own and from watching videos I see bee's can't really be predicted no matter how good things go for long time then all sudden they pull a fast one lol but it's part of the process an I really enjoy watching your videos I'm learning so much
I don’t understand why you didn’t take the honey before the hive beetles and robber bees stole it.
Surprisingly on the roof I've only seen about 3 SHB. The neighboring hive may have done some robbing but we were hoping that the split would take. I don't recall but I think we did end up harvesting after this video. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!
Could the robbing bees have death balled the weak queen?
Judging by all the dead bees I think that is what happened. We didn't spend a ton of time looking for her so we wouldn't have any unnecessary robbing. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I wouldnt think so. Imo simething happened to her, then the robbers took advantage of the situation. When a hive loses a queen, the remaining bees become apathetic about defending the hive. But you could be correct, lol, every time we have an opinion, the bees do something to tell us we're not so smart after all!
@@raymschmidt6032 That is true! I don't know that we will ever know what truly happened but we learn from it and move on.
What’s the requirements for the roof deck for the bees ?
I'm not sure exactly what you mean but for this roof it is a concrete roof slab with a rubber roof so we have roof top specific pavers that set on the roof to prevent any punctures. If that doesn't answer your question let me know! Thank you.
In my opinion the hive was way to big for that queen to be a success, 1 super would have been enough until the hive grew enough to expand into a second box, placing 3 supers was probably the biggest mistake, I would venture that a nuc box would have been the way to go.
Good observation. I think your diagnosis is spot on. Unfortunately this roof top hive has some limited access to equipment and we didn't have a nuc box available. I should probably take a Jester Nuc box for any future surprises like this. Thanks for taking the time to comment, I really do appreciate the perspective.
Why did that happen cause it was in good shape before
I think the queen in the upper portion didn't have enough bees that wanted to stay with her so they flew back to the original hive. The queen in the original hive did well though.
Sometimes putting a box of honey with sliming from hive beetles on a strong hive can cause them to abscond, especially if the honey is already foaming. I've lost a colony like that.
The area that looked funky was about 2-3 square inches of the overall frames. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they will be able to take care of it. Thanks for sharing your experience though I will have to see if we can get back in them in soon.
Never give a split that much space
I was hoping the field force would have been enough to equalize it but apparently it wasn't. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
The dead bees around the hive are a dead giveaway
Yea my hopes of finding that hive in good shape dropped at that point.
Disappointing
We were also very disappointed. We hope to be able to split this spring.
This young man needs to shadow you or somebody he’s lost. Not meaning ❤this in a bad way some people get it right away and some people don’t and that’s not saying anything bad he just needs extra help
We are working the bees together still and he seems to be figuring things out quickly this year.