The Rocky Balboa of Bee Hives
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- This hive has had a rough year. Starting last summer, it survived a drought, constant robbing, a long, deadly winter, and was down to a softball size cluster through a cold, wet spring. I almost pinched the queen back in June, but with a little patience, she came back from death row and has filled the hive with more bees than I've ever seen. Their only problem now is a mid-summer nectar dearth and no foraging bees. Check out the awesome brood in these frames!
Ironically, at 4:19 in this video, it would be the last time I saw Queen Balboa (who only got her name the week after this was shot!)
RIP Queen Balboa! You did great.
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Thanks for watching!
Go Queen Balboa! :) Yay!!! So glad you let her live! :)
Queen Balboa. That's it. That's her name, now.
Long may she reign, and may you see her children's children! :)
@@Wosiewose I'm not sure if you are still around or watching my videos, but you were the one who coined the name "Queen Balboa" and today her daughter's daughter took over the hive! Thanks for your comments!
@@vinofarm I'm definitely watching all your videos! :) Lost my password for a while and had to use another account. Long may the House of Balboa reign! :)
Lol I always laugh everytime he greets the hive when opening it up.
After almost being pinched twice!!! Great job Balboa!!!! RIP
One thing that may be worthwhile harvesting is those little bits of extraneous burr comb. You will be wanting to rub a small block of wax onto the faces of your Flow super frames next year, when its time to put it on, so a small block of wax will be useful to have then.
I save every bit of wax I can!
Im not big on giving advice, because I don't like hearing it much myself. I've watched you a couple times handling your bees and feel you could use some if you are open to hearing my opinion. I wouldn't checkerboard but maybe one or two frames in a dearth, even with a strong hive. They likely won't touch them and store your feed vs build comb. Leave the empties above and they will move up when ready. You can put one brood frame in an empty up top to coax them up when the time is right. By putting all those empties between them, you set them back (added to the work to be done before winter) and it's the time of year they need to be prepping for winter, not expanding. Checkerboarding is a springtime thing, temperature permitting) unless you live south with a long season. All those new emerged bees left spaces to be filled in with winter stores and the older bees will die off and what's left will cluster in the middle through winter. That cluster needs comb, not blanks, to stay warm. Picture a basketball in the middle of your hive. The ball should be full of comb with honey surrounding the top 3/4 of the ball going into winter. The bees know what they are doing. One more thing, don't pull frames out of the middle, remove the end frame and leave it out and work your way down one frame at a time. You are risking killing the queen the way you were pulling the frames. PM me if you would like to chat bees 🐝. Enjoy your videos. You and my wife are Instagram photography friends and she told me about your channel. You have a beautiful place.
Jerome Bee Farm, Darren Jerome Thanks for the kind comment. I'm learning and comments like this help a lot. I was taught to pull the second frame out first and then work down. I thought that's what I was doing. I don't think I pulled anything from the 'middle' first. It might come across as fast and loose on the edited video, but I'm usually pretty slow and careful pulling frames. Thanks again.
Vino Farm the key is to not pull up a frame populated with bees. If the hive is full and you must, start on the end because the queen isn't likely to be on frame 1 or 10. Then leave that frame out and go one at a time scooting them over as you go.
Jerome Bee Farm, Darren Jerome I understand. I guess I was taught to start with the second frame because the outside frame is usually braced to the side and requires much more wiggling to get it out. Either way, I'm very aware of the bees on the frame I start with and pull it out carefully. Thanks.
I had the same issue as you did. No stored food stores whatsoever back then.
My bees got 1 quart sugar water per day, every day for the last 2 weeks and they actually started to build comb pretty good and they started to have food stores...pollen, nectar and a little capped honey and brood.
I only checker boarded 2 frames because I believe that it is to late of the year to do so without doing any harm. If the bees are ready then they will expand either way and the bees know best by themselves...at least most at a time.
I believe that brood should be kept in the middle and the food should be kept next to it to the side and above so bees can nourish the larvae. If the food is to far away from the larvae, the larvae may not get fed properly.
What I heard was that 1 brood box requires 1 box of honey to survive the winter.
I just wanted to say how much I enjoy all of your videos. I look forward to the updates on the Russian and Italian hives and hope that we see some storage in the next month or two. I really appreciate the time you take to pass on the information. Any chance that we could have a new video on your tomatoes this year or any other vegetables? Thank you, Suzy Fanning
Suzy Fanning Garlic part 3 and part 1 are on the way later this month. The tomatoes this year look an awful lot like they did in the videos so I don't have much to update there. It's a busy time and I'm videoing a lot more than I'm posting. I'll have a bunch of things to edit when the summer rush cools down. Thanks!
The music really sets the pace lol.👍
I don't know if you read my suggestion last week. With your 3 acres, rotate cutting 1 acre a month(1 cut each month). Cut 1 acre in april, leave the other 2. In May, cut one of the other 2 acres leaving the previously mowed one untouched. In June, cut the last unmowed acre leaving the previously 2 mowed areas untouched. In July, start all over. This will give a chance to smaller flowering plants to actually flower(like clover) along with seasonal flowers at different heights. You may have to pick up the clippings though.
I did read your comment. I have not mowed anything in several weeks since our summer grass stops growing and I don't want to mow anything now that flowers are popping up everywhere. I will keep your suggestion in mind next season.
Stores will increase rapidly, once more of the new brood hatches. You have LOTS of brood in all stages which needs to be covered, so bees are occupied with nursing duties, keeping them warm, etc. Should time out nicely to the fall flow. Looking good. Feed as they need it. As Martha says, "It's a good thing." They were broodless for so long that varroa should be low as you noted. Will climb rapidly as the colony grows. Be ready to treat. I use oxalic vapor. What do you use?
Jbillja Greenrose Good point about the mites... The population is low because brood was minimal. I didn't think about that. Last year I did formic acid Mite Away Quick Strips and they worked perfectly.
If you have any frames from a other hives that have build comb on it, I would use those frames instead.
It would save resources and bees can start to fill them with honey/pollen and/or brood.
If I had the drawn frames I would use them! I don't have any.
auto-caption is fantastic! "...have a lot of flying peas in a week or two..." ^_^
I prepping for two hives, one Russian, one Italian. Watching you closely . Keep up the good work.
Good job! I agree with your assessment, and course of action!
Quick question. Isn't this Italian queen vintage 2014? You may have some hard choices come next spring. But, let's first get to next spring!
Last year I thought she was 2014 because her dot looked green compared to the other BLUE 2015 queens. Now this year, when I have nothing to compare it to, it looks totally BLUE (so 2015). It's more likely she is 2015 since she came up in a package along side a few other 2015 bees from the same supplier. Either way, I know her time is limited and I really just want to get her through the winter and see if I can do some kind of split next spring to keep her genes going.
Hive looks good! Bulking up for that fall flow and get over winter. I am glad you are feeding them right now. You are spot on about that. Even though someone out there is now going to yell at me telling me that I am asking you to promote fat and lazy bees, with diabeetees.
I recommend this book "Top-Bar Beekeeping: Organic Practices for Honeybee Health" we learn so much about it
you've got a lot to learn man. but, don't feel bad, ive kept bees 28 years and I still learn something every day. one suggestion if I may, keep the feed on those Italians and don't stop until they have enough honey for winter. that hive is so weak it don't matter how strong a fall flow you have, they just don't have the numbers to make much honey. also, switch to the 2 to 1 heavy syrup. 1 to 1 is good for comb drawing but this late in the year they just don't draw a lot of comb especially with a weak hive.
TheTnoutlaw I know I have a lot to learn! Comments like yours help a lot. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Would it bee a good idea to get that frame which has swarm cells and place it in a nuc with another frame of brood and some pollen? If they do swarm you'll lose fewer bees, right? I think that's how it works, I too am trying to figure all this out (oh god how I love beekeeping!)
+Yim YoungquistYou know aboot beekeeping? Have you ever made a split and placed fresh eggs...but the stupid bees never made a queen cell? I've added new eggs twice to this nuc/split and they STILL haven't made a queen cell. I don't know what's going on. I'll probably just recombine them with my hives and get some new frames to retry this split business. Any ideas???
But this is the north east. By the time the queen grows and mates it will be almost September. How is a nuc going to put up enough stores to survive the winter? Or would you just feed them on sugar and hope for the best?
They were swarm cups, not filled with eggs. Bees can make the cups and decide not to use them. It is a bit late to think about splitting this hive in August. If this hive had looked like this in June, definitely... but right now, there's no way a split like that would build up enough for winter (In just over 2 months.)
Vino Farm If your Russians are going well with their brood would it be possible to make an over wintering nuc using queen cells and nurse bees from the Italian hive and brood from the Russians?
+Vino FaermAh, I see.
Wow, your summer season is short!
my bees would be all over me if I tapped the frames like you do
Aka Jolly It seems everyone's bees are different. Maybe they're just used to me.
100%
What about the beehive u put in the tree, any vids on that coming? Greetings from Belgium
dd de smedt No swarms yet. There will be a video if I catch anything!
Congrats! They are doing really good and with fall flowers coming. Some hives suffer from honey bound this time of year, but your's is suffering from brood bound! :) Speaking of, you should probably bait that trap you have for second swarms coming up. Anyway, I cant wait to see how they do in a week. Very cool.
What is brood bound?
+J & B Homeliving A honey bound Hive is when there is so much honey, the hive has the potential to swarm too early because they think the hive is too small. I dont think Brood bound a real thing... just playing off the term Honey Bound to make a joke about how much brood he has. :)
Thank you.
So far you had the best explanation what honey bound was.......Many people mentioned it, but fail to explain what it is. It took me a while back then to see/learn whet it was.
You sure got me on that brood bound....(smile),
:D
I am not sure if you have noticed something that I have noticed about a couple of your hives. Notice that the first three frames on the left side from where of you stand of these hives are not well occupied by the bees. you can also see from the mite sheet that the left side has very little droppings. I noticed that pattern also when you did your first after winter inspection. I think it has to do with the airflow balance or the angle of the sun. it's interesting to hear your thoughts on that
I am sure it has to do with the warmth of the hive but how can it be centralised to establish an even spread or a centralised colony
My hives face due south. The side you're referring to is the East side, which many people have told me is where the bees will keep their brood frames: "The morning sun side." However, my bees all tend to hang out on the WEST side, which is the MUCH warmer, "Afternoon sun side". I don't know exactly why there are more bees there, but the West side is definitely warmer.
New vid pls. Getting withdrawal! Ohh and would love to see the flow hive go up pretty pls! I'm no be keeper, just a watcher lol. But I feel like I'm waiting for the couple to finally get together at the end of movie with this series 😀
Smart move not going into the Russian hive without smoke! :)
yep, she starts workin hard in the latter half of the year.
hope she survives another.
It's a repeat of last year... luckily, I'm getting her pumping way earlier than last fall when I started feeding in late September. Hopefully I get another winter out of her.
You should put the brood all together in the bottom and make it a one box hive. until there are 4 full frames of stores then add a box.
Would the fact that there are queen cups not suggest they are preparing to swarm? Great channel. Also I dont know if I missed it or not but how is your swarm trap doing?
Yes, it is a sign they might have been preparing to swarm, but I just added a box and divided the brood. If they were feeling cramped, I think I alleviated that. I'll have a look at them in a couple days to see if the cups are still there.
bees build those all the time just in case they need a queen fast. i have some in all of mine they have never been used
It is a sign that they may consider swarming, especially with the increase of drone production. However they do not necessarily mean that the bees will swarm. Bees do what bees do, it makes sense to them.
Vino Farm Your chance to save your rock star's genetics. I would encourage them to use the swarm cells by keeping them a bit longer crowded and then split into nucs.
way too weak to split. even if it was earlier in the year I still wouldn't recommend splitting them.
Looking good man keep it up. Love you videos.
Thanks!
Did you ever catch anything in the swarm trap?
Not yet... you guys will be the first to know.
Keep a closer check on the syrup and pour it to them as fast as they can take it until they stop.
Yes. Good tip.
Now I know where the phrase "newbies" comes from.
Was that a nuc behind you in the video? I don't remember the origin of that box.
Adam Torborg It's empty. That was my old neighbor bees hive from last winter. I brought it up to the yard thinking I might need to nuc the Italian hive back in June and I just left it there. A bunch of people told me it was a good idea to leave an empty hive in the bee yard as a swarm trap. No swarms yet.
should not wear rings while inspecting.
if you get stung on that finger or get a reaction it can be costly.
Truette Stubbs You must not have seen my video on silicone rings! ua-cam.com/video/-eK7TmxKE0s/v-deo.html
mist likely not.
Truette Stubbs Silicone rings are sooo comfortable and solve many problems if you work with your hands. I've been wearing the same one for over a year now. I didn't expect a $4 ring to last like that.
Vino Farm I have a silicone ring too!
Jim! I’m wanting the latest. Need a vino fix
Hello hello, I was with my black bees this morning and they were really nasty, it was overcast but not cold as we are in the middle of a heat wave here in Haute Savoie France. I wear nitrile gloves and as soon as i went through the first brood box which is 100% honey reserve with three frames yet to be drawn and got into the bottom brood box those bees came out to get me. It is the first time i have been stung since getting them at the beginning of May so i count myself lucky. I do not really understand why today they really attacked. Any advice, or can i just chalk it up to weather and perhaps them being disturbed on a Sunday...
I found my bees can be more defensive when the hives are low on stores. Last summer they were very aggressive in August when the hive had no nectar. It doesn't sound like you have that problem, though. Maybe you accidentally squished a bee and the alarm bells went off.
Alison Neri They are trying to protect their stores and will be tetchy.
Vino Farm , Thanks, maybe even though i have been feeding , they go through their syrup really fast so it could be that it is a dearth here and they are defending their stores which guess is a good thing, i just have some swollen hands today. 4 stings so not too bad. Thanks for your videos.
I have noticed several times when I have made walk away splits or bees have swarmed and they are making new queens or have become queenless that they can get super aggressive. I put out some feed for some of mine this morning and while watching the hives work I had a couple nail me on the back of my arm. I know there are three on that rack that are making new queens. They generally settle down in a couple weeks after they get a mated queen.
They can also get aggressive with some honey stores and working them on a cloudy day irritates them as well. Also cloudy here today and cooler than normal.
Jim Youngquist , Very interesting. I will give myself a spray down before i go back to them. Feebreeze for my bees!
Whats your rationale when adding the third box, if I may ask? I used to do beekeeping years and years ago, and finally, have a place to do it again so I just started up a hive Im helping get strong enough to split in the spring.
I've been following your video series ( just got my wife watching it as well because of how entertaining this series has been) and the one thing I think you might want to consider, is letting your hives get a bit more cramped? I know that those brood frames are going to hatch, and you're about to have a lot of bees, BUT! You have to remember those will then be empty frames that they will have to manage on top of the frames you have added. And seeing as they still had 4 empty frames when you put that new box on there, I feel like it might be a bit too much empty space for them. And seeing as you have some pretty rough winters where you are, you don't want them to have too much space or else they won't be able to regulate the temperature properly.
Some of the best beekeepers I have seen don't even like doing a double brood box, and instead when they have 10 frames of bees. (when they open up the hive the bees are spread on top of all 10 frames) they will just add a queen excluder and honey supers to keep them from swarming, while also keeping the hive small enough they winter easily. And I know how heartbreaking last winter must've been for you..
Just wanting to know what your thought process is with the rush for expansion.
Beekeeping it real!
Eddie Lukacevic They started out tiny this spring and after two months they FINALLY have a population that has the strength to get out and forage. I inherited these bees last fall in medium boxes and that's why they're still in there. I'd rather have double deeps for overwintering but these bees are stuck on mediums for now. I figured three mediums is close to the same amount of space as two deeps. If they don't expand, it's still warm enough that it doesn't matter for the next couple months and I can always condense them back to two boxes for late fall. If they DO expand, great. These next two months really matter. We start having very cold nights in October. The population is almost entirely "new" bees at the moment. They're the ones that build comb, right? While the hive is in this state of mostly new bees, my thinking was they would draw some comb over the next several weeks. Once they get to foraging age, there will be lots of new space to put nectar and a huge army of foragers to harvest it. I may be completely wrong, though. But that's my thought process.
Ah gotcha, I didn't take into consideration they're mediums.
Looking forward to updates! I love seeing different beekeeping styles and how they play out. I have been watching a lot of UoG Honey Bee Research Centre videos that have been very informative as well. Hoping to start our own little video series here soon.
Giving them more frames to draw out makes sense, having extra drawn frames to play with for future beekeeping endeavours is always nice. Be careful though, not sure if you get hive beetles too bad in your area, but here in kentucky my little hive (which I got after the spring flow, beginning of summer, and i know thats bad.. But we had an addition to the family in early March so it wasn't really an option at the time;] ) has had a bit of a beetle problem solely because of the extra space they have. I have noticed that the moment the bees spot the beetles they attack them and fly them out of the hive, but on the frames they haven't gotten to yet they're able to hide undisturbed.
If the next time you open them up they still have those frames in the middle box undrawn, you may want to reduce them a bit as the expansion may actually stress them out, and slow down production. There is this excellent beekeeper I was following for awhile that had a couple hundred hives, and he actually never would expand a hive past the single deep brood box, apart from supers, as it gave the best honey production, and the bees had a small area to manage to they were able to keep pests under control. But I have also seen double brood box, triple, and even double queen hives. So it seems like as long as you are keeping an eye on them, which you obviously are, there are quite a bit of options out there.
Looking forward to seeing how the russians are doing. And looking forward to seeing how the expansion on this hive plays out. Keep doing what you're doing, love your content, and your family's vineyard story.
Beetles love unoccupied spaces because they can roam without the bees bother them. And moth love it also.
If bees have to build comb, then they store less nectar/honey because they use the resources to build comb.
You kinda can force bees to build comb by checkerboarding, but it does not put dinner on the table nor honey or nectar......it will buy you an empty plate or empty comb though. It is hard for bees to regulate the temperature with checker boarding with just foundation and no comb.
J & B Homeliving We have no hive beetles at all. Also no wax moth problems. It's the middle of summer, so heating brood is not a huge problem. Obviously, if they don't build comb or use the frames, I will remove them and condense the hive before it gets cold. In the middle of August with syrup on, I have nothing to lose. I need drawn comb. Hopefully at least one of these hives will pull some frames.
What does DEARTH mean??? He’s been saying lately that he’s in a dearth right now... Sorry my English isn’t that advanced yet, but I’m learning! I looked it up in the dictionary but I still can’t make sense or make out clearly on what he’s trying to say. Thanks in advance to whoever could reply and explain on what he means by that as a bee keeper.
It means there is no nectar flowing due to either drought or just not enough flowering plants. Nectar dearth. No food for the bees!
Vino Farm Oh thanks for explaining that for me! I just found your channel this week and I’ve been binge watching day by day since you started all week trying to catch up to current time... Very interesting videos Vino Farms! Wishing u all the best. Can’t wait to see you hit sweet liquid gold pay dirt with your flow hives system. What an up & down roller coaster ride I’ve been seeing so far... I really appreciate & enjoy your videos... keep it up! 😎👍
Any more news on your bees
Do you think they might be getting robbed?
Doesn't it take 4 not 1-2 weeks for a newly hatched bee to become forage bees?
Yellster_ 26 They hatched over the last two weeks. There will be waves starting to forage in a week or two and the full force will be out in about a month.
Why does checkerboarding work so well? - I forces a violation of "bee space", and the bees want to correct that situation.
Have you harvested any honey yet?
Maureen Olsen-Hausmann Not yet. The Russians were nucs installed in late May. The Italians survived the winter but were a tiny cluster during the spring flow time. I'm hoping to take the syrup off soon and try giving them supers for the little fall flow we get in September.
I believe you said you were up North East? I'm down south Tennessee. I'm just trying to figure out how much I can harvest when I start this in Spring 2018. I know I won't harvest the first year.
Maureen Olsen-Hausmann Tennessee is another world for beekeeping. We have a sketchy (but sometimes good) spring flow and a mini fall flow but 6 months of freezing nights for our winter. Beekeeping is different in every location... but Tennessee will have a much larger honey flow situation than Massachusetts.
If you find a empty black frame but it out and give a new frame in
Electric fence and ratchet straps? Bear prevention.....hopefully?
Jim Gavin Yes.
I would have put a queen blocker below the third box so the third could only be used as storage.
But I want her to lay up there. I'm trying to encourage brood rearing, not trying to harvest honey from this hive.
But they have no honey, u already have two boxes of brood and a lot of bees getting ready to gather.
If the queen uses the two brood boxes, and they store honey in the third they will have something to eat.
Which they dont have now except for your syrup. If they can only use the third box for honey they will have the stores needed for a MASS winter. I wouldnt want her laying up there, id want the hive to start storing homey up there since the two lower boxes are being used for brood only.
More brood means that your bees need more food sources, without food sources they starve and die. To rear brood/larvae bees need pollen and nectar......nectar/honey alone will not do......and this will lower or slow your comb and nectar/honey and pollen build up. You may end up with a lot of brood that may starve. Bees also need pollen storage for the early spring brood rearing.
If there is little food storage , pollen and nectar/honey the queen will slow down laying eggs and the whole hive may even leave.
If you have nectar/honey on the upper supers, then you can move those frames around in the winter/ winter inspection if needed.
Bees have been known to starve and die in the winter, while they had plenty of honey on the outer 4 to 6 frames. Bees ball up in the center to keep warm and when it is cold they will stay together. If the honey on the center frames are used up and consumed they will stay balled up and will not go to the side frames or toward any side to eat and get food until it is getting about 40F or higher. So yes they can starve while having full frames of honey. Bees will not go up to a feeder either if it is to cold, so their food source should be as close as possible to the cluster, right above the cluster or right next to it....1 or 2 frames over may be to cold already for them to get the food.
If you have honey supers, you can do a winter inspection and move your now empty frames that used to have honey on them to the outside and bring the outside frames that still have honey on them toward the center of the hive so the bees can feed on it while they are balled / clustered up.
J & B Homeliving Guys, it's the middle of summer. I'm trying to get these bees to pull some comb so they will have somewhere to store nectar/syrup/honey. I have no extra drawn frames. I'm feeding and giving them coated foundation in hopes of them pulling some comb. If they don't, I'll condense them down a level after the brood hatches. I'm not going to leave empty frames in the hive for winter.
Keep feeding!
rearranging frames :( the bees had a plan!...
We want new videos!! =D
You got 'em!!!
yeah!! =D
Please make yourself a Vidme account and post your vids there too.
Go Italians!
Scusa cosa hai detto non ti capiamo cosa vuol dire hello ciao per favore. Sorry what you said what means hello ciao please!
First!
No, checker-boarding and trying to be more 'clever' than nature does not work. Brood on the bottom, then a queen excluder, then empties and honey frames on top. Feed them, that's fine. But they have got to be foraging more seriously. You forgot the queen excluder !!!! Why do I even bother with you. Unsubscribed !!
Checkerboarding must work or beekeepers wouldn't do it.
Why would I use a queen excluder if I WANT the queen to move up and keep laying? That third box is not a super. I'm trying to build as much brood as possible.
Yes, I want them to be foraging more, but the hive is filled with bees that were hatched in the past week. No matter what I do, they are not foraging age yet. They'll be foraging and I'll stop feeding in a week or two when they're older and the fall nectar flow kicks in. Did you watch the video? I thought I explained this a couple times.
Sorry to be so frustrating.
don't listen to her ass. I haven't used a queen excluder in my life. I keep a 3 deep brood chamber and 6 mediums for surplus honey. I averaged 240lbs of honey per production hive this season and the upper deep is full on each colony. I just don't see the benefit of a queen excluder except for comb honey production. then just use a ross round super and bam no need for a queen excluder.
Not a sad loss :p
Thank you for your videos and the effort you put into responding to the commenters! Love your videos always excited to see a new one, wish I could have bees but an apartment (with no balcony) is not the place. For now I will live vicariously through you :D. Once again thank you.
There's more than one way to keep a hive, and he's obviously not doing honey supers.