I always try my best to inventory before black friday. Our bees built the hillco emobossed frames with preimere foundation quickly and evenly. The cloroflute insert you are thinking about making into a solid bottom board you may consider taping the ends with a foil tape. Ants and SHB really enjoy hiding in those little tunnels where the bees can't get them. It looks like you are in a good spot to have a great year! Thanks for sharing.
All but 2 weak hives made it in my apiary. I thought going into winter that they would be lost. Several hives are way ahead of schedule so I will be doing some equalization once the brood gets going. Looking forward to seeing your hives thrive in 2024.
Hey Dave. Glad to hear things going well. I'll probably do some equalizing and moving some honey frames around as soon as it warms up a bit, and I can find the time. Good to hear from you. Take care.
You will LOVE those fondant patties! I bought some for this year instead of making my own. I figured with the price of sugar, I may as well just purchase these. I put them in earlier than planned because of the warmer winter, but they must still have plenty of stores because they’re just getting into the fondant now. I have some of the Hive Alive liquid so will make my own pollen patties this year just to use up what I still have on hand. I plan on getting Hillco’s 6 frame electric extractor this year. My shoulder can’t take the cranking as much, so figured I’d upgrade. It’s nice to see a little of the chickens. We got into chickens last year, and am obsessed! We’ll be doubling ours this year, they’re so fun, I had no idea they’d be so entertaining. I just have to be careful not to succumb to chicken math…….too much! I’m g.ad all is well in Oklahoma! 😊🐝
Hey Beall. Glad to hear that. I'm looking forward to a strong start to 24. I'll need to even out some of the hive strength here in a few weeks. Thanks for watching.
You went shopping, I like it when you go shopping I get to see new stuff. Does that make the chicken spicy. Darren I think you win the award for man-cave/honey-house.😁
Hey DC! Good to hear from you. Yeah, those peppers make spicy eggs. LOL I'm lucky to have that honey house. We lived in that for 5 years before we built the house. And we lived in that camper trailer for about 8 months while I built that appartment myself. That was a lot of work. I also build the mezzanine and upstairs storage in that barn. So now it's totally full of stuff from when we moved out of our house in the city out to there. I've been working on clearing it out this winter. We need to purge a lot. lol Thanks for watching.
Jerome, the nicest boxes I've run across lately is from Miller Bee Supply. They fit together like a glove and very clean wood. Nice to see that Slash has made it and he looks like such a stud. You may have to thin out your trees to let that rack get through. LOL
Hey Russell. I need to check out Miller. The supers I had there are from HillCo and they fit together perfectly. Yeah Slash looked pretty good in that thick winter coat. That was the week it got down to zero for a bit. He was limping on his front right side pretty good. Thanks for stopping in.
Hello Jerome, I'm in Michigan and really chomping at the bit to get into my bees. I use hive alive fondant in the spring and think it works well. I had 14 hives in the fall but early winter 3 absconded. We're going to have a couple days in the 50s, so I'll have to lift the lids and give a quick look and hope for a good winter survival. Love your videos always.
Hey Myren. This time of year, we're all excited to start working the bees. And then August, we're like, I wish it would start cooling off! LOL I'm glad to hear you like the Hive Alive. I'll check them out next week and see how fast they are taking it down. A video posts tomorrow with me putting it in the hives. Thanks for Watching and good luck.
I always try my best to inventory before black Friday. Our bees built the Hillco embossed frames with premiere foundation quickly and evenly. The cloroflute insert you are thinking about making into a solid bottom board you may consider taping the ends with a foil tape. Ants and SHB really enjoy hiding in those little tunnels where the bees can't get them. It looks like you are in a good spot to have a great year! I started with Mann Lake boxes but don't buy them anymore. There prices went up and quality went down unfortunately. Hillco has some good boxes and I really like Betterbee's but they are not free shipping. We are lucky to have a skilled craftsman (Skipper Luttrell with Triple 7 Apiary) that comes to our club meetings that builds with cypress and delivers to our meetings for free. Thanks for sharing!
Hey Brian. Yeah, that's a good idea and buy things on sale. I try to do that as well, but I don't always inventory. That's how I wind up with stuff I didn't realize I had. lol Thanks for the tip on that tape. I think I will try those bottoms like that and seal them off. The super boxes I had there were from HillCo and they went together perfectly. I'm not using Mann Lake any more. I probably had those for two years unassembled, and finally got to them. I've bought some of my bottles in bulk from Betterbee, I get things from them occasionally. Thanks for watching.
Got screwed by DADANT on a defective bee suit and their NO return policy and found John Hill at HillCO. I am VERY happy with his prices quality and service.
Hello Hello the pollen patties you were they the global Pattie’s if so they are great . Talking about those Boxes I have had the same problem AND there prices are getting out of hand 😡😡. Also last year they went up on there free shipping prices 😡😡. I guess I will have to stick with Hillco . Oh ya in those Pattie’s I put mine in the freezer an have not had any to dry out . Looks like you an I have a lot of work to do before spring. Thanks
Hey Kathy. I probably should have froze those patties. I suspect they will be ok. I sure have plenty of them. Yeah, that was my last purchase of boxes from Mann Lake. I bought those quite a while back before I learned about HillCo. The honey supers you saw there were from HillCo and I put them together right after and they fit perfect. I'll be sticking with Hillco from now on for my boxes. Yes, a lot of work ahead of us. We'll get it done though. Thanks for stopping in!
Just put some fondant on. Really like the hive alive products. You’ve got a nice chicken coop. I’m building one this spring and might steal some of your ideas.Enjoyed the video. Take care.
Hey GEEZBEEZ! Yeah, I like that fondant. There's a chicken coop build play list down there you can check out how I built it. It's on a camper trailer frame. Thanks for watching!
Hi HHH. Yeah, daffodils are coming up here as well, and krocus. My bees are getting out on warmer days. I've heard there are a few dandilions out as well. Thanks for watching.
If you store your frames either in boxes or standing up they don't warp, we don't have your style of winter but man it sure gets hot in summer and since wax has a tendency to melt we use every possible thing that we have at our disposal to keep them cool.
Hey Darrell. Happy New Year! Enjoyed your update. I've used Hive Alive Fondant the last 3 Winters. I am a big fan. The bees love it. I bought a Bee Castle hive. It is of very high quality and was very easy to put together. The price was very good as well. Yo may want to check it out. Hope you have a great bee season.
Hi Emil. Happy New year to you as well. I've heard good things about the HiveAlive and they were kind enough to send me a huge sample. I really appreciate them sending it. Wont' be long until I put the pollen patties in as well. Good luck in 2024.
Thanks Minnesota Beek. I thought it sounded ok, but not the best. My Rhode wireless is really good. The Rhode costg a lot more for sure though. lol Take care.
I purchased 40 lbs of the hive alive, pattys last year after watching your video .I stored them in the refrigerator the same as you, and mine did dry out alone the edges, but when I scared the paper, they were ok.I used them in nine of my colonies so I far. I don't know if you have had a situation with too many frames with sugar water, honey coming out of winter, but I have six colonies that have what I'm calling excessive amounts. Sorry this is long.
Hey Mac. Glad to hear that on them patties. I intend to load them up end first of March. I wouldnt' worry about the excess liquid feed in there for now. There's still quite a ways to go before the main flow. You can always freeze them as well and save them for fall on your weaker hives. Good Luck.
Where I am it has been a cloudy overcast summer without enough direct sunlight to produce much in the way of nectar. I have a few hives at home as well, only five and I would have been lucky to get18 to 20 quarts from them, total. There was no real spring honey like normal, because of the crappy weather also, I did a little better up north though.
My son has around 1500 hives over many yards, he is mainly into pollination though, and he ahs been complaining about not being able to keep up with extra boxes so it looks as though he is in for a good year. @@JeromeBeeFarm
He has a couple of semi's and some tray trucks. One trailer, an old refrigerated pan-tech, was converted and has a mobile honey extraction line built in and the trucks have Eazylifters. He uses some seasonal regulars, and uses some back packers who all it seems want to learn the bee business, he looks after them well so they keep coming back.@@JeromeBeeFarm
Keep an eye on the night temps for those ferns. It's been nice the past few days, but tonight it's supposed suddenly to dip to below freezing. But then it's back up again. The see-saw temps drive me crazy. Enjoyed seeing the unboxing as well as all the pretty hens (and colourful eggs!). I forgot...do you buy the soldier fly larvae or do you harvest those yourself?
Hey Highland HBss. Yeah, I left them out the night it was only supposed to get to 33 and it got to 31 and frosted. They seemed to get through that ok though. I'll be bringing them in tomorrow for a few days. We have a chance of snow and ice. I get those soldier fly larvae from Grubbly Farms. They are great. Thanks for stopping in.
It was in a square box and had to have been done in packaging because it was waded up in the middle of all of them with a flat one on top and bottom . Thanks for the videos it's good content
Supporter & Product Links
Hive Alive: usa.hivealivebees.com/
Hillco: hillcobees.com/
iPhone Wireless Lav Mic: amzn.to/49nRmSW
Guardian Bee Apparel: guardianbeeapparel.com/
Ceracell Beekeeping Supplies (NZ) www.ceracell.co.nz/
Wildflower Meadows Queens VSH Italian Queens: wildflowermeadows.com/
Thanks for sharing Darren!! We’ll wait for the bee stuff to come!!
Hey Meloney. Another video posts tomorrow morning. Hope you like it. Take care.
I always try my best to inventory before black friday. Our bees built the hillco emobossed frames with preimere foundation quickly and evenly. The cloroflute insert you are thinking about making into a solid bottom board you may consider taping the ends with a foil tape. Ants and SHB really enjoy hiding in those little tunnels where the bees can't get them. It looks like you are in a good spot to have a great year! Thanks for sharing.
All but 2 weak hives made it in my apiary. I thought going into winter that they would be lost. Several hives are way ahead of schedule so I will be doing some equalization once the brood gets going. Looking forward to seeing your hives thrive in 2024.
Hey Dave. Glad to hear things going well. I'll probably do some equalizing and moving some honey frames around as soon as it warms up a bit, and I can find the time. Good to hear from you. Take care.
You will LOVE those fondant patties! I bought some for this year instead of making my own. I figured with the price of sugar, I may as well just purchase these. I put them in earlier than planned because of the warmer winter, but they must still have plenty of stores because they’re just getting into the fondant now. I have some of the Hive Alive liquid so will make my own pollen patties this year just to use up what I still have on hand. I plan on getting Hillco’s 6 frame electric extractor this year. My shoulder can’t take the cranking as much, so figured I’d upgrade. It’s nice to see a little of the chickens. We got into chickens last year, and am obsessed! We’ll be doubling ours this year, they’re so fun, I had no idea they’d be so entertaining. I just have to be careful not to succumb to chicken math…….too much! I’m g.ad all is well in Oklahoma! 😊🐝
We put 1-2 of the hive alive fondant on each of our hives throughout the winter, and they really come out winter strong
Hey Beall. Glad to hear that. I'm looking forward to a strong start to 24. I'll need to even out some of the hive strength here in a few weeks. Thanks for watching.
You went shopping, I like it when you go shopping I get to see new stuff. Does that make the chicken spicy. Darren I think you win the award for man-cave/honey-house.😁
Hey DC! Good to hear from you. Yeah, those peppers make spicy eggs. LOL I'm lucky to have that honey house. We lived in that for 5 years before we built the house. And we lived in that camper trailer for about 8 months while I built that appartment myself. That was a lot of work. I also build the mezzanine and upstairs storage in that barn. So now it's totally full of stuff from when we moved out of our house in the city out to there. I've been working on clearing it out this winter. We need to purge a lot. lol Thanks for watching.
Jerome, the nicest boxes I've run across lately is from Miller Bee Supply. They fit together like a glove and very clean wood.
Nice to see that Slash has made it and he looks like such a stud. You may have to thin out your trees to let that rack get through. LOL
Hey Russell. I need to check out Miller. The supers I had there are from HillCo and they fit together perfectly. Yeah Slash looked pretty good in that thick winter coat. That was the week it got down to zero for a bit. He was limping on his front right side pretty good. Thanks for stopping in.
@@JeromeBeeFarm Yes, I have had good luck with Hillco supers also and their solid bottom boards - no plywood.
Thanks Jerome!
Thanks for stopping in Rodney!
@@JeromeBeeFarm Anytime!
Hello Jerome,
I'm in Michigan and really chomping at the bit to get into my bees. I use hive alive fondant in the spring and think it works well. I had 14 hives in the fall but early winter 3 absconded. We're going to have a couple days in the 50s, so I'll have to lift the lids and give a quick look and hope for a good winter survival. Love your videos always.
Hey Myren. This time of year, we're all excited to start working the bees. And then August, we're like, I wish it would start cooling off! LOL I'm glad to hear you like the Hive Alive. I'll check them out next week and see how fast they are taking it down. A video posts tomorrow with me putting it in the hives. Thanks for Watching and good luck.
I always try my best to inventory before black Friday. Our bees built the Hillco embossed frames with premiere foundation quickly and evenly. The cloroflute insert you are thinking about making into a solid bottom board you may consider taping the ends with a foil tape. Ants and SHB really enjoy hiding in those little tunnels where the bees can't get them. It looks like you are in a good spot to have a great year! I started with Mann Lake boxes but don't buy them anymore. There prices went up and quality went down unfortunately. Hillco has some good boxes and I really like Betterbee's but they are not free shipping. We are lucky to have a skilled craftsman (Skipper Luttrell with Triple 7 Apiary) that comes to our club meetings that builds with cypress and delivers to our meetings for free. Thanks for sharing!
Hey Brian. Yeah, that's a good idea and buy things on sale. I try to do that as well, but I don't always inventory. That's how I wind up with stuff I didn't realize I had. lol Thanks for the tip on that tape. I think I will try those bottoms like that and seal them off. The super boxes I had there were from HillCo and they went together perfectly. I'm not using Mann Lake any more. I probably had those for two years unassembled, and finally got to them. I've bought some of my bottles in bulk from Betterbee, I get things from them occasionally. Thanks for watching.
Got screwed by DADANT on a defective bee suit and their NO return policy and found John Hill at HillCO. I am VERY happy with his prices quality and service.
Yeah, Hillco is really good. I do most of my ordering from there.
Hello Hello the pollen patties you were they the global Pattie’s if so they are great . Talking about those Boxes I have had the same problem AND there prices are getting out of hand 😡😡. Also last year they went up on there free shipping prices 😡😡. I guess I will have to stick with Hillco . Oh ya in those Pattie’s I put mine in the freezer an have not had any to dry out . Looks like you an I have a lot of work to do before spring. Thanks
Hey Kathy. I probably should have froze those patties. I suspect they will be ok. I sure have plenty of them. Yeah, that was my last purchase of boxes from Mann Lake. I bought those quite a while back before I learned about HillCo. The honey supers you saw there were from HillCo and I put them together right after and they fit perfect. I'll be sticking with Hillco from now on for my boxes. Yes, a lot of work ahead of us. We'll get it done though. Thanks for stopping in!
Just put some fondant on. Really like the hive alive products. You’ve got a nice chicken coop. I’m building one this spring and might steal some of your ideas.Enjoyed the video. Take care.
Hey GEEZBEEZ! Yeah, I like that fondant. There's a chicken coop build play list down there you can check out how I built it. It's on a camper trailer frame. Thanks for watching!
Daffodils are starting to pop up around here and I saw a honey bee flying around some green lumber I had left over.
Hi HHH. Yeah, daffodils are coming up here as well, and krocus. My bees are getting out on warmer days. I've heard there are a few dandilions out as well. Thanks for watching.
If you store your frames either in boxes or standing up they don't warp, we don't have your style of winter but man it sure gets hot in summer and since wax has a tendency to melt we use every possible thing that we have at our disposal to keep them cool.
Hey Bloke! I don't think I could take your summer. Mine is bad enough. lol Hope you have a good season down there. TAke care.
Hey Darrell. Happy New Year! Enjoyed your update. I've used Hive Alive Fondant the last 3 Winters. I am a big fan. The bees love it. I bought a Bee Castle hive. It is of very high quality and was very easy to put together. The price was very good as well. Yo may want to check it out. Hope you have a great bee season.
Hi Emil. Happy New year to you as well. I've heard good things about the HiveAlive and they were kind enough to send me a huge sample. I really appreciate them sending it. Wont' be long until I put the pollen patties in as well. Good luck in 2024.
@@JeromeBeeFarm thanks!
The sound is great! Funny how no one makes clip stereo mikes.
Thanks Minnesota Beek. I thought it sounded ok, but not the best. My Rhode wireless is really good. The Rhode costg a lot more for sure though. lol Take care.
I purchased 40 lbs of the hive alive, pattys last year after watching your video .I stored them in the refrigerator the same as you, and mine did dry out alone the edges, but when I scared the paper, they were ok.I used them in nine of my colonies so I far. I don't know if you have had a situation with too many frames with sugar water, honey coming out of winter, but I have six colonies that have what I'm calling excessive amounts. Sorry this is long.
Hey Mac. Glad to hear that on them patties. I intend to load them up end first of March. I wouldnt' worry about the excess liquid feed in there for now. There's still quite a ways to go before the main flow. You can always freeze them as well and save them for fall on your weaker hives. Good Luck.
Where I am it has been a cloudy overcast summer without enough direct sunlight to produce much in the way of nectar. I have a few hives at home as well, only five and I would have been lucky to get18 to 20 quarts from them, total. There was no real spring honey like normal, because of the crappy weather also, I did a little better up north though.
It's tough when the weather doesn't cooperate. Same amount of work with not much results. Hang in there.
My son has around 1500 hives over many yards, he is mainly into pollination though, and he ahs been complaining about not being able to keep up with extra boxes so it looks as though he is in for a good year. @@JeromeBeeFarm
Wow, that's a lot to manage. I'm assuming he has a crew to assist.
He has a couple of semi's and some tray trucks. One trailer, an old refrigerated pan-tech, was converted and has a mobile honey extraction line built in and the trucks have Eazylifters. He uses some seasonal regulars, and uses some back packers who all it seems want to learn the bee business, he looks after them well so they keep coming back.@@JeromeBeeFarm
That sounds like a really cool operation.
Keep an eye on the night temps for those ferns. It's been nice the past few days, but tonight it's supposed suddenly to dip to below freezing. But then it's back up again. The see-saw temps drive me crazy. Enjoyed seeing the unboxing as well as all the pretty hens (and colourful eggs!). I forgot...do you buy the soldier fly larvae or do you harvest those yourself?
Hey Highland HBss. Yeah, I left them out the night it was only supposed to get to 33 and it got to 31 and frosted. They seemed to get through that ok though. I'll be bringing them in tomorrow for a few days. We have a chance of snow and ice. I get those soldier fly larvae from Grubbly Farms. They are great. Thanks for stopping in.
First year trying fondant not happy with them in the box they were all waded up not flat and ready to use
Hi Wesley. That's strange that happened. The HiveAlive comes in a full box, so they can't move around. Good luck.
It was in a square box and had to have been done in packaging because it was waded up in the middle of all of them with a flat one on top and bottom . Thanks for the videos it's good content
That's odd. You should let them know. Sounds like a mechanical system goofed up and the flat one on top hid the issue.