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He was back last night. No damage so I think he got a blast of electricity. Hopefully that will keep him away. I have accidentally touched the wire and yes it works pretty good. I was actually thinking about a sign for delivery people just in case they get curious. A little project for tonight as it's pouring rain again.

Thanks for that. It did look like there was a good population left in the box. I hope the queen is OK as I didn't look very hard for her. Just wanted to get them setup and closed up again as quickly as possible. I could feel the warmth coming off the frames as I was moving them and didn't want to loose to much of that while I was fixing them up. I still feel sad about it as I could have had an electric deterrent set up some time ago that may have prevented that from happening in the first place.

Thanks for watching. Here on Vanvouver Island we are progressing towards our normal winter weather. Lots of rain coming down to west coast from Alaska bringing cooler temps. At this point we get daily highs between 9C to 11C which is around 48F to 52F. Which is just warm enough for the girls to be a little active. It’s pouring again this morning and will be like this for a couple of days. I was watching them yesterday afternoon as we had a bit of sun and they were bringing in pollen so there is still some stuff blooming for them to forage from. I don’t think that will last much longer though. Most of the flowering plants around here have stopped for this year.

Side deck, faces south and the bees seem to like it there.

Yup, kind of cool today. Only about 9C. I hope pulling that frame didn’t do any harm to them. They can use all the bees they can get. Spring is a long way off.

Yeah, I was trying to be as quick as possible to get them closed up again. Man I haven't seen it rain like that in a very long time. We estimate about 150mm of rain over two days. Some flooding here and there and lots of run off.

Thanks DC I guess your Thanksgiving isn’t for a little while yet. Yeah, I think it was a young black bear. Has not been back as of yet. The viewing window is goig to make ckecking the sugar feeders so much easier and safer for me as well as the bees. Yeah the new kitty is quite the handful already😊

Hi, I am on the south end of Vancouver Island, B.C. I stopped using tar paper as it was getting the hives to warm during sunny days and I was losing a great deal of bees that figured they could leave the hives and forage. Our temps around here in winter can range from 5C to -10C. Usually hangs in around just above freezing. So it didn’t take long for the girls to get cold and not be able to return to the warmth of their homes.

I have over wintered nucs before here. The nuc is well protected here from the wind and rain so I think it will do OK. Only time will tell though.

Yeah that was only the second treatment on these colonies and I am waiting six days before doing another so I will be treating again this Friday

Thanks dc, i do hope i can get the mite numbers down. The girls will have an easier time over the winter months.

As far as I know there isn't a medicinal cure for this virus. What I have done in the past is go through the colony and pick out any infected bees. This will keep them from feeding new brood and passing the virus to them. Also I try my best to treat for varroa mites to get rid of them as they are usually the main cause of this virus. If you can get the mite load down to near zero them the virus will run it's course and not get spread any further.

I am glad it’s not just mine. I did artificial swarms in the spring. The swarming colonies all raised new queens and they went right back into swarm mode again even though the new queens were laying like crazy and the hive populations did not seem to be over crowded. Still have not figuered that out. It seems to something different every year.

I guess I am not entertaining enough. But thank you for watching and commenting.

Yup, I still feed dry sugar however I won’t start that process until mid October when it gets to cold to give them sugar water.

@@berrrygr Why not now with dry sugar ? Sugar water gives robbing in my hives

@@soupvis2616 That's a good question that I don't have a really good answer to. My bees don't seem to be to concerned about the sugar water so no robbing. It's easier for them to collect the sugar water and store it if necessary so I will continue until temps get down to where it begins to be dangerous to give them liquid feed. I think we still have some fall nectar coming in as well (golden rod) so they have something else to focus on at the moment. That could change in the blink of eye of course.

@@berrrygr Of course it depends on where you live ... I live in belgium , the fall will start in a few days ... ( robbing starting now )

Well, welcome from Belgium. Great to hear from the other side of the world. I am on the south end of Vancouver Island, B.C.

I tried that at one point but there were so many bees inside the cap that there were some buried when I pulled the cap. I am doing things a little different this year and I will be doing a short video on it when I switch the colonies to dry sugar.

@@berrrygr ok

Yeah, I am pleased at their progress. They appear to be in great shape for the upcoming winter.

Yeah, in the past I have taken partally capped frames after testing with my spectrometer. I am not in a great rush this year to collect honey so I am leaving it on and the bees can cap it if they so desire. Come the end of the season in about three weeks I will be pulling it all capped or not. I will have to move the girls back home and the lighter the box the better.

@@berrrygr * It's safer to over winter at home?

@@gallowaylights It is a lot safer at home. That's bear country up there. If you watched the very end of the video you will see one of them running down the road ahead of the car. Besides, it's a long trip to run up there to give them sugar water and treat them for mites and such. Much easier in the back yard.

Hi and thanks for subbing and watching my vid. I do sometimes use a smoker but we are in a forest area where it is bone dry. I do not want any risk of a forest fire so I go smokeless unless it is absolutely nessessary. The bees I have are really gentle so unless they suddenly turn really aggresive I won’t light a smoker at all. For myself, I find that I don’t need to smoke them at all even when I have the bees at home. I guess you would have to be the judge of how your bees are when you inspect and then decide to smoke or not. I did have excuders in at first but the bees were not moving up into the supers so I decided to take them out. I am using the full honey frames in the bottom super as a barrier to keep the queens from laying in the supers. I used excuders last year without any issues for the whole season. This year seems to be a different story. I think our up and down weather we are experiencing this summer is a major factor in the bees behaviour. It’s still gropping to 12 - 13 C at night which is most likely causing the bees to cluster more in the brood boxes keeping the brood warm. At least that’s what I have come up with.

Yeah, they sure do. However the weather we are experiencing is just so not like our regular weather we may not get much in the way of a honey harvest. The wind alone has been blowing here since Sunday and doesn't seem to want to let up.

I believe there is an addon module that you can use to create curved text.

That's a good question I don't have the answer to. I am only treating because I have seen mites riding on the backs of some of the bees. The more I can get rid of the less there are to reproduce.

I have tried the rubber caps and have on occasion had them blow out. I know my treatment rig is a little risky but I have used it for two years now without any issues. I don't have enough colonies to justify spending a small fortune on a real treatment device. If I had more colonies then I would get one of the newer battery operated devices.

Treating for mites now when the colony doesn't have any capped brood due to being queenless for a bit will get the best coverage as well.

@@berrrygr I also get blowouts on my diy, usually when tip clogs... steam has a lot of stored energy!

@@berrrygr * You're doing great... I guess it is my turn to kill mites!

Yeah, that’s california lilac. It’s full of bees of all kinds collecting pollen. Most of them are bumble bees of various sizes.

Sometimes you can’t but this queen was really loud. I could hear her 6 feet away. I found homes for the extra queens as well so they did not go to waste.

Hi, thanks for the response. Yeah, It seems to be one of those areas of beekeeping that’s still not quite understood yet. I am going to leave them for about 10 days and see if this new queen lays eggs and if they turn into workers and not drones.🙂

I will keep that in mind. I am trying to strike a balance between being to close and to far away. Thank you for watching.

@berrrygr * I hold mine up to the camera, and editing takes out my looking at them. Tedious but so enjoyable for later replay.🫠

Yeah, they are really calm. Hopefully the split will go ok. This is the first year I have seen signs of swarming this early.

They are making the best of it. The weather was cold and wet yesterday and today doesn’t look any better. Supposed to be nice tomorrow though.

Thanks for taking the time to watch my video. This device is hopefully going to save some back pain.

You are correct. I did this a number of times and didn’t get anything from it. Just another one of those hidden puzzles.

@@berrrygr appreciate the response :) even though the game is old now, hopefully DE makes it worthwhile doing eventually.

Hi DC, how's it going?

@@berrrygr 😁Still got bees, so well enough. A few more months to go. How's your day going?

All in all going good so far. My lower back injury is just on the verge of being painful. It’s taking a long time to heal. So I am taking it easy today. I hope your day is going good as well.

@@berrrygr I understand injury stuff, that is what retired me. Bunch of trusses up side the head. But God is Great. Blessed Days...

Wow, sorry to hear that. You OK? Amen

Hi Tammissa, that is a very good question. It does depend on the weather. Out here on Vancouver Island it has been higher than normal temps so the bees have been really active. When they are active they use a lot more food. If it were colder, the bees would be in a cluster around the queen keeping her warm and they use a lot less food that way. This is the earliest I have ever opened a colony to check on their food stores. Usually I don't open a colony until at least March. This year is going to be different. Keeping them supplied with honey and pollen is going to be a challenge. If they run out of stored food then of course they are going to starve and the colony will die out. As for other beekeepers I guess they would be doing something similar.

@@berrrygr thank you for your explanation. I’ve always been fascinated by these little honey makers. Thanks again for answering my question.

I have some full frames of honey and bee bread that I am going to put in when I get another decent day to do so. I thought about sugar water but irs turned cold again and I don’t want to introduce any more moisture into the colony than nesessary. Thank for watching and commenting.

Well you are not that far away then. You must be getting similar weather to ours then. Are your bees out and about? Thank you for watching and commenting.

@@berrrygr My bees have been flying the last couple of days. Visiting the dry pollen feeding stations, bringing back some ultra bee to their hives.

I have seen my girls coming back loaded with pollen. Not sure where they are finding it but the Snowdrops are in bloom right now and I know that the bees visit those flowers.

@@berrrygr My home apiary is at 1200' elevation and the Snowdroolps haven't popped as of yet. I can see some of their leaves but no buds as of yet.

I hope I can do enough to keep them happy☺️

Yeah, they don’t seem to mind it to much. I have seen a number of them come in and land and they just get stuck in place they are so cold. I have cupped a few of them in my hand for a minute and they warm up and race back into the hive.

I was thinking about those traps. Where do you get them?

I got mi me at home hardware ,they come in mice and rat sizes